Music Piracy Infiltrates College Community

Author: Thomas McCann

For college students across the nation, downloading music and videos is an everyday occurrence. Now, however, the music industry is fighting back and the ripples of that reaction have reached Middlebury College.
Downloading media through programs like Imesh, Kazaa and Morpheus is classified as theft and carries the penalty of prosecution.
Each day the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sends at least 12 formal complaints to Middlebury College regarding the illegal download of protected material.
College administrators have blocked a number of students' Internet access in response to the complaints.
Director of Network Design and Operations Howie McCausland administers the College's response. "Once notified, I am legally obligated to take action to correct the situation," he said. "I block the computer in question from off-campus Internet access and try to identify and contact the owner." The student is still able to use on-campus resources, however off-campus activity is limited for a time.
McCausland added that students may not know what material is protected by copyright laws and what material is not. Artists frequently put their music online for free downloads. "Nevertheless," said McCausland, "if you're getting something for free, that people are supposed to pay for, and that someone makes a living by selling, then it's probably illegal."

Although legally compelled to act on the RIAA's complaints, the College may also be acting in the best interests of the students themselves. Students who illegally download multimedia can face severe penalties.
For example, according to an article from news.com, three Australian students are facing up to five years in prison and fines of $37,000 for multimedia piracy.
In the United States, too, a considerable number of students could face prosecution for disseminating protected material as the music industry fights to stem losses in sales revenue.
The three Australian students were responsible for losses of $37 - 44 million to the music industry.
Jeff Rehbach, special projects manager for Department of Library and Information Services at Middlebury, commented that many schools have been in contact with each other, sharing information and possible solutions to the problem of illegal multimedia downloads.
Middlebury is no different than other schools in its struggle to contain the illegal downloading of protected material.
The administration refuses to place restrictions on the Internet because, as Rehbach noted, in trying to curb the illegal downloading, "we don't want to block the use of the Internet for legitimate uses of those students who need it.
"Technology," continued Rehbach, "has outpaced cultural norms now so that when we used to record a record onto a cassette, it was with the assumption that the record would have been bought already - this isn't the case now." It is possible that the entire recording industry will soon become obsolete because of the availability and ease of use of the Internet.
McCausland was in agreement with this opinion when he commented, "One could argue that the evolution of technology has rendered the entire traditional recording industry obsolete, and that the entire economy of how music is produced, marketed and distributed must evolve and adapt to the new technological realities."