RIAA settles suits

After 25 subpoenas were issued for copyright infringement last April, several Boston University students have settled their cases outside the courtroom and agreed to pay amounts up to $4,000 for sharing music online.

The Recording Industry Association of America "asked students to either settle out of court or become defendants in a lawsuit," College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Sam Choi said.

Choi, who settled out of court with a payment of $3,750, was afraid of becoming a defendant in a major lawsuit.

"[The RIAA] never showed me any evidence about the file which I shared," he said. "But they said they had screen shots. I didn't demand to see [the evidence] because they might've made me go to court and I wouldn't have been able to settle out of court."

School of Hospitality Administration junior Kara Jansons also said she has not seen any direct evidence implicating that she illegally downloaded material.

"I have not seen anything except a few general excerpts that the RIAA sent in the original lawsuit," she said. "I'm not sure if I'm being charged for a few songs or hundreds of songs."

Jansons said she is currently in negotiations with the RIAA because she does not feel she will be able to pay the $3,750 sum the RIAA demanded.

"[The RIAA] sent me a letter wanting me to pay $3,750," she said. "But I sent them a letter back and told them that I can't pay them that amount of money, I would have to take a loan out to cover it. I'm still waiting for a response."

Choi said he felt the university did not do enough to help the students during the legal process. "It seemed as if [BU] tried to be supportive of the students," he said. "But they didn't do enough. From what I hear, schools like [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] aren't letting record companies even come close to getting the students' names.

"We were advised to get lawyers and deal with it ourselves," Choi continued.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the university does only what it is legally required to do.

"Legally, when we get a subpoena, it is [the university's] responsibility to pass it onto the students and they will have to deal with the RIAA individually," Riley said.

BU Associate General Counsel Crystal Talley said her office was ordered by the courts to reveal the identities of the students, who in the beginning of the case were unknown to the RIAA.

"The recording industry asked the court to require us to provide the identities of the defendants, who at that time were only known as John Does one through 25," she said. "The court ordered a subpoena and Boston University was forced to provide the identities of the students."

The university itself offered little legal help for the student defendants.

"We can't and don't represent individual students," Talley said. However, Talley noted that she "did meet with students and kind of point them in the right direction of where they could find resources."

Jansons said she was disappointed in the university's response to the situation.

"BU has done nothing," she said. "The first letter I got from the school said that BU would help us out, they would try to not give the names [of the students] out. They gave me a list of websites where I could find a lawyer, but I haven't heard anything from BU since.

"I never met with BU's legal counsel. I never got a message about any legal advice. Maybe I'm just missing something, but I have never heard anything from them since the original lawsuit was sent to me," she continued.

Choi said did not expect any further legal action from the RIAA.

"They told me to delete the files and never do it again," he said. Jansons said she was ready for the legal battle to end.

"It has been drawn out for a while," she said. "I just want to get this over with."

A court date has not been set for the remaining students' trial.