p2pnet - rss feed: New p2p file sharing ’study’
p2p news / p2pnet: Borrowing from the CRIA and CAAST, “More than one-third of college students illegally download music,” says a new ’study’.
CRIA is short for the Canadian Recording Industry Association of America and CAAST equals Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft. And both industry organizations say Canadian students are wicked thieves, bent on doing the honest, hard-working corporations ill.
But Americans are just as bad, says another survey, quoted in The Tiger, the student newspaper for Clemson University in South Carolina.
One in three students who utilize p2p file sharing networks, “recognize that illegal downloads are unethical, but continue to do it anyway,” it says, going on:
“Two-thirds of students using file sharing systems do not care about the legality of downloads, according to the survey” and it’s, “an example of willful ignorance,” according to Clemson University ethics professor Kelly Smith.
But, “One student is quick justify her ethicality regarding downloads,” says the story.
“If you think about it, sharing music files can only help musicians, especially those who are up-and-coming. File sharing networks can help put these musicians on the map,” said Laura Verch, a junior.
“Several months ago a friend lent Verch a copied CD, with songs downloaded illegally, and then got some of her friends hooked on that music group. They then all bought tickets to a concert to go and see the group play live.
“How is that not helping the artist?” said Verch. “Without illegal file-sharing, that group would have been five concert tickets down. And the price of five concert tickets is much more consequential than one CD.”
And then …..
….. Clemson U’s Division of Computing and Information Technology says since “illegal MP3 downloading” is “also a violation of the law,” it, “may refer violators to the appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“Violators’” names are given to DCIT by the copyright holders, but, “That being said, DCIT does not act as an enforcement agency,” DCIT publication manager Pamela Bowen is quoted as saying.
Also See:
CRIA - Canadians are thieves: CRIA, September 29, 2005
CAAST - Thieving Canadian students, August 9, 2005
The Tiger - Students share illegally, April 21, 2006
April 24th, 2006 at 2:20 am
Dear Ms. Bowen:
Please note that mere .mp3 downloading is NOT ‘illegal’ in the sense of it being of violation of criminal laws unless the work in question has NOT been released or the work in question is being duplicated and sold. If a work has been distributed on a promotional basis within the music and/or broadcast industries, but not to the general public, it is considered ‘released.’
Therefore, referring such matters not meeting the stated criteria to law enforcement officials is providing them with information regarding an activity over which they have no jurisdiction and quite frankly, don’t care about. If anything, casual downloading, in the worst case, is copyright infringement.
Such downloading may also be “fair use” if the downloader has already paid for the downloaded content in another form, such as an LP record, cassette tape, CD, or DVD. Even if the downloader has not previously purchased the content, it may still qualify as fair use if it is to be used for an educational purpose. I would assume that most of the University’s activities are conducted for an ‘educational purpose’.
Such a determination can not be made solely by the examination of logging information generated and stored by IT resources, as it is highly unlikely that these resources have any way of automatically discerning the contents of someone’s personally held collection of physical media or determining the end use of the material downloaded.
Copyright infringement is a wholly civil matter. The burden falls completely on the copyright holder to enforce their rights, at their own, not the public’s expense.
Please refrain from burdening public law enforcement with matters of non-criminal conduct. Such reports are frivolous and wastes their valuable time along with public tax dollars.
How the University wishes to deal with the conduct of members of the Clemson community on the matter of p2p file sharing and associated civil legal matters is the perogative of the policy making process within the University, but it should not involve outside law enforcement when no criminal conduct has occured.
I would suggest that you review this entire matter with the University’s counsel before making any further policy statements or submitting any reports to law enforcement agencies.
–TurboGeek