Universities Weblog

The University of Oregon has evidently decided that student privacy is more important than the record industry's desire to stop peer-to-peer downloading of copyrighted music. That's not really news, since the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been trying since August to get the university to release the names of 17 students who've download music in a manner the RIAA says is illegal.

What is news is that, "Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers filed court papers this week seeking to free the University of Oregon from having to identify students who illegally downloaded music." That's according to the Ashland Daily Tidings in Ashland, Oregon.

"University (officials) feel like they are being asked to do the investigation on behalf of the company when it's not really their role," according to stephanie Soden, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Justice quoted by the Daily Tidings.

Oregon's attorney general has made a couple of points. The 17 people named in the August suit by the RIAA are identified only by Internet addresses. Many times those addresses go back to a double occupancy dorm room - and the university has no way of determining which of the two occupants of the room downloaded the music file in question. Nor can they rule out the possibility that some student from another room on the floor happened to be in that room using the plug for Internet access when they download took place. Files downloaded over the wireless network at the school provide similar problems. The fact that a computer was logged onto the network with a particular user ID and password doesn't necessarily identify the particular culprit in the case of a specific download. The process begs the question of user ID security in a very casual computer use environment. The Privacy Digest has a good summary of the situation.

Oregon is the hot spot in the RIAA's war on downloading. The RIAA has targeted state run colleges and universities in its push to stop what it sees as illegal downloading of music files. The approach has been to identify downloaders by their IP addresses, file a lawsuit against them, present the college with the addresses, and then let the college (or other IP provider) do the work of tracking down the individual with access to that IP address. The college turns over the names and Internet users get served their subpoenas to come to court for the lawsuit. So far Oregon is the only state to refuse to comply with that process.

Oregon is also the scene of a class action lawsuit against the RIAA.

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