U. of Maryland student may fight recording industry file-sharing lawsuit
Chris Yu
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: News
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (U-WIRE) - Jessica has a lot on her hands.
After she downloaded nearly 300 songs using LimeWire last year, the RIAA warned her that if she didn't agree to pay a $3,000 settlement, she could be sued. Saying the Recording Industry Association of America's demands were unfair, she refused to pay the settlement.
That means the University of Maryland University College accounting major could go to court and potentially be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. If she loses her case, she said, she could be out of options.
"I'll file for bankruptcy," she said.
Jessica is one of 38 students who received pre-litigation letters from the RIAA for illegal file sharing last year. During an Office of Information Technology forum on file sharing Wednesday, she spoke out about her experience, calling the fines disproportionate and saying she refuses to pay. Jessica agreed to share her story with The Diamondback, but asked not to be identified because she feared involving her employer on campus. Jessica is a pseudonym.
Illegal file sharing became a hot political issue for universities after the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed almost a decade ago, said Gerry Sneeringer, director of IT security in the OIT. Last year the RIAA launched a campaign to sue students who download and share files illegally.
Jessica's troubles began last year when she installed LimeWire on her work computer and downloaded 274 songs illegally. It was just for convenience, she said. She already owned the CDs to most of the songs but didn't want to bring them to work.
In July, she arrived at work on the campus and found her computer was confiscated. A week later, she discovered she was one of the students targeted by the RIAA.
"When I first found out, it really upset me," she said. "[But] I cannot let it affect my work or school."
The RIAA discovered Jessica by identifying her IP address as one that downloaded a large number of files. After matching the IP address to her name, OIT sent Jessica a letter from the RIAA warning her that she could be sued.
After she downloaded nearly 300 songs using LimeWire last year, the RIAA warned her that if she didn't agree to pay a $3,000 settlement, she could be sued. Saying the Recording Industry Association of America's demands were unfair, she refused to pay the settlement.
That means the University of Maryland University College accounting major could go to court and potentially be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. If she loses her case, she said, she could be out of options.
"I'll file for bankruptcy," she said.
Jessica is one of 38 students who received pre-litigation letters from the RIAA for illegal file sharing last year. During an Office of Information Technology forum on file sharing Wednesday, she spoke out about her experience, calling the fines disproportionate and saying she refuses to pay. Jessica agreed to share her story with The Diamondback, but asked not to be identified because she feared involving her employer on campus. Jessica is a pseudonym.
Illegal file sharing became a hot political issue for universities after the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed almost a decade ago, said Gerry Sneeringer, director of IT security in the OIT. Last year the RIAA launched a campaign to sue students who download and share files illegally.
Jessica's troubles began