Update: As of early Dec., 2008, the RIAA is no longer pursuing lawsuits or pre-settlement letters as a means to combat online music sharing (read more from the Wall Street Journal). Please note that this does not change the University's policy against copyright infringement.
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Contrary to recent new articles and blogs (The Bellingham Herald, the Seattle PI, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and ars technica) that state that UW "officials say they won't pass along letters... until they can identify the students at fault", the University of Washington is forwarding RIAA pre-settlement letters. In accordance with the UW's stated policy, letters have been passed along to students. The University does not attempt to determine fault.
How many pre-settlement letters has the University received?
To date, the University of Washington has received 52 pre-settlement letters.
Has the University of Washington received any RIAA related subpoenas?
The University of Washington has been subpoenaed to provide names and contact information regarding 25 UW students.
What has been the average cost to settle?
It is reported that the average cost has been around $3,000 for the students who respond to the pre-settlement offer. However, the Copyright Act imposes a range of statutory damages for copyright infringement. The minimum damage under the law is $750 for each copyrighted recording that has been infringed ("shared"). Sharing 1,000 songs could result in penalties of $750,000 dollars or more.What file sharing programs does the RIAA target?
We have no information about what file sharing programs the RIAA targets. However, it is probably a fair assumption that any p2p file sharing application or protocol that enjoys any sort of popularity is being targeted.If the files that are transferred are encrypted is there a punishment for sharing those files?
The University does not condone any illegal activity on its computer networks. If you share a file for which you know you do not have the copyright holder's permission to do so, it is immaterial whether you encrypt the file, the mere sharing still constitutes a copyright violation.Both MAC and IP addresses can be spoofed and changed. How do you tie computers to people? What proof of identity is necessary?
While it is true that MAC addresses and IP addresses can theoretically be spoofed, we have various technologies in place that make such a practice less likely to be successful.I live in the dorms and leave my wireless router unprotected as a courtesy to other members of my floor. If someone uses a file sharing program though my router will there be penalties?
While it might be considered a courtesy by your fellow students on your Residence Hall floor that you leave you wireless router unprotected, this actually constitutes a violation of our wireless network policy.How do I disable a peer-to-peer program if I've already installed one?You as the owner and operator of that wireless router could be held responsible for any actions somebody might take online while using your wireless connection. We highly recommend you place some form of access controls on your wireless router.
UW Help Desk Consultants located at Odegaard Undergraduate Library and the Mary Gates Hall Computing Resource Center. will assistance students in the removal and cleaning of their computer from p2p and other malicious software.For do-it-yourselfers, the University of Chicago provides some of the most common peer-to-peer programs with links for instruction on how to disable file sharing on each one. Disabling Person-to-Person File-Sharing Programs
