The Record Industry Association of America's blitz of subpoenas last October hit a little closer to home than most Duke students may care to know--the organization has requested that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provide the identity of a system user who allegedly violated copyright laws with peer-to-peer software.
The RIAA has singled out an IP address and is requesting the name, address and e-mail address of the person to whom that address was issued.
UNC may seek protection under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which gives universities both the authority and responsibility to protect student education records, although David Parker, assistant general counsel to the university, would not confirm that the party involved is indeed a student.
"We don't expressly bar peer-to-peer software university-wide but we do prohibit people from violating the law through the use of our computer resources," Parker said. "There are some totally legitimate uses of peer-to-peer software, so there is a cost associated with blanket prohibitions."
Peer-to-peer software is also proving to be a security liability for many systems, as demonstrated by the rash of computer viruses it helped spread through the UNC-system, among others, earlier this semester. Peer-to-peer software has been prohibited in discrete parts of UNC, such as the dental school, where confidential medical information is stored on student computers.
In early October the RIAA sent letters to 204 "egregious file-sharers" across the country, alerting them that they were being targeted for a lawsuit and asked them to respond within a 10-day period to settle the issue out of court.
This wave of notifications resulted in 80 lawsuits on behalf of companies holding copyrights to songs allegedly shared via peer-to-peer software illegally. The RIAA's efforts have resulted in 156 settlements to date.
"The vast majority of service providers have responded to our subpoenas as they are obligated to under the law," said Jonathan Lamy, spokesperson for the RIAA. "This effort has been extraordinarily successful so far in communicating the fact that file-sharing songs has consequences."
Engaging in any file-sharing of copyrighted material is an infringement of copyright law, although the RIAA said they are targeting offenders who are suspected of file-sharing multiple materials, in the neighborhood of 1,000 files.
Tracy Futhey, vice president of information technology and chief information officer at Duke University, said that the RIAA's pursuit of the UNC-affiliated individual--who allegedly uploaded only nine files--suggests it is widening its scope beyond just major offenders.
Duke's bandwidth constraints, implemented last September, limit students from sending more than five gigabytes off-campus per day.
"[The bandwidth constraints have] had a positive impact on the amount of outbound traffic from the dorms, which indicates that it has made it easier for students to get their work done. We're no longer at the peak," Futhey said.
No Duke network computer user has received a subpoena from the RIAA, officials said.
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