February 14th, 2008
RIAA gets student names, can't do much with them
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was provided with a list of student names flagged as file sharers at Oklahoma State University when a judge threatened to hold the school in contempt. However, according to Ars Technica, because some of the students are represented by an attorney, RIAA cannot contact them directly to offer a pre-litigation settlement.
This has been the RIAA’s method of choice for dealing with file sharers in the past; however, because neither the University nor the students’ attorney will reveal which of the identified students are actually represented by council, the recording industry group has few options but to actually take this case to court.
Whatever the outcome of the trial, it seems likely that this particular round will be another precedent-setting bit of litigation. As the Ars article points out,
If nothing else, the OSU case serves as a reminder of the obstacles the RIAA has faced in its nearly-one-year-old legal campaign against college students. The labels have seen the Oregon Attorney General criticize their conduct in a case involving 17 University of Oregon students. In another case involving seven students at the College of William & Mary, a federal judge barred the RIAA from doing its usual end run around the legal system; seven months later the RIAA still doesn’t know the identities of the students.
Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
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