University of Wisconsin-Madison Bucks RIAA

stephencrane informs us of an interesting development at UW Madison. The school, along with many others, has been sent "settlement letters" by the RIAA with instructions to forward them to particular students (or other university community members) that the RIAA believes guilty of illegal filesharing. The letters order the assumed filesharers to identify themselves and to pay for the content they are supposed to have "pirated." The university has sent a blanket letter to all students, reiterating the school's acceptable use policies, but has refused to forward individual letters without a valid subpoena. This lawyer's blog reproduces the letter. The campus newspaper has some coverage on the university's stance.

in other news...

University of wisconsin's enrolments skyrocket.

That's nothing!

I was singing in the shower the other morning and I was greeted by a lawyer with a letter before my nipples had a chance to harden in the cold post-shower air. (In my defense I contend that I was not in violation because I don't actually know all the words and I was just singing the chorus parts that I was reasonable sure of...)

Re:That's nothing!

the big question now of course is are you male or female....

You must be new here...

Re:That's nothing!

I was singing in the shower the other morning and I was greeted by a lawyer with a letter...

You can only be prosecuted for a public peformance, which raises some interesting questions about your bathroom...

Re:That's nothing!

..and of the lawyer.

Re:That's nothing!

I think you'll find that the RIAA has that covered:

1) If you live in an apartment building or townhouse, or if your house is sitting on less than a half-acre of land; or if you share your domicile with roomates who are not part of your immediate family;

OR

2) If you are showering in a locker room, dormitory, or other public washroom facility;

THEN your bathroom is deemed to be public and you are subject to prosecution. If your house is situated on more than a half-acre and is shared by members of your immediate family (defined as your spouse, parents, siblings, or children under the age of 21), your bathroom is deemed to be private. HOWEVER, you are advised to make provisions by not singing in the event you are entertaining houseguests.

I understand they're working on sensing devices for shower heads. You should check with your local Home Depot to arrange to purchase your retrofit kit. New shower heads will be sold with the device already installed.

Re:That's nothing!

"You can only be prosecuted for a public peformance"

The RIAA will simply argue in favor of Cartesian dualism - that in fact the mind is a separate entity/observer, viewing the performance of the body, and is therefore an audience member, thus making it a public performance.

Re:That's nothing!

which raises some interesting questions about your bathroom...

Are you saying it's not supposed to be in the front yard?

Response to a subpoena

I think instead of the blanket statement that they will submit to a subpoena, they should have narrowed it to a subpoena for an alledged violator. Anything less may open the university to full access to student and campus network server logs in a driftnet subpoena. That should be fought tooth and nail.

Re:Response to a subpoena

So you're saying that in certain cases the university should choose to be in contempt of court?

No! I'm suggesting an over reaching subpoena should be contested. For example, an RIAA subpoena for your ISP for the infringer using IP x.x.x.x at 2:50 UCT on Jan 24 2007 is proper. Asking your ISP for all subscriber logs, port usage including times, and to whowm they connected to is over reaching and a fishing trip for evedince of activities they have no knowledge about.

Do you think Comcast will give all subscriber records to the RIAA to troll through for everyone who connected to a Torrent Tracker with just a simple subpoena? The subpoena has to have evidence to support it and it can't be over reaching the evidence.

There is a reason the RIAA does not have all the server logs from Comcast, Qwest, and every University. They have asked in the past. Fishing trips into ISP server logs and subscriber databases isn't allowed.

That doesn't keep the RIAA from trying to get a fishing license anytime possible in an investigation.

Madison is UW, Milwaukee is UW-M

In Wisconson, "UW" refers to Madison. "UW-M" usually refers to Milwaukee.

Re:Madison is UW, Milwaukee is UW-M

Actually, as someone from Wisconsin who now lives in Seattle, I can tell you the difference is in the pronounciation.

In Wisconsin, it is "you-double-you"
In Seattle it is "you-dub"

I have no opinion on why Washingtonians are too lazy to pronounce abbreviations fully.

Additionally, as a proud alum, the University of Washington was still a mud pit when the University of Wisconsin was shaping the minds of influential thinkers.

Re:Madison is UW, Milwaukee is UW-M

I have no opinion on why Washingtonians are too lazy to pronounce abbreviations fully. Additionally, as a proud alum

Is it as lazy as a Winconsonian not writing a complete word? Shouldn't that be "alumnus" or "alumna" [wikipedia.org]?

well

They're not so much "Standing up to the RIAA", they're merely asking for due process in the form of a proper subpoena. The RIAA has enjoyed a remarkable level of convenience up until this point with regards to their university settlements, it will be interesting to see if they actually bother to take the time to get the required paperwork together. All of their other cases that have shown up in the media have seemed pretty slapdash, at best.

