Record Industry Fights Fervently Against File Sharing on Campuses

According to The Pew Internet and American Life Project nearly 22 million Americans over the age of 18 have at least one of the already indispensable portable devices that allow you to store and play thousands of songs, podcasts and video files.

RIAA is very aware of this and currently it is trying to crack down on illegal file sharing among students on more than 150 college and university campuses. A spokesperson for the industry, Cara Duckworth warns that the students are sharing files by the thousands using p2p clients such as LimeWire, Morpheus and BitTorrent.

"We started our research into this in 2003," she said. "During that time, we found that an inordinate amount of piracy involved students on college campuses."

Back in February 2007, the RIAA started to send early settlement letters to alleged file sharing students through their colleges or universities. The “deal” proposed in the letters encouraged students to settle with the recording industry without trial paying fees up to $3,000 or $4,000. In case the student sends no response and is prosecuted, fines can go up to $750 for each illegally downloaded file.

"No one wants to get caught, and many students believe there is a sense of anonymity that comes with these peer-to-peer networks," Duckworth said. "Individuals receiving a letter need to make contact and discuss their case as soon as possible."

Arkansas colleges plan to start an educational program for students at the beginning of the semester, intended to instruct them on the potential risk of file sharing.

"As students arrived, we took time to explain the cases going on (at Arkansas Tech)," said resident assistant Mark Matthews. "Of course, we let them know that it was illegal, but we also told them that everything they downloaded at (Arkansas) Tech could be monitored and traced."

Pennington pushed things even further starting to educate his students recently in class.

"The class is Introduction to Criminal Justice," he said. "I explained that there is a lawsuit pending, not against the University, but against students who illegally downloaded or shared files. Some students were a little nervous, but I think they understood the gravity of how the entertainment industry was fighting back."