Another ISU student has been named in a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America for file sharing. The student’s name and details of the lawsuit were not released.

“I think students who are file sharing should be worried, because they are increasing enforcement,” said Keith Bystrom, associate university counsel.

More than 700 lawsuits were filed in November involving all major Internet service providers and roughly 20 universities, Bystrom said. In the past six weeks, there has been an increase in searching for people sharing copyrighted material.

Bystrom said the focus on these lawsuits tends to be on service providers who have the capability to provide their customers with broadband connections that are suitable for downloading and sharing large amounts of material.

“They’re particularly worried about those who share them over a network,” Bystrom said.

When people share data, it gives the industry a door to walk through, Bystrom said. Sharing allows any person to see what is on the computer.

“I have seen photocopies of pages from a student’s computer,” Bystrom said.

He said that copy included a list of songs being shared.

Copyrights are normally held by the recording company, which is typically a member of the RIAA. The RIAA can pursue legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Action has been taken against some people with as few as 10 songs on their computer, Bystrom said, meaning the RIAA does not pursue only those with thousands of pirated files.

If a student is named in a lawsuit, ISU judicial officials follow a set process, said Andrew Alt, programs assistant for the Dean of Students Office.

If a student is suspected of illegal file sharing, the RIAA or the Motion Picture Association of America contacts Mike Bowman, assistant director of Academic Information Technologies. Bowman then contacts the Office of Judicial Affairs.

The student would then receive an e-mail from Alt telling him or her to delete the shared files. No judiciary actions are typically levied on the first notice.

If a second notice needs to be delivered, the process will be repeated; the student would then be charged with violating the Student Disciplinary Regulations, however. Typical action varies from probation to a disciplinary reprimand.

Alt said no ISU student has yet violated the policy three times.

If a student does not respond to Alt’s e-mails or administrative hearing notice, that student could lose access to the ISU network.

“We understand that the DMCA is often difficult for people to understand, and so it is our hope that this notification process between AIT and OJA can be used as a learning experience for students,” Alt said.