RIAA Targets New Colleges, Still Avoids Harvard

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Billboard reports that the RIAA has filed its eighth round of 'early settlement' letters to twenty-two colleges. Continuing its practice of avoiding Harvard, the RIAA's new round does not include any letters to that institution, where certain law professors have counseled resistance to the RIAA and told the RIAA to 'take a hike'. The unlucky institutions on the receiving end of the 403 new letters include Arizona State University (35 pre-litigation settlement letters), Carnegie Mellon University (13), Cornell University (19), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (30), Michigan State University (16), North Dakota State University (17), Purdue University — West Lafayette and Calumet campuses (49), University of California — Santa Barbara (13), University of Connecticut (17), University of Maryland — College Park (23), University of Massachusetts — Amherst and Boston campuses (52), University of Nebraska — Lincoln (13), University of Pennsylvania (31), University of Pittsburgh (14), University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee, Stevens Point, Stout and Whitewater campuses (62)."

Active Music Trading on Freenet 0.5 and 0.7

[Anonymous Coward]

Music and movies are being traded on Freenet under a 'culture freedom' movement. You shouldn't be able to be caught if you don't want to be, it's all a matter of your risk tolerance.

Re:Perfect picks.

[krayzk9s]

I go to the University of Pittsburgh, and they want no part of getting in the way. If the RIAA files a notice the University will tell them whose IP it belongs to and even assist them.

Re:Wait a second...

[icebrain]

Having seen many discussions along this line over the past year or two, I've picked up on a couple of different motivations from people opposing the RIAA/MPAA. Most opposition appears to fall into these (simplified) categories:

The first group is the "all information should be free" group, and seems to see all manner of copyright to be immoral, unjust, and responsible for the deaths of babies.

The second group seems to not mind copyright, but is bothered by the poor quality of the product (especially music) and the exorbitant costs associated. They just want to punish the RIAA for stupid pricing and turning out crap, or to "stick it to the man."

The third group doesn't care about the copyright issue as much, but is more concerned with the appalling tactics used by the **AA groups. Filing lawsuits without proof, continuing to press suit on little old ladies without computers, unlawful search, threatening letters, invasive computer code, purchasing of legislators, etc.

Re:Perfect picks.

[derflammenhund]

Granted, I haven't read the fine print on OIT's position, but based on their ads on the busses and what's been run in the Diamondback (school paper), the University of Maryland will be doing absolutely no assistance for students whatsoever.

This is good for the institution overall because we already don't have any money left over, but OIT has been warning students for quite some time that they're not invincible or invisible, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets upset at them.

Looks like that time has come... Here, have fun with this, too - http://www.oit.umd.edu/PlayFair/index.html [umd.edu]

Re:Good For Them

[anarking]

Those who must address miniscule grammar mistakes (it is a real word, however erroneous) can formulate no real point to make themselves. Go worry about something else, like getting sued by the RIAA for accidentally sharing your personal porn collection that you hid in a BritneySpears.mp3 file.

Re:Good For Them

[Debug0x2a]

Actually irregardless [reference.com] is a nonstandard word meaning irrespective and regardless.

Re:This only means the RIAA has no case

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Duh! Everyone knows this. It is just that most people have second thoughts when they are facing the dripping fang vampire all alone. Harvard just let the students know they would not be alone. The other schools are willing to throw the students under a bus. Not surprising, really...

One interesting note on that point is that the Chairman of the Computer Science Department at Boston University is acting as an expert witness on behalf of the students [blogspot.com].

Re:So I am on the list.

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

My university is on the list. What slash /.ers want to give advice for what I can do about it?

Here [blogspot.com] are my suggestions.

Re:This only means the RIAA has no case

[ZachPruckowski]

Copyright infringement suits can be filed against any alleged perpetrator in any fashion. They don't have to do it evenly. In fact, it's impossible for the RIAA to even sue all file-sharers, as there are dozens of millions.

To answer your main question, the reason they're not hitting Harvard is because Harvard's cyber law guys are willing to stand up for the students [harvard.edu]. Specifically, they oppose the idea of serving as the "unpaid enforcement arm of the provincial interests of the RIAA". While not anti-copyright, they oppose the strong-arm tactics.

Anyhow, the point seems to be that while the RIAA is hitting schools that pass along the letters, they're not going after Harvard, which I'm sure NYCL (who rocks, btw) is trying to point out - any powerful group offering resistance to the RIAA will be left alone.

Re:This only means the RIAA has no case

[Daffy Duck]

Chairmanship of a department is not an honor (at least in an engineering field). It's typically passed around as a hot potato (haven't been chairman yet? you're next!) because it's a huge time drain and a distraction from the research the faculty want to do. I expect his shift was just over.