Warnings, fines in store for students caught pirating music, movies on campus network

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Anyone who thinks illegal downloading is a cheap entertainment alternative for a student on a budget should talk to Hannah Lankford.

During her freshman year, the Ohio senior was fined $4,000 by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegal downloads conducted through her LimeWire peer-to-peer client.

“I had no idea that it was illegal,” Lankford said. “I’ve never downloaded a song since.”

Kole Taylor, technical writer for Information Technology, said colleges are watched more closely than other Internet service providers.

Last year, Central Michigan University issued 1,372 of these warnings. However, no one was fined.

“We provide Internet to anybody who’s on campus, meaning we are more targeted by watchdog groups,” Taylor said. “Students need to be aware that they’re more likely to be caught.”

Taylor said statistics show illegal music and movie downloads make up the majority of online piracy. Usually a cease and desist order is e-mailed to any users caught using the CMU network to such ends.

Lankford had used LimeWire, a program used to share files between its network of users, only for music. She said she had downloaded 200 songs at the most.

When her friend was fined $1,250 for downloads, she removed all of the pirated materials, but later received an e-mail informing her she had been fined for $3,000.

“I thought it was a joke at first, so I deleted it,” Lankford said. “Then I got another one and they had raised the price.”

The price was increased because she failed to reply to the RIAA e-mail. Her fine was made harsher because of the large amount downloaded, she said.

“They showed that I’d downloaded hundreds of movies,” she said. “So they think someone must have stolen my IP address and used it and that’s how they caught me.”

Online piracy is monitored by watchdog groups hired by companies which protect intellectual property copyrights. These groups check outgoing traffic from the network and notify CMU of any illegal downloads detected.

“A lot of my friends have gotten those e-mails,” said White Lake sophomore Lauren Zaloga. “They basically said that ‘you were downloading something illegal and this is a warning, so don’t do it again.’”

The CMU Help Desk offers data wipes to clear the material from personal laptops for $100. If the downloaded amount is severe, a prelitigation is sent and the user will be sued.

That is what happened to Lankford.

“If I was warned, I wouldn’t have downloaded,” she said. “Use the legal sites where you have to pay because it’s not worth it.”

The Help Desk has FAQ pages as well as other information available for students about illegal downloading, how to avoid it and how to handle it if it does happen.

“The best way we can go about stopping piracy is to educate people about it,” Taylor said. “Basically if you think you’re doing something wrong, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”