UC Berkeley goes after students for illegal downloads

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 19, 2007 | by John Simerman

University of California, Berkeley, students who download music illegally over campus computer networks will face the higher education version of a "time out" -- a week or more with no in-room Internet link.

The new policy comes as the entertainment industry ups the pressure on universities to deter legions of student pirates who share copyrighted music and videos.

A congressional committee this summer was pressing the issue, and some in Congress have proposed installing devices to monitor Internet traffic on campus networks.

Because it can't peg individual users, the Recording Industry Association of America for years has asked schools to help, sending them subpoenas or "take-down" notices with Internet addresses and time stamps for suspect downloads.

The university can then pinpoint the pirate and pass the notices on to students. Last school year, UC Berkeley received about 400 take-down notices, said Dedra Chamberlin, manager of residential computing services at UC Berkeley.

In February, the RIAA began sending out pre-litigation letters, offering students a chance to pay a settlement fee of $3,000 to $6,000 or face a lawsuit. Last spring, UC Berkeley received 16 pre- litigation letters aimed at students, Chamberlin said.

"We want to make sure students don't face a situation like that," she said. "We've been doing tons of education every year. We're ramping it up to the next level."

If the student ignored a take-down notice before, the university would shut down their connection. Now there will be no warning -- students will be automatically cut off for at least a week. A second offense under the new policy would bring the same result as before - - typically a one-month loss of in-room Internet access. Students who lose their connections can still log on at campus computer labs and other facilities, Chamberlin said.

"We want to make it painful so students really take this seriously, but we don't want to hamper their ability to get their academic work done," she said.

A recording industry spokeswoman said the industry group has sent more than 2,400 settlement letters to universities nationwide. About 900 have resulted in settlements.

A national survey last year found that half of university students have illegally downloaded music or video files. The industry claims huge losses from the practice and has successfully fought to shut down several illicit file-sharing services.

About 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students live in campus housing, and some students on Thursday said they expect gripes as most students return to campus next week.

"It'll scare people. They'll realize, 'I'm not invisible,'" said Muneeb Malik, 19, a junior biology major. "They'll probably protest in some sort of way, but what are they going to say: 'I want to download illegally'?"

Kelvin Black, a graduate English literature student who lives in a university apartment, said he knows many students who share files and will be upset by the new policy. Black, 28, saw it as an awkward attempt to address a complex problem.

"The industry is putting (the university) in the position of either harboring people who are breaking the law or doing something like this," Black said. "This issue is wrapped up in other issues, privacy. ... I don't think we've figured it out.

"Some students will probably perceive the university as being the strong arm of the RIAA. My hope is other students do recognize we do need to educate and inform them."

Each school in the UC system has its own policy for its residential computer networks. UC policy says the system does not monitor the content of traffic over its networks.

The focus is on educating students and staff on the importance of copyright protection. Incoming Cal students, for instance, attend a Learn Before You Burn workshop.

A key reason for the stepped-up policy, Chamberlin said, is to convince Congress that universities are doing enough.

"The entertainment industry is keen to monitor content on internal university networks," she said.

"Our hope is students will see we have to be very strong on education and enforcement if we want to be able to maintain an open and private network."