Re:well

why did they send the notices to the university, if they knew the exact students?

From the tone of the question I'm sure you already know the answer, but presumably because they think:

1. universities will cave-in rather than risk any involvement in a law suit
2. students will be forced to pay if the university is involved, because the few thousand dollars settlement is nothing compared to the tens of thousands at risk if the student gets kicked off their course.
3. because they're a bunch of fucking thugs with morals that make Hitler look like a guy you'd want to marry your daughter.

Oh fuck... I think I've just Godwinned myself.

Re:well

Oh fuck... I think I've just Godwinned myself.

If there isn't special dispensation given when discussing the fascist scum-sucking parasite nazi's that are the *IAA, there damned well should be.

University of Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee is UWM. The University of Wisconsin - Madison is UW-Madison.

Original Email Text

I didn't RTFA, but I did get a chance to RTF email!

Subject: UW-Madison copyright compliance notice
Date: 03/16/2007

The recording industry is threatening lawsuits against those who may have engaged in illegal file sharing. They are currently targeting students who live in university residence halls. Recently, UW-Madison and other universities have been notified that they will receive settlement letters that are to be passed on to the individuals whom the senders believe to be guilty of copyright infringement. Consistent with current network management procedures and our understanding of federal law, UW-Madison does not plan to forward these letters directly to campus network users. We will, of course, comply with a valid subpoena.

However, if the UW-Madison is given cause to believe that a student, faculty or staff network user may have infringed on copyrights, it will take action. University network policies empower the CIO to terminate that person's network access until the matter is resolved. The Dean of Students office (for students) or supervisors (for employees) will be notified and other disciplinary action may be taken, as appropriate.

Unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted works is illegal in many circumstances, and a violation of the university's Appropriate Use Policy. Please be advised of your rights and responsibilities under these rules. For more information, see: http://www.doit.wisc.edu/security/policies/appropr iate_use.asp [wisc.edu]

Fun stuff--Pretty glad I'm out of the dorms. Maybe I'll get one of these from Charter...

But...

doesn't Purdue just throw the letters out and not even notify the student at all?

I've *almost* been saying this for years:

" B uck the RIAA"

A good step

But there is a vastly simpler way to stand up to the RIAA on matters like this.

Erase your logs after a short period of time. Don't keep a record of what IP address was allocated to what account at any given time.

Then if the RIAA shows up, not simply with letters, but with lawsuits and court orders, you still can simply say "don't have the info."

This is what librarians do at many libraries. After you return the book, they destroy the circulation record. There is no record of what books you have read.

Yes, this means giving up using the logs for your own enforcement activities done after the fact. You can have a live database, or even keep the records for a few hours if you want to respond to problems same day. After that, no luck. But why is that so terrible? It's not like people who want to be anonymous for something truly nasty can't find an open wireless node these days. Main problem is that IT admins can't bear the thought of giving up control.

However, this would save the universities a ton of money (no need for legal department to handle requests) and it would also save the students a ton of money ($4000 per student served, $3000 with the "discount") which they could be spending on education.

how it should be

This is how it should be. No company (or school) should give out anything just because they got a letter. A court order should be the only time they give anything up. Sadly this does not seem to be the case. It must be cheaper for them to just cave to demands than fight them. Customers just dont care.

"bucks RIAA"? hardly

As most people on this site are aware of, the RIAA has been sending letters like this to colleges all over the country for years now. I'm sure the language changes, basically trying to pry open cases that they can then use to prove that University networks are somehow responsible for the continued "piracy".

Wisconsin's response is totally in keeping with the practices of any of the major universities that have recieved such letters. And the fact that they said, "show us a court order, and we'll do it" is not "bucking" anything, unless following the law is now rebellious ("bizarro!").

Extortion?

It seems to me that the threat of a lawsuit unless one pays up is exactly what constitutes extortion. Anyone know of any cases where people are standing up and taking legal action against the RIAA/corporations the RIAA is representing?

This is *BAD* for the 'little guy'.

The University ... has refused to forward individual letters without a valid subpoena.

Well-intentioned, but ultimately VERY BAD for the "little guy'.

Think about it. Instead of giving the students who tick off the RIAA a warning, they won't tell the students anything is going on until they're subpoenaed (read: summoned to court).

