BY JIM DAVIS and KENT WADA
4: The number of college students
(from Princeton University, Michigan Technological University
and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) sued by the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) for “massive”
digital infringement of copyrights. Settlements ranged from
$12,000 to $17,000.
2,500: The number of copyright infringement
claims sent monthly by the RIAA to American universities, alleging
that one or more music files were being offered to the entire
Internet community without permission to do so.
2.6 billion: An estimate of the number
of files — music, movies, games, software — being
illegally downloaded over the Internet every month by people
who do not have permission to do so.
What is the Internet? Some would say it is
a “digital copy machine” that can take a song, movie
or text of a book and pretty much instantaneously make millions
of perfect digital copies sent all around the world. This use
of the Internet — trading of copyrighted music, movies,
games and software — has become commonplace, using file-sharing
programs such as KaZaA or Morpheus. The catch, of course, is
that this is often illegal since the people offering such copyrighted
materials to others do not have permission to do so.
With possibly billions of dollars at stake,
the entertainment industry is aggressively exploring tools —
legal, technical and otherwise — to combat digital piracy.
So is Congress. In March, members of the House Subcommittee
on the Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet chided
universities for not doing enough to curb digital piracy. A
congressional Caucus on Intellectual Property Promotion and
Piracy Prevention is just being formed. There is a lot of attention
being paid to this complex area.
Automated search technology is being used to
scan the Internet for acts of copyright infringement, no matter
how small. And, most recently, the RIAA’s suit against
four students alleging copyright infringement has shown they
are willing to take their customers to court.
This should be a matter of significant concern
to anyone who engages in such illegal activity. Criminal prosecution
and legal action by copyright holders are a reality —
and there is little the University of California and UCLA will
be able to do to protect copyright infringers.
Further, as the Internet Service Provider to
the campus community, UCLA receives monthly dozens of infringement
claims about file-sharing. In compliance with both the law and
campus policy, UCLA takes action when notified of infringing
sites located on the campus network. All of these claims are
investigated, incidents of infringement are referred to the
appropriate campus officials and appropriate disciplinary actions
are levied against those who are intentionally downloading or
offering copyrighted materials without appropriate permission.
Of course, the very technologies being used
for illegal file-sharing purposes also have an increasing number
of exciting, legitimate applications, and research on such uses
of these technologies is rapidly growing in the academic community.
Keeping a balance between what sometimes feels like competing
goals — in addition to considerations of privacy, academic
freedom and innovation, all issues fundamental to our institution
— will be our continuing challenge.
Davis is associate vice chancellor of
information technology, and Wada is information technology security
and policy coordinator.
