The Recording Industry Association of America will file a lawsuit against a Boston University student for illegally downloading music, BU Associate General Counsel Robert Smith said this weekend.
‘Lightning has finally struck,’ the lawyer said, referring to the RIAA targeting the BU student out of millions who download music everyday.
The RIAA issued a subpoena to the Information Technology department on Thursday for information about the student.
By law, BU must honor the subpoena as an internet service provider.
The subpoena asked for the name, address, telephone number and email address of a student who logged onto a downloading program at 8:55 p.m. on Sept. 9, according to Smith.
The student’s name has not been released.
Smith was unsure about which downloading program the student used, but he said it was not one of the more common programs such as KaZaA, Audiogalaxy or Morpheus.
He said the subpoena mentioned Janet Jackson and B2K as two of the artists whose music the student downloaded.
Smith said he does not think BU will provide the RIAA with the requested information by the RIAA’s deadline of Sept. 25.
‘The university respects the privacy of the student and will give the student seven days notice,’ he said.
The Dean of Students Office has informed the student about the subpoena, Smith said.
The RIAA issued 261 lawsuits on Sept. 9 against people who illegally downloaded music from programs like KaZaA and Audiogalaxy.
The recording industry contends that downloading free music is copyright infringement and blames online file sharing for a 31 percent drop in compact disc sales since 2000, according to RIAA reports.
According to copyright laws, the RIAA can sue students for up $30,000 per song.
In a case involving Verizon, the Supreme Court ruled that internet service providers must comply with RIAA subpoenas and hand over any requested information about their clients, Smith said.
The RIAA is explicitly targeting college campuses, which it considers hotbeds of illegal file sharing, Smith said.
However, some BU students said news of a planned suit against one of their fellow students scares them.
‘I’m shocked, but not surprised,’ said College of Communication junior Jason Factor. ‘When Napster went down, it was nothing more than an inconvenience now it is more than that. I never really downloaded that many songs to begin with, but to hear that the lawsuits are now this close is disconcerting.’
Amanda Spitzer, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said the news will make her more cautious about file sharing, although she does not agree with the RIAA’s tactics.
‘It doesn’t freak me out so much as it gets me mad,’ Spitzer said. ‘When you read about these cases in the paper, they highlight the 12-year-old girl and the old man who get sued. It’s ridiculous. They just come off looking more greedy than they already are the rich getting richer at the expense of 12-year-old girls, 75-year-old men and college students.’
But CAS senior Alison Shea, who said she downloads very little music, said she agrees with the RIAA.
‘While most people are like myself and don’t really intend to cheat the system, there are those who [do], and they should be punished,’ she said.