Students beware, your file sharing days might be limited.
The Recording Industry Association of America planned to sue 20 people from MSU on Tuesday for illegal file sharing. The lawsuits are part of 405 suits filed by the industry aimed at 18 institutions across the country.
RIAA's latest push marks the largest amount of MSU network users sued for copyright infringement thus far. From May 2004 to January 2005, 13 users were sued by RIAA.
MSU students who indulge in file-sharing activities need to be aware that RIAA is coming down hard on the practice. Regardless of your opinion on file sharing, it is an illegal activity and if you do it, you are at risk.
Students who use university computers to share files can be easily targeted. MSU must turn over the names of people who are suspected of file sharing on the MSU network if it is faced with a subpoena.
Repercussions of RIAA lawsuits aren't light, either. The industry is not letting the fact that many of these people are students without a lot of money detract it from lawsuits. It seems to be just the opposite. The industry is suing students to make sure people get the message that file sharing is wrong. At least four MSU users taken to court have settled for about $3,000. For students who need to take loans just to cover the cost of classes, that kind of cash can be remarkably hard to come by.
Although RIAA continues serving these lawsuits, file sharing still seems to be fairly widespread on MSU's campus. Beyond landing you in court, these practices can inconvenience other users. Downloading files can take up to 80 percent of the bandwidth on some university networks. To combat this, MSU limited the upload speed of computer connections in residence halls.
In an era where all the free music and movies you've ever wanted are just a few clicks away, it might be hard to resist the temptation to take advantage of file sharing. But for those willing to take that risk, it's important to realize that you might end up on the wrong side of a serious lawsuit.
