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April 27, 2006
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The perceived security and privacy of these campus LANs give many students incentive to engage in activity they have otherwise learned is illegal and unacceptable.
"We are appreciative of our partners in the university community and all they have done in recent years to tackle the problem of digital piracy at campuses across the country," said RIAA President Cary Sherman. "Despite the progress achieved by our collaborative efforts, this remains an ever-evolving problem. We cannot ignore the growing misuse of campus LAN systems or the toll this means of theft is taking on our industry. As we prioritize our focus on campus LAN piracy in the coming year, we hope administrators will take this opportunity to fully evaluate their systems and take action to stop theft by all means."
MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said, "Universities are taking action in a host of ways to address the problem of piracy on campus. We are working to provide as much information as we can to help make those efforts effective, and to stay on top of emerging trends in intellectual property theft. Providing information about LAN systems serves to raise awareness and encourage action."
In letters sent today, the RIAA and MPAA notified 40 university presidents of information indicating campus LAN piracy problems on their campuses. The universities receiving these letters are located in the following 25 states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, DC.
The letters encourage administrators to review the use of their computer networks and, if appropriate, take steps to stop and prevent such theft. Blocking and filtering devices are currently available to help administrators restrict inappropriate use of a campus network.
In April 2003, the RIAA brought lawsuits against the student operators of four campus LAN networks at three schools. In the wake those enforcement actions, university administrators pulled down at least a dozen campus LAN servers where music theft had been prevalent. Since then, in addressing university file- sharing, campus LAN piracy is increasingly identified as a key challenge by lawmakers in Congress as well as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities.
"Campus LAN piracy is not new, yet the problem has taken on new urgency," Sherman said. "We know from past experience that bringing this problem to light can effect real change. We are hopeful that this new systematic program will yield even more positive results."
| April 27, 2006 Dear President (NAME): As you may know, the entertainment community has become increasingly concerned about illegal file sharing on universities' Local Area Network (LAN) using such programs as Direct Connect (DC++), MyTunes/OurTunes (both well-known hacks of Apple's iTunes software) and other similar programs. Our industries have recently launched a systematic program to identify and curtail campus Local Area Network ("LAN") piracy. We write today to inform you that we have information indicating such a problem exists at (SCHOOL). Digital piracy, especially on campuses, is an ever-evolving problem and it requires sustained and targeted vigilance. There has been much attention paid to the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted movies and music on peer-to-peer ("P2P") file-sharing systems. While the majority of this illegal activity occurs over the public Internet, students at colleges and universities have been increasingly using campus LANs to set up similar systems without using the broader public Internet. The perceived security and privacy of these campus LANs give many students incentive to engage in activity they have otherwise learned is illegal and unacceptable. The copyright community has been aware of the misuse of campus LANs since 2003, when lawsuits were brought against students at three schools. Yet the proliferation of these systems and the growing share of the college piracy problem attributable to them have prompted us to prioritize this aspect of campus piracy as a key focus for the upcoming academic year. In the wake of previous litigation, university administrators pulled down at least a dozen campus LAN servers where movies and music theft had been prevalent. We are hopeful that this new systematic program will yield even more positive results. Illegal activity, whether on the public Internet or a school's local intranet, is universally troubling. In addition, these mini-networks, while cutting down on the use of Internet bandwidth, still use valuable university resources. Fortunately, there are steps that administrators can take to ensure that a school's computing network is not compromised in this way. While illegal file-sharing on campus LANs can be difficult to detect for those outside the school network, such activity is detectable by school administrators. An internal investigation would confirm whether your school's resources are being abused in this way and would allow you to shut down activity that, in addition to being illegal, is undoubtedly a violation of your computer-use policies. Blocking and filtering devices - such as RedLambda's cGrid and Audible Magic's CopySense - are available to help administrators restrict inappropriate use of a campus network. In addressing university file-sharing, campus LAN piracy is increasingly identified as a key challenge by lawmakers in Congress as well as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities. Public recognition of campus LAN piracy by these leaders is further indication that this problem is moving to the forefront of concern. As you are no doubt aware, these issues are critically important to not only us, but to all communities that value the protection of copyright and intellectual property. We look forward to working with you as we continue to pursue a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy on college campuses: promoting educational efforts; working with university administrators on technological solutions and offering legal music and movie services; and when necessary, enforcing our rights as appropriate. Sincerely, /s/ Cary H. Sherman President Recording Industry Association of America /s/ Dan Glickman Chairman and CEO Motion Picture Association of America |
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