For those who fear being fingerprinted for their music collection, the ISU Lectures Program is hosting a panel to discuss and explain the often confusing issues of file sharing.

Tuesday evening, a panel at the Maintenance Shop will be discussing and answering questions concerning file sharing on campus and the consequences that come with it.

The panel is made up of Mike Bowman, assistant director of Academic Information Technologies; Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and communication; and Bethany Schuttinga, assistant dean of students.

Schuttinga says one of the main issues related to file sharing is students commonly think they won’t be affected unless they share in large volumes.

“In my experience, students are uninformed and have na‹ve opinions about file sharing,” Schuttinga says. “People usually think it’s only those who share in large volumes, but it’s all over the board. Any student who shares illegally can face penalties.”

Bowman says he was asked to participate in the discussion because he must handle all of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaints received by Academic Information Technologies. He agrees that file sharing has become so commonplace, students often don’t consider the potential consequences.

“I think there’s an assumption that because a lot of people do it, it’s all right, but it’s not,” Bowman says.

Bowman says although file sharing is a problem on campus, he doesn’t think Iowa State is unusual in the number of copyright violators on campus.

“I receive about 20 complaints a month,” Bowman says. “I don’t think Iowa State has a more significant problem than other schools, but it’s still a problem. It is a problem at most universities of this size.”

Mack says this is largely due to the ease with which students can obtain files.

“The reason that it is so pervasive is the university runs big, fast, powerful computers,” Mack says. “It makes it easy to steal.”

At the lecture, Mack says she will stress the reality that illegal file sharing is a real crime.

“You can justify it anyway you want — record companies make too much money, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are overpaid — but the bottom line is, it’s still theft,” Mack says. “Would you walk into Target and steal a CD or go into Office Max and walk out with software? Because file sharing is just the same — it’s all stealing.”

What: “Is it Sharing or Stealing? File-sharing and Copyright Issues on Your Campus”

Where: M-Shop

When: 8 p.m., Tuesday

Cost: Free