After 360 copyright infringements this year, university confronts RIAA lawsuits with students
Brandon Ambrose
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News
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Illegal file sharing on the university computer network has produced 360 instances of copyright infringement since January, Jan Fox, vice president for Information Technology/CIO, said.
In an interview with The Parthenon, Fox said the music-sharing issue has been so time-consuming for her and her staff, she fears many employees can't focus on the real issues that need to be confronted.
The Recording Industry Association of America has identified Marshall University students as being among the leading violators in copyright infringement cases. Fox said the relationship is taking a heavy toll.
"It takes so many hours between the tracking, logs and write-ups to research these infringement issues," Fox said. "We receive between four and five different types of notices, all of which have the RIAA's name on them. I would much rather my time and my staff's time be spent bettering the school.
"We need to know who is doing what on the network, and this is distracting us from our real jobs. I worry that a major issue on campus will slip through while we spend our efforts dealing with the RIAA's requests."
Fox has received at least 25 pre-litigation letters from the RIAA in 2007..
"All chief information officers from the 25 universities that received the most piracy notices for the 2006-2007 academic year have been on conference calls trying to find a way to protect and inform our students," Fox said. "We have to protect our institutions as well as our students, but we have yet to find a solution."
Major institutions with law schools have a less-likely chance of being attacked, Fox said.
Harvard and WVU have never had network users sued for copyright violations, she said.
Harvard has even gone so far as to take a stance that if the university had students accused of violating the RIAA's interpretation of the copyright law, that Harvard would attack the case and believe it can win, she said.
A groundbreaking RIAA case went to trial Tuesday in Duluth, Minn., that questions the validity of the RIAA's copyright protection methods.
In an interview with The Parthenon, Fox said the music-sharing issue has been so time-consuming for her and her staff, she fears many employees can't focus on the real issues that need to be confronted.
The Recording Industry Association of America has identified Marshall University students as being among the leading violators in copyright infringement cases. Fox said the relationship is taking a heavy toll.
"It takes so many hours between the tracking, logs and write-ups to research these infringement issues," Fox said. "We receive between four and five different types of notices, all of which have the RIAA's name on them. I would much rather my time and my staff's time be spent bettering the school.
"We need to know who is doing what on the network, and this is distracting us from our real jobs. I worry that a major issue on campus will slip through while we spend our efforts dealing with the RIAA's requests."
Fox has received at least 25 pre-litigation letters from the RIAA in 2007..
"All chief information officers from the 25 universities that received the most piracy notices for the 2006-2007 academic year have been on conference calls trying to find a way to protect and inform our students," Fox said. "We have to protect our institutions as well as our students, but we have yet to find a solution."
Major institutions with law schools have a less-likely chance of being attacked, Fox said.
Harvard and WVU have never had network users sued for copyright violations, she said.
Harvard has even gone so far as to take a stance that if the university had students accused of violating the RIAA's interpretation of the copyright law, that Harvard would attack the case and believe it can win, she said.
A groundbreaking RIAA case went to trial Tuesday in Duluth, Minn., that questions the validity of the RIAA's copyright protection methods.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Natasha Martin
posted 10/04/07 @ 6:10 PM EST
Like most universities, Marshall is being inundated with demand letters from the RIAA concerning illegal file sharing on your campus network. This practice by the RIAA is expanding and the costs to address this issue are rising. (Continued…)
Mike Walters
posted 10/07/07 @ 9:49 PM EST
Come on, young people. Wake up!! Obtaining copyrighted music without paying for it, has ALWAYS been wrong/unethical/illegal. It is stealing, plain and simple. (Continued…)
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