God, what a stupid move. This is just going to end up depriving the RIAA's victims of any sort of advance warning. GOOD ONE, UW-M!

Response to the RIAA Letter

To whom it may concern among the lawyers for the RIAA.

We the staff here at the UW-Madison take allegations of piracy on our network most seriously. Rest assured that we have the situation under control, and there is no need for further action on your part. We have identified the students that you have claimed as being engaged in illegal file sharing, and disciplinary action has been taken.

Specifically, the students in question were all freshmen ladies who did not fully realize the gravity of their actions. In three days, we will hold an assembly of all the entire student body and faculty in the stadium. At this time, all of these young, nubile miscreants will be properly paddled as punishment for their illegal actions.

Again, no further action is required upon your part. Thank-you for bringing this situation to our attention. The disciplinary ceremony will be posted to Youtube as soon as possible.

Coridally,

The Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Just How Cost-Effective Are the **AA Tactics?

This is kinda OT (off the specific topic of this case, but not the general topic of **AA extortion), and maybe naive on my part, but I wonder how cost-effective these efforts really are. I mean, even while trying to do an end run around due process (remember when we used to have that in our legal system?), they still have to patrol the P2P nets to find infringing files, determine who is downloading them, trace IP addresses and try to match them up with individuals, determine which files on their computers correspond to specific copyrighted works, then strong-arm those individuals, etc. Has anyone done a study to determine how many man-hours (and at what cost) the RIAA expends per alleged infringer vs. how large of a "settlement" they offer? Is all of this really a major cash cow for them, or are they more interested in the deterrence factor -- i.e., knowing they will never catch all of the file sharers, or even a majority, but believing that for every nastygram they send out and every settlement they extort, they think that through publicity (press and personal word of mouth) they will "scare" X number of additional infringers into abandoning their activities?

Terror tactics.

How cost-effective are suicide bombings?

You kill 2-5 people, you destroy maybe $3000 worth of property. One would think this is hardly worth the effort and sacrifice.
But 5 or so such bombings costed Egypt a few billion dollars in lost tourism profits.

RIAA doesn't do this to profit from the lawsuits, but to stop people from using P2P. Create enough fuss around it, make people afraid of using it, show that no matter who you are, 8yo girl, mother of 8 kids, old granny, a guy after stroke, you're not safe. They don't care that you hate them, just like you hate the terrorists. They just want to scare you.

Go Madtown

Having been to UW several times, Madison and UW is, and always will be one of my favorite places. It just went up a few notches. Go MADTOWN!!!!!

Long history of rebellion

UW has a long history of being a center of political activism, as far back as I can remember. Some of my oldest memories are the riots in Madison protesting the Viet Nam war.

Another incident I remember is a student body president who raided the student association funds to create a life size copy of the head of the Statue of Liberty and the torch and park it out on the frozen lake one winter. Instead of getting kicked out for wasting funds, they were re-elected by a landslide and followed that trick by covering the commons with pink plastic flamingos. The details are hazy but that's mostly accurate.

This is the school that for years had the Budweiser song as the unofficial school song. They'd play that song before football games and the entire stadium would shutter from tens of thousands of people stomping their feet in time to the music and at the end yelling, "When you say Wissss-con-sin. You've said it all!"

It's the town where a man got arrested for walking naked down State Street at 2 am. In those days he would not have attracted the attention of the police even then had he not been dragging a dead muskrat at the time. The cops said they stopped to ask where he got the muskrat.

The point is if there was going to be any place that would tell the clueless mofo's at RIAA to go stuff it's little surprise it would be UW.

So do people still go to the Stone Hearth (aka The Stone Hole)? Used to listen to this really loud little band there...you may remember then as Cheap Trick.

Go Badgers!

The UW has always been keen on social issues. It's good to know they're still sticking to their guns these days. Maybe some of the other U's will step up and take notice.

Missing letter

This lawyer's blog reproduces the letter.

So, where is the link to the letter sent by the RIAA? I couldn't find it.

So basically, what the RIAA is saying

Kids, when you grow up and get a job and have money, please, PLEASE don't buy any music from us. I personally know I pirated a lot of music when I was younger (er still in school..only 23 now)and before I got a nice job out of college. Now I have a job, and money and I respect the copyrights. I will not, however, buy any new stuff because it's mostly bull and the RIAA gets too big of a slice, and I do not support them because of all these hard ball tactics. But one of the first things I did was go buy every Led Zeppelin album ever made because I had all of the music just wanted to own it. Most of the time, at least in my circle of friends, if something is deserving of being purchased..it is. As it is, I RARELY if ever buy any new CD's (yes most of the music does suck) because of the way the RIAA has handeled everything. I tend to just stick with the radio now.

