Despite warning emails and pre-litigation settlement letters sent to Boston University students this semester from the Recording Industry Association of America in an effort to curb illegal downloading, many students still continue their filesharing habits despite the risk, according to the Information Technology Office.
The RIAA’s efforts reached a new level last March when it sent pre-litigation settlement offers of about $3,000 to 46 BU students. These letters were sent from the RIAA to BU administrators, who then forwarded them on to students.
Before these settlements were sent, the RIAA had already sued more than 30 BU students for illegal filesharing since fall 2005. Pre-litigation letters, like past lawsuits, may prevent some students from illegally downloading again, said IT Consulting Services Director Jim Stone, but these letters will not necessarily lead to a campus-wide decline in illegal filesharing.
“The lawsuits create a temporary dip [in filesharing activity],” Stone said. “Over time, students go back to their previous levels of activity.”
Although Stone said the letters are not always effective, RIAA spokeswoman Liz Kennedy said pre-litigation letters and lawsuits have deterred many students from downloading music illegally.
“Our anti-piracy efforts have [generated] progress and deterred many would-be illegal downloaders on [the average college] campus,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy referred to a study released by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project in March 2005, which stated that 28 percent of people polled cited a fear of lawsuits as the main reason they no longer download music illegally.
Stone, who meets with students to discuss the risks of illegal filesharing, said he has difficulty convincing some repeat offenders they will suffer legal consequences if they continue their illegal actions at BU.
“Students don’t think they’re going to get caught, or they don’t care,” he said. “[They think,] ‘Everybody on the floor above me does it. Everybody on the floor below me does it. So why can’t I do it?'”
The RIAA finds students who are illegally downloading by tracking their IP addresses and then distributing letters proposing pre-litigation settlements to BU, requesting the university send them to the violators. This puts BU in a middle-man position because, although the university is not legally required to forward the letters to students, if they do not, students are denied the opportunity to accept a settlement that could be significantly less costly than a full-fledged lawsuit.
“To not deliver the letters would ensure that every student would be sued,” Stone said in a March 30 Daily Free Press article.
Contrary to popular belief, BU does not monitor students’ filesharing habits, Stone said.
“We don’t look to see which of our students are involved in illegal filesharing,” he said. “We don’t really need to, because these agencies are so aggressive, and they’re notifying us.”
In February, BU was ranked 15th on the RIAA’s list of the top 25 U.S. colleges with growing numbers of students illegally downloading music. Kennedy declined to comment on whether BU’s ranking affects how closely the RIAA monitors BU students filesharing.
IT receives warning notices every day from agencies — including the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America — that inform the department of illegal downloading activity. BU officials then instruct students via email to delete illegally downloaded files from their computers, Stone said.
Although he would not give more specific statistics because of IT policies, Stone said the number of notices BU receives from these agencies has not decreased significantly in the seven to eight years since BU began forwarding them to students.
A College of Engineering sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of being pursued by the RIAA for illegal filesharing, said he received a warning notice in February requiring him to delete any illegally downloaded files from his hard drive within seven days to avoid facing legal action. The threat of legal action only decreased his illegal downloading “somewhat,” he said.
“I’ve had to ease back into downloading by starting off with lesser-known downloads and working my way back up to the high-profile ones,” he said in an email.
The warning email includes a link to a BU piracy form with a box that alleged violators must check to indicate they downloaded a file illegally.
“There’s no option in BU’s piracy form . . . to say that you never pirated the given software [or] media,” the ENG student said. “This is a possible, though unlikely, option that should not be ruled out.”
One way to realistically cut down on illegal filesharing would be to punish students more severely by revoking their network access or fining them, Stone said, but he does not anticipate this happening.
Before IT could punish students for illegal filesharing, the office would need President Robert Brown’s approval and a significant policy change.
Judicial Affairs Director Daryl DeLuca speaks to incoming freshman at orientation to inform them of the risks of illegal filesharing on campus, Stone said.
Stone said he continues to foster communication with students by meeting with those who have been sued by the RIAA and answering their questions about the situation, but IT cannot provide formal legal services to students.
“Before a student is sued, we actually have a lot more ability to educate and even modify the behavior of that student and convince them that they should not do it,” he said.
Stone said BU has done everything in its power to deter students from illegally downloading music.
“The law is clear on what we must do, and we’re doing that,” he said.
“Unless I run around the campus in a DayGlo shirt that says ‘Don’t illegally fileshare,’ I don’t know how to get students to stop illegally downloading music,” he added. “I’ve done crazier things.”