Recording industry cracks down on students at university

Princeton receives notice that 39 students will receive subpoenas.

By: David Campbell
   The Recording Industry Association of America has notified Princeton University officials that it will subpoena the school for the names of 39 students who — the association alleges — committed copyright infringement through online music sharing, sources at the university said this week.
   Princeton spokesman Eric Quinones indicated Wednesday the university plans to cooperate with the RIAA, and he affirmed the school’s commitment to honoring intellectual property rights.
   The spokesman said Princeton received 39 notices beginning last week from the RIAA alerting the school that it would be served with subpoenas to obtain information on people responsible for computers associated with the alleged acts of copyright infringement. He said he could not confirm any details of the activities alleged by the RIAA.
   Mr. Quinones said the university has notified the students responsible for those computers, letting them know that the notices were received. He said the school has not yet received any of the subpoenas.
   "If and when we do receive subpoenas, we would respond to the RIAA’s request for more information," the spokesman continued. "We have made our students aware of copyright infringement issues. Our campus guidelines clearly state that Princeton is committed to the protection of intellectual property rights."
   Mr. Quinones said the university would not be party to any lawsuit, but could provide students with a list of local attorneys. He said that if students are found to have engaged in any activity that infringes copyright-protected materials, they would be subject to disciplinary action.
   "We have a thorough disciplinary process that would be followed," he said.
   The RIAA reportedly may have detected students sharing copyrighted music over a network called i2hub. Another file-sharing network referred to as DC++ has also been cited as a possibility.
   The i2hub server bills itself as "an organization by students for students," according to its Web site. It employs university-based high-speed academic networks to link college users, a statement on the Web site said. The server is reportedly accessible to only about 206 member academic institutions, including Princeton.
   It is unclear how RIAA was able to track the alleged file sharing. An e-mail request to i2hub for comment went unanswered this week.
   Jenni Engebretsen, a spokeswoman for the RIAA, declined to comment on the matter.
   One of the accused students, who asked not to be named, confirmed receipt of an e-mail from the university Monday reporting that the RIAA was seeking the names and contact information for certain computer IP addresses. The student reported writing back and telling the truth, which the student said was that there is no file-sharing software — "period."
   The student added, "I was warned that I’m obligated by law to preserve all evidence, meaning I can’t alter anything on my hard drive. The most irritating thing is I don’t know what’ll happen next."
   The student admitted being scared about the small possibility of jail, saying, "The thing I’m most afraid of is a criminal charge," or potentially being sued for large sums of money.
   The accused student said that until the latest RIAA actions, some students on campus thought their online file-sharing activities were safe. And the accused student suggested the RIAA was nevertheless fighting a losing battle.
   "In the long term, the RIAA will always be one step behind and will not be able to stop this from happening," the student said. "Given the number of people who they can sue compared with the number of people who share music, they won’t be successful in stopping this in the long run."
   Princeton freshman John Curtius said he believed students have known that consequences existed but that they haven’t been in the forefront of their minds. He said it is unlikely the RIAA will see lasting results.
   "This might discourage college students from using certain file services temporarily, but ultimately, this won’t do anything," he said. "I think a lot of people are going to stop using i2hub for music downloading. They’re going to make sure not to get caught, but the only people stressing about this now are those directly involved."
   On Feb. 28, the RIAA, acting on behalf of the major record companies, announced it was launching copyright-infringement lawsuits against 753 illegal file sharers, including individual network users at 11 colleges. The suits cited the individuals for illegally distributing copyrighted music on the Internet via services such as Kazaa, eDonkey and Grokster, the RIAA said.
   In April 2003, the association sued Princeton senior Daniel Peng on allegations he ran a local Napster network on the university campus.
   In the last couple of weeks, the RIAA notified Columbia University and Harvard University of its intent to subpoena them for student information related to alleged copyright infringement, the Columbia Spectator and Harvard Crimson have reported.
   One Columbia student sued by the RIAA has claimed the only files the RIAA could have detected were on the i2hub network, long considered inaccessible to RIAA officials, the Spectator reported.
Special Writer Robert M. Bernstein contributed to this story.