Inside:

Over the last few months, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has stepped up its campaign against illegal file sharing by initiating legal action against hundreds of college students, and University of Maryland students are not immune. A number of students have received “pre-litigation letters” stating that the RIAA has evidence that their IP addresses were used for copyright infringing activities and that they will be sued if they do not settle out of court with the organization. The decision-making window generally given to students for settlement decisions is very short — only 20 days. Students have reported settlement offers of between $3,000 and $4,000.

The RIAA identifies copyright infringement by monitoring file sharing networks and noting the IP addresses of computers connected to university networks. For some cases, the RIAA has chosen to take legal action. Its first step is to ask the university to forward the pre-litigation letters to the owners of the computers it has identified.

The university has agreed to forward these letters so that the students are aware of the allegations and can decide whether or not to seek a settlement. The university will not provide the RIAA with information about the students at this point in the process. Students are strongly encouraged to seek legal counsel as they consider the offer. The student legal aid offices on campus are available to provide advice, but they cannot represent students in court.

For those who do not settle, legal action is a distinct possibility. The university has

received subpoenas demanding the names of the owners of suspected computers on several of the unsettled cases. The university will provide any subpoenaed information as required by law. It may be possible to settle the matter after the initial deadline but before a court date; however, settlement amounts will most likely be higher in these cases.

This is not a matter to take lightly. The pre-litigation letters claim that the RIAA has the right to sue copyright infringers for $750 to $150,000 per work infringed. So far, the letters sent to Maryland students have referenced between 79 and 2,357 infringing files — a guilty verdict could easily add up to penalties in the millions of dollars. If you’ve received a letter, take it seriously and consider your options carefully. If you haven’t received a letter and don’t want to, be sure that you use legal services when you download songs and movies. Information on one option is available at www.oit.umd.edu/musicservice. If you’ve used peer-to-peer software to share copyrighted files in the past, disable or uninstall it and change your habits.

If you have any questions about copyright infringement or legal versus illegal means of downloading, please visit the Office of Information Technology’s PlayFair Web site at www.oit.umd.edu/PlayFair or contact Project NEThics at 301.405.8787 or nethics@umd.edu.

In early summer 2007, the University of Maryland joined the University System of Maryland in a multi-institution agreement to offer Ruckus Network, Inc.’s digital entertainment service to undergraduate and graduate students. Students will be able to access, for free, more than 3 million music tracks and, for a nominal fee, more than 4,000 movies, television shows, and music videos.

Through this legal, virus-and-spyware-free service, students have unlimited access to songs in the Ruckus music library, which are available for download and playback on a laptop or desktop. Once downloaded, students have the ability to play the tracks as often as they want on up to two unique computers. Other benefits of the service include the ability to download albums in less than a minute, to get new music every

week, and to check out exclusive artist and music label spotlights, interviews, and photos.

In addition to access to its library of more than 3 million songs, Ruckus offers other services that can be purchased for nominal charges. For those wishing to download songs to compatible portable players, there is “Ruckus-To-Go” for $20 per term. Those who wish to burn songs to CD can purchase tracks for 79-99 cents each and albums for $9.99 each on average.

Ruckus’ social networking features let students create and share playlists, send personal music recommendations to friends, build personal media libraries, browse classmates’ profiles, meet new friends, and view University of Maryland-specific download popularity lists.

The Ruckus Network replaces the Cdigix digital music service, which was available at no cost to eligible students between spring 2005 and spring 2007.

Ruckus is also available to University of Maryland faculty, staff, and alumni for a subscription charge of $8.99 per month. Educators who would like to use the service for educational purposes in the classroom will have access to free accounts. Students, faculty, and staff at Maryland can begin using the service immediately by visiting www.Ruckus.com, clicking on “Join Ruckus,” and entering a umd.edu e-mail address.

In addition, OIT facilitated the arrival of iTunes U on campus, giving faculty and students easy access to educational content such as podcasts and providing iPod users and members of the Macintosh community with additional sources of legal audio and video content.

More information about the University of Maryland’s legal service offerings can be found at www.oit.umd.edu/musicservice.

“PlayFair” Information Campaign Launches
This Fall

Do you want to know more about:

• The risks associated with illegal file sharing and downloading?
• U.S. copyright law and the university’s rules on the responsible use of campus IT resources?
• Legal music and video subscription services?

Check out OIT's new information campaign at

www.oit.umd.edu/PlayFair