UT recently ranked as one of the highest in the number of students who received letters from the Recording Industry Association of America, out of 26 institutions that were contacted for suspicious downloading activity.

The association sent letters to 75 UT students last week regarding illegal file sharing. The most recent batch of warnings is part of more than 5,000 pre-litigation settlement letters sent since February 2007. The RIAA began prosecuting individuals in September 2003 in efforts to fight the increased use of illegal music-downloading programs.

UT Legal Services for Students is working with students involved in this wave of settlement letters by providing legal counsel and interpreting the types of violations.

"Our lawyers are swamped with these recent letters," said April Vaughn, administrative associate for the Office of the Dean of Students. "They usually handle 75 percent of these cases involving UT students."

These letters are the second step of a four-level notification system. While many students are initially sent standard alleged violation warnings, any level may be issued at any time. The RIAA may also request records of a student's network use from the University without their knowledge and eventually issue a subpoena.

Music piracy causes $12.5 billion in global economic loss, including job loss, tax revenues and a decrease in corporate income, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Policy Innovation. Universities are required to provide information about the users, or students, who are detected downloading illegally on their networks. More than 150 schools had been contacted as of February 2008.

More than half of all college students have illegally downloaded music or shared files, according to the association. UT Information Technology Services is the office responsible for reporting user information to the association. ITS provides information on ways students can avoid illegal-downloading programs and legal consequences. According to ITS, if recipients do not respond to settlement letters, they will face lawsuits. The average settlement for students caught illegally downloading is around $3,000.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools