Jan. 13, 2:11 p.m.
Five years and nearly 35,000 lawsuits later, the Recording Industry Association of America is stopping its legal war against individuals for file-sharing activities.
The announcement comes as a relief for many students who worried about facing fines; however, the University has not yet determined how it will affect its policies, if at all.
Instead of filing lawsuits, the RIAA has signed "graduated response" agreements with several major Internet service providers to combat illegal file-sharing.
Individuals who are found to be in violation of piracy law will receive three warnings before their Internet service is suspended or cut off completely.
The organization plans to send an e-mail to the violator's ISP, reporting the file-sharing taking place. Depending on the specific agreement signed with the ISP, the e-mail will be forwarded to the customer or the ISP will simply ask the user to stop sharing files.
Previously, some of the loudest criticism against the RIAA stemmed from its subpoenas for ISPs to disclose customers' names. The organization hopes that the new policy will allay these privacy concerns.
See Wednesday's Daily Pennsylvanian for more information.
