UW warns music sharers

[LANjackal]

Story : http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/03/19 ... _share.php

The University of Wisconsin went against the national trends Friday by warning students about its policy regarding illegal file sharing but refusing to forward settlement letters to violators from the Recording Industry Association of America.

[piXelatedEmpire]

“It’s almost unimaginable that a university would be unwilling to help a student avoid a lawsuit,” Engebretsen said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. “Our pre-litigation settlement letters are offered as a benefit to university students to allow them to settle claims early, at a substantially discounted sum and off the public record.”

This boiled my blood no end. A BENEFIT!?! What a JOKE!

“These settlement letters are an attempt to short circuit the legal process to rely on universities to be their legal agent,” Rust said.
...
“We do not want to be a party to that; we are not the legal agent for the recording agency, nor do we aspire to (be).”

I think Rust is right on the money here; what the RIAA is trying to do is basically intimidate these students into settlements or face legal action and further fines all the while spouting such rhetoric as the first quote, "we are doing you a favour by offering you this settlement."

I hope more Universities respond to these letters from the RIAA in a similar way: remind their students of the Universities Internet use policy and NOT become an RIAA legal lapdog.

[Ne007]

This is an attempt to quickly get student's identification, because if they do not get it quickly they will not get it at all....as universities do not store ip information for long.

Next for the RIAA - make it law for Universities to hold IP information for 2 years....to stop terrorism of course. This law may be secretly funded by the RIAA.....

[Wham]

It's no secret at all that the RIAA and MPAA have lobbied the US Congress hard and fast to get unfair laws passed in their favor. I'm sure most Congressmen received adaquate compensation from the RIAA/MPAA to get these laws passed.

[MrFredPFL]

i wish i could remember the exact quote, and who said it, but a wise man once said, in as many words:

the only thing you can know for sure when a person says that everyone can be bought is that that person can be bought.