MSU students might not have the convenience of downloading music and movies for free any longer if the university is forced to give out names.

MSU would invade students' privacy if they took the next step. On the other hand, students are on an MSU network and are using this network to illegally download music. MSU is then held accountable for these illegal activities. But MSU, as a public institution, needs to respect students' privacy and not allow the network to act as Big Brother.

The university has the capability to provide the names of students who are illegally downloading music from file-sharing programs such as KaZaA. MSU officials have not given out names and say they will warn students first, should it become an issue.

And MSU officials should not voluntarily incriminate students, but they should follow any laws passed and provide more information to the recording industry. The industry recently won its case last week making it easier for them to locate people who illegally trade copyrighted music.

MSU students download music illegally from KaZaA and other programs and some, such as no-preference freshman Frank Turbiak, have as many as 500 songs on file. This is a great disadvantage to record companies because fewer people are paying for their music. Compare spending $15-$20 for a CD to the number of songs students download a day and the numbers are astounding.

The university should not be obligated to help record companies unless a federal court says so. Even though the recording industry doesn't intend to hunt for names of students, they have not ruled it out just yet. Things could turn around and students would have to consider removing these programs from their computers.

It's a shady deal, but the university should follow the law if required. Let's not get MSU President M. Peter McPherson thrown behind bars because you needed the rare, acoustic version of Journey's "Open Arms."