UW warned 68 may face lawsuits on downloads

UW warned 68 may face lawsuits on downloads [madison.com]

The Recording Industry Association of America says it is targeting 68 people on University of Wisconsin System campuses for litigation over copyright infringements.

[snip]

UW heroic or hust efficient?

To me it seems like UW simply wants to treat its students like adults and not dedicate half a day of someone's time to tracking down a particular student from an IP address to give them an opportunity at a better settlement deal.

Pluses: No need to waste time on cases not worth a subpoena, no need to act as an intermediary, no need to provide bandwidth to students who are subpoena'd. Cheap and easy all around!

Minuses: For the student - no chance for a cheap settlement, judgment on public record which harms credit and employability.

If I were a pirate, I wouldn't necessarily be cheering this decision.

Great News

I am truly gratified by the University of Wisconsin's courageous stance against the RIAA's reign of terror. It's a pleasure to see a university standing up for its students instead of acting as a mindless enforcer for big corporations. Wisconsin is a great institution; and this is but another example of what makes it great. If I was a high school student trying to pick a college, or a parent of one, I would take heed: here is an institution that recognizes its educational mission.

Re:The Badger Herald?

"Perhaps because it runs os x?"

Probably run by that idiot Mac zealot who did the pointless "hack my mac" [slashdot.org] (and DoS my employer's network in the process) contest a while ago.

Re:The Badger Herald?

The Badger Herald is an independent (not supported by the school) student newspaper on the UW-Madison campus. Since they don't get University hosting, I sincerely doubt that they spend enough money on servers/bandwidth etc. to survive a slashdotting. Don't worry. You're probably not missing much more than a rehash of the email.

Re:What a load of shit..

The University is in no way responsible for what students do on their networkNo, but it's up to them as to what policy they enforce on the students regarding network usage. If they say "no piracy", that's their perogative. This isn't the RIAA trying to bully the University into enforcing the law, this is the RIAA bullying the University into providing evidence against the students (they weren't interfering more than a witness interferes with any other case). The Uni was unfazed and asked for a subpoena. End of story.

Re:What a load of shit..

This is /. If you can't pick up where the breaks are in the thought from someone who forgot to change to plaintext, forgot to preview, or forgot to tag their quotes and paragraphs you haven't been around long enough.

Re:Obligatory...Badgers

Badgers Badgers Badgers a Snake a Snake Badgers

Magic Mushroom!

Re:low moral

Is it really a problem? Are they making record profits? More importantly, do you really think it can be stopped?

Why does the "Spies like Us" DVD cost $16 when the VHS costs $6? Is the movie itself worth 6 or 16? Which is it?

What happened to lower prices for CD's as touted by the RIAA in the late 80s/early 90's? What occured that a medium that costs lest to produce actually increased in price?

It's too bad that the RIAA has become as greedy as they are. They have no one to blame but themselves for piracy, and nothing you can do will stop it. You can shut down P2P, and people will have LAN parties. Let me ask you this: The parties you love so much, are you paying the RIAA to play the music for a crowd? You or the host of the party should be, but just try to bring that up and see how many people want you drinking their beer. If you attend any party that isn't paying royalty for the music, you are a hypocrite. You are part of the problem, Mr. Holier than thou.

Once people pirate once, they don't think about it much the 2nd time. Make things reasonably priced, luxury or not, and I doubt people will be so willing to break the law.

I used to pirate, but now it's pointless. Most music is crap and I can just use iTunes for the 1 good song on any record. One thing you and the music industry must learn is that a song stolen does not equal a lost sale.

Re:Obligatory...Badgers

Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!

Sorry.

Re:low moral

Then tell me this- why do CDs (not the pirated ones- real, licensed ones) cost less in China than in the States? When the same CD costs $7.50 [ebay.com] to buy in China and $19 [ebay.com] to buy in the US there's something wrong (I didn't want to compare Amazon to eBay China but I couldn't find any online stores for China, mainly because in China there's a little wiggle room in pricing called haggling that simply can't be done online). Now, the Chinese CDs all say "not for sale outside China"- wonder why? They want to keep Americans paying more because htey know that Americans are willing to pay more than Chinese people. Of course, I mainly buy pirated CDs because the selections of licensed CDs are limited (There's only so much Ayu I can stand).