Copyright Infringement Letters Target LANs

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have sent letters to presidents of 40 universities in 25 states asking that they investigate possible illegal file trading on campus local area networks (LANs). The letters suggest that many students might think that trading copyrighted files across LANs is either not illegal or sufficiently shielded from copyright owners that it’s okay to do. The letters encourage recipients to see whether students are using applications such as Direct Connect (DC++), MyTunes, or OurTunes to swap files on LANs and, if so, to take actions to stop them. Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, faulted the RIAA and the MPAA for being out of step with the times. Music labels sent similar letters regarding Napster, he said. “Here we are, seven years later, and the problem from their perspective is bigger than ever.” The entertainment industry should make licensing arrangements with colleges and universities, he said, and “let the students do what they’re going to do anyway.”

CNET, 27 April 2006