The RIAA piracy fight makes it to the Ivy League

    This article summarizes the RIAA’s stand on colleges and illegal downloading. The RIAA has sent letters to 16 campuses including the University of Pennsylvania, informing the schools that illegal downloading is occurring on their campuses. The letters however, do not single out the students and faculty members accused. This article also discusses the RIAA’s motivation behind lawsuits. They say that lawsuits are not desirable, but are necessary considering the continuous downloading and the costs especially from students. Apparently, “college students accounted for more than 1.3 billion illegal music downloads last year”, leading to more than $2 billion in lost wages. The RIAA also argues that students would not use the ‘best practices’ when the alternative is free, leading them to believe that the lawsuits are completely necessary.

    This article offers opposition to my thesis, giving the RIAA’s point of view. By giving the information regarding the number of students who download illegally as well as the impact on revenue and jobs, college students are obviously an important aspect in the RIAA’s fight against illegal downloading. It also proves the serious nature of the RIAA’s battle because they have begun to go against larger and more financially powerful schools, such as the Ivy League as opposed to focusing just on the individuals. The universities who receive these letters from the RIAA are important to my topic because their situation exemplifies the changing nature of the reaction to file sharing. The RIAA has become so paranoid about college students file sharing that it is now pressuring universities to become involved.