The Recording Industry Association of America is suing 23 Vanderbilt students for illegally downloading music onto their computers.
Cindy Frank, director of service delivery and project management for Information Technology Services, says the university has seen an increase in students being sued due to the RIAA's increased litigation efforts.
"Last year we had 20 students (sued) for the whole year," Frank said. "This year we have had 32 students in October alone."
Of those 32 students, 23 have been identified, while the rest remain anonymous IP addresses. Because Vanderbilt operates on an open Internet network, the RIAA is able to track down IP addresses, linking them to individual computers engaging in illegal music downloading.
The school itself, however, has been asked to give students' names to match their IP codes.
"We make the best interest to give the names," Frank said. "We live in Music City, and musicians ... are benefactors, and we often work with them. We have to be mindful of that. RIAA represents the music industry, and the music industry is right across the street. Some universities say they aren't going to do this, but we want to play nice with everyone."
According to Frank, the RIAA is more likely to go after college students because most colleges operate on open networks and therefore it is easier to track music pirates.
ITS and the Office of Student Conduct work together to track down and inform students of their imminent suits. The RIAA works in a three-pronged system for identifying and eventually attempting to settle with those students who are engaging in illegal downloading.
"They first send out copyright infringement notices, which say that they've noticed the following IP number has been illegally downloading music," Frank said. "They then send notice that they will file a suit against a student and send a subpoena. A final notification is one that offers a settlement option to the student, usually for $3,000."
Students who choose to ignore the settlement option and fight the suit in court often face fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Frank said.
ITS has been educating students of the risks of illegal downloading, as well as supplying legal options. VUMix offers Napster, Ruckus, MyTracks and Joost, all legal downloading options that work for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.
Frank estimates ITS has spent half a million dollars on the efforts to inform, educate and provide legal alternatives for the student community.
"We've negotiated very inexpensive deals for students," Frank said. "Napster is $2 a month and offers 3 million songs. We have also spent a lot money and time marketing them. We encourage these legal methods for downloading music."
