RIAA tactics ‘thuggery’ says UW staffer
p2pnet news view | RIAA news:- “The University of Washington announced Monday a new policy about illegal music file-sharing on campus,” posted TheNewsTribune.com last month, going on:
Not only will the school not shield students from lawsuits from the recording industry, it will track them down and serve them the legal papers.
UW said it will forward notices of pending lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America to students who engage in illegal downloading on the university’s computer network.
Now, in a letter to the university’s vice provost, “I’m disappointed you chose to cooperate with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),” says John Muir Kumph, a staffer at the School of Oceanography.
In a letter today published in The Daily, UofW’s student newspaper, he goes on:
Their tactics are nothing short of thuggery. In a nation where one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, by cooperating with the RIAA, you presume the accuser to be correct. Its methods for identifying copyright violators en masse are dubious. Students who have allowed others to use their computers are particularly at risk of false accusation. In a university environment servers are everywhere, as is charitable computer use.
I fear that the only effect this will have is to freeze up the open and imaginative atmosphere of the UW. Students will become paranoid about allowing others to use their computers or setting up servers. Experimental computer use, one of the hallmarks of a high-tech future, is in doubt. None of this matters to the RIAA, a government-endorsed monopoly whose sole purpose is to protect intellectual property (which, it should be noted, increasingly consists of dead musicians owned by mega corporations).
The letter you sent out to the campus community will have an effect. A few very poor students will think they have no other option but to borrow money to settle this bogus suit.
But what if students have not done anything and are only accused of it by this Kafka-esque RIAA? To think that the University has signed on with this is a shame.
Two other academics have also voiced their disgust at the corporate music industry’s tactics.
Take a hike, say Charles Nessor, William F. Weld professor of law, Harvard Law School, and founder and faculty co-director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society; and, John Palfrey, clinical professor of law and executive director, the Berkman Center.
They say:
This Spring, 1,200 pre-litigation letters arrived unannounced at universities across the country. The RIAA promises more will follow. These letters tell the university which students the RIAA plans on suing, identifying the students only by their IP addresses, the ‘license plates’ of Internet connections. Because the RIAA does not know the names behind the IP addresses, the letters ask the universities to deliver the notices to the proper students, rather than relying upon the ordinary legal mechanisms.
Universities should have no part in this extraordinary process.
We wonder how long it’ll be before concerned university teachers and other staff will organise a national coalition to represent students instead of acting against them, as all too many are doing.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
TheNewsTribune.com – UW will abet file-sharing lawsuits, it says, June 26, 2007
voiced their disgust – Take a hike, RIAA: US universities, July 11, 2007
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July 11th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
We know which universities not to attend or contribute our money to. Like the U.S. and state governments, the universities choose to sell out those they are supposed to serve. I have long lost respect for state and federal governments. The same thing is going to happen to these sell-out universities. Many of these entities say, “big deal. It does not matter so long as you do as you are told.” That is the problem, I will not do as told, I will help anyone “get one over” on these entities. Their actions are not only wrong, they are in many cases illegal or unconstitutional. I encourage students who are targeted to not only not fight the charges against them, but to also file counter cations against the RIAA and the Universities who divulged the information. I also encourage alumni to quit contributing or supporting these universities in any way. Since the Universities prefer to favor the RIAA and other **AA’s over their student’s then maybe they should get their funding from the RIAA and MPAA as well as provide those entities with education. I have thought about getting another degree from an accredited university. I now know at least some of the schools that I should not patronize.