The Recording Industry Association of America announced yesterday that it has filed a new round of lawsuits against illegal music file sharers at 21 universities across the nation, including Penn.
RIAA announced legal actions against a total of 532 file sharers, 89 of whom used "university networks to illegally distribute copyrighted sound recordings," according to an organization press release yesterday.
The RIAA does not know the names of the individuals being sued at this point, but will most likely acquire the information in the near future.
On average, those who have been targeted shared about 800 files on peer-to-peer network programs, according to an RIAA spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous. Examples of peer- to-peer programs that have been targeted include Morpheus, Grokster, Blubster and Kazaa.
This round of lawsuits follows the previously established "John Doe" process by which action is brought against a defendant who is unidentified. The lawsuit is technically brought against an Internet Protocol address a unique identifier connected to an individual's Internet connection requesting court subpoenas for further information.
"These lawsuits are part of a larger campaign against the stealing of music," the spokesperson said.
"Our goal is to lower the level of piracy, so that legitimate online music marketplaces can grow and thrive," the spokesperson said, adding that there are many legal ways to acquire music online.
The current wave of lawsuits is expected to follow the pattern established by the first wave earlier this year. So far, in the cases filed in January, the courts have granted preliminary subpoenas that would force ISPs to disclose the identities of the file sharers.
Students at other universities, including Drexel University, University of California at Berkeley, Georgetown University and Stanford University, have been targeted as well.
Penn is just one of the universities across the nation where the level of piracy still remains high.
"I download songs occasionally, so I am not really worried about the lawsuits," College freshman Ron Booker said. "It's really pointless to have selective lawsuits. It doesn't eliminate the problem. It just scares people."
"I don't think it really bothers me that much. There are so many people downloading that what are the chances of me being hit?" Engineering sophomore David Tomkins said. "I am not worried about it, I don't think Iwill be affected."
