None of the Recording Industry Association of America’s 532 January file-sharing lawsuits were against Boston University students, BU Associate Council Robert Smith said this week.
But students may not want to breathe a sigh of relief just yet because the Motion Picture Association of America may begin similar action against movie sharers soon, MPAA Vice President of Public Affairs Richard Taylor said Wednesday.
The MPAA, which is also having problems with illegal downloads, is trying to first educate the public and then resort to suing, Taylor said. The practice is not yet as widespread as song downloads, he said.
“We need to speak to people before downloading movies becomes commonplace,” he said. “With music, it’s become almost second nature to download, so we want to make sure people think twice before doing this with motion pictures.”
Taylor said the MPAA is running trailers before movies in theaters, touring college campuses and sending letters to universities urging them to include a clause about the illegality of downloading movies in their computer user agreements. In order to secure tonights campus screening of the movie <<<
But Taylor said the MPAA is not ruling out the possibility of future lawsuits similar to the RIAA’s.
“It would be foolish to have arrows in our quiver and not use them, so at this point, we’re keeping all of our options for protecting ourselves open,” Taylor said.
On the whole, downloading at BU is down, according to Office of Information Technology Director Jim Stone. The decrease has followed a trend that began several months ago, he said.
But at Northeastern University, the lawsuits seem to have had a negligible impact on downloading, officials said. Northeastern Information Systems Manager Glenn Hill said he has seen no change in the amount of file-sharing on campus after the lawsuits. The industry is using the wrong tactics in trying to reduce file sharing, he said.
“I think the RIAA is barking up the wrong tree with the lawsuits,” he said. “They would be more successful by working directly with the artists and technology.”
Smith, who is BU’s lawyer for copyright issues, said students should be wary of the suits because those who are sued are unlikely to see cases thrown out.
“These lawsuits are based on the fact that a recording company owns the copyrights to music and these copyrights are protected by federal law,” he said. “There are no exceptions when a person downloads music from an online source.”
Taylor said the same rules should apply to downloaded files as apply to physical CDs and DVDs.
“Most people wouldn’t dream of doing on land what they do in cyberspace,” he said. “People who download would not walk into a Blockbuster, put a DVD in their bag and walk out without paying for it – but they are doing the equivalent online.”
The most recent round of lawsuits in January differed from last fall’s because the RIAA was required to sue before they could subpoena the names of the defendants. In the past, the RIAA was able to subpoena names from internet service providers – such as BU – without suing first.
While no BU students were sued in January, the university has been sending out more warnings to people who have illegally downloaded files, Smith said. College of Arts and Sciences freshman Josh Pellittieri said he was issued a warning from BU for sharing a copy of “The Bourne Identity.”
“I had downloaded the movie to watch, had watched it and deleted the file already when I got an email from BU about my violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,” Pellittieri said.
Taylor urged students to consider the effects of their actions.
“It has the potential to harm workers in the motion picture industry, and I don’t just mean the big name guys like Tom Cruise,” he said. “It hurts the people behind the scenes who have to work for a living.”
BU’s Office of Information Technology Executive Director Michael Krugman said he thinks the future of downloading will be different.
“People will be better informed about the issues and importance of intellectual property,” he said. “The industry will be compelled to develop techniques and technologies to allow people to preview and purchase music, movies, videos and other digital media legally.”
Taylor said he also foresees changes.
“People will want to do the right thing, so I think the future will be bright,” he said. “What’s at stake is too large for us to fail.”