Dozens of students and staff joined OIT on February 27, 2008 in the Stamp Student Union Atrium to discuss file sharing with an expert panel that included a GRAMMY award-winning artist, other talented musicians, and a university attorney with an expertise in copyright law. This event was part of OIT’s PlayFair campaign, which is designed to educate the university community about the dangers of online piracy and spread the word about legal ways to access digital media online.

Some students posed tough questions to panelists, while others presented their individual commentary about the controversial issue at the open microphone, town-hall-styled event.

Sophomore business major and Maryland Music Business Society president Alan VanToai was a forum speaker, advocating for a new business model in the music industry and offering a student voice among the music industry panelists. Cathy Fink, GRAMMY-winning producer, songwriter, and artist, and William Montgomery, a university professor in the School of Music and chair of the University Senate, were both on hand to explain how illegal downloading and file sharing hurts the financial livelihood of professional musicians.

Peter Opere, Director of Campus Sales for Ruckus, described the benefits of using Ruckus and explained how easy it is to download legally with Ruckus because of the University of Maryland’s official agreement for the digital entertainment service. Ruckus offers some downloading services to students for free and others to the entire university community at reasonable prices.

Other forum speakers included Anne Bowden, an attorney at the university with a specialty in copyright law and fair use, Gerry Sneeringer, the university’s Director of IT Security, and Amy Ginther, OIT’s Project NEThics coordinator.

“The forum was a great success,” said university Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jeff Huskamp, who moderated the event. “Students wanted answers about downloading and file sharing, and they received answers from guest panelists who presented various perspectives on the core issues of intellectual property and copyright law,” Huskamp concluded.

In addition to the forum, OIT provides an informational Web site and printable materials for the university community. The PlayFair Web site has a section specifically for university employees describing the potential legal and employment consequences of using the university’s network for illegal file sharing and offering information about legal alternatives.

For more information about the forum and the issues surrounding online piracy, please visit www.oit.umd.edu/PlayFair.