After 46 Boston University internet users were offered a $3,000 settlement for illegally downloading music last year, previous student offenders are joining industry representatives in advising students to cease the tempting but potentially disastrous practice.
Paying a $3,000 pre-litigation settlement is the only option a student has once hit with an offender notice from the RIAA to avoid being dragged into court to battle the trade group.
As of February, BU was ranked the 15th biggest offender among colleges across the country for illegally downloading music, and as of April, the third-worst offender for movies according to lists compiled by the RIAA.
BU attempts to warn students of the consequences of illegal downloading at orientation and again when they register for on-campus Internet access, said BU spokesman Colin Riley.
When the RIAA first issued the settlements to colleges in March, North Dakota State University and the University of Wisconsin refused to forward pre-litigation settlement offers to students, claiming it was not the university's responsibility to seek them out for the RIAA. BU, however, has not taken the same stance.
"We do not want to defend either the students or the RIAA," Riley said. "The experience is not pleasant and has some cost and consequences. There is no need to do it. Its illegal, it's unethical and it's unnecessary."
The RIAA has no plans to ease its punishment of college students who practice illegal filesharing, wrote Mitch Bainwol, RIAA chairman and CEO, and RIAA President Cary Sherman in a March 15 op-ed article in Inside Higher Ed.
"This is a teachable moment -- an opportunity to educate these particular students about the importance of music in their lives and the importance of respecting and valuing music as intellectual property," they wrote. "Today, virtually no one, particularly technology savvy students, can claim not to know that the online 'sharing' of copyrighted music, movies, software, and other works is illegal."
Students who have been sued by the RIAA say paying the price for downloading is unavoidable once the organization sets its sights on a student.
"The RIAA closed all possible loopholes for students to get out of lawsuits, so we had no options," said Tim Daly, a BU graduate and member of the Facebook.com group "I'm being sued by the RIAA."
Daly said the fine is a heavy burden on students already paying loans, books and rent.
"Be very careful. When you are a senior in college and working two jobs and paying tuition, you cannot afford $3,750," he said.
The lawsuits stipulate that students must delete all illegally downloaded material on their computers and promise never to download illegally again, said Hardik Savalia, a 2007 School of Management graduate and member of the same Facebook group.
"Make the sacrifice of 10 or 15 dollars," Savalia said. "It is so much cheaper than getting caught downloading illegally." ?
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