Pressure from the Recording Industry Association of America

(RIAA) against illegal file sharing has reached Iowa State.

Although no lawsuits have been filed against ISU students,

letters are frequently sent regarding students sharing files

illegally, said Paul Tanaka, university attorney.

“[We get] weekly contact on students sharing files,” Tanaka

said.

Last year, Iowa State was contacted approximately 300 times, up

from previous years, said Michael Bowman, assistant director of

Academic Information Technologies. Bowman is the contact point for

the RIAA, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and

other groups representing specific organizations.

“[The year before, the notices numbered] less than 100, and in

general I don’t think we were receiving notices before that,”

Bowman said.

Bryan Nguyen, senior in computer science, said although students

are aware of the illegality of file-sharing, he doesn’t think the

RIAA will catch many students in the act.

“I think it’s a pretty bad idea to share files illegally,” said

Nguyen. “I’d be happy to get files for free, but would feel bad if

I got caught.”

“[It’s like] a fish in the sea — it might take them ten years

to get to you, or it might take an hour,” he said.

Attempts are also being made to improve the legality of

StrangeSearch, a search engine on the university’s network.

“I’m trying to change the system so that it becomes an opt-in

indexing system,” said Vic Vijayakumar, current administrator for

the popular file indexing program. Vijayakumar is also the online

editor for the Daily.

By making StrangeSearch an opt-in indexing system, Vijayakumar

said file sharers are putting the legal responsibility on

themselves by saying “index me.”

“It will relinquish the search engine of all legal

responsibilities,” Vijayakumar said.

Vijayakumar said he wanted StrangeSearch to become what it was

originally intended for — to download music from bands when the

official band Web site is too busy. Vijayakumar said other benefits

of StrangeSearch are locating work — movies, music, etc. — done

by ISU students and alumni.

The RIAA recently filed four lawsuits against individual

students at other universities who had set up file sharing

services, according to Cnet.com reports. In all four cases the RIAA

settled out of court, with students making payments to the RIAA

ranging from $12,000 to $17,000.

Recently, the Konsole Request System, a request-based sharing

service, was pulled down by its administrator, Mike Wesner,

Vijayakumar said. The university sent a link of a Cnet.com article,

‘Campus file-swappers to pay RIAA.’ The article was about a RIAA

crack-down of illegal file sharing at other universities to the

administrator, he said.

“Mike said he took the system down when the university counsel

told him the RIAA might be taking an interest in file sharing at

this university,” Vijayakumar said.

Bethany Schuttinga, interim assistant Dean of Students for

judicial affairs, said the university is concerned for students in

light of recent lawsuits.

“I wish students would understand that the implications could be

very significant in the criminal courts should they be the

individuals who are found responsible for violating the law,” said

Schuttinga. “We want students to be educated and make good choices.

We don’t want our students to have to experience the

consequences.”

The lawsuits are part of a larger battle the RIAA is waging

against those sharing files illegally.

“I’ll speak for myself, it’s not a surprise to me,” Schuttinga

said, “You’ll continue to see more of it, especially as cases are

won.”

In terms of a long term solution, there seems to be no

consensus.

“I don’t think people will stop sharing [files],” Nguyen said,

“[If] they stop sharing publicly, they’ll share files only within a

small group.”

Speaking about both the RIAA and the file sharers, Tanaka

indicated some sort of compromise.

“I think there has to be some adjustment on both sides,” he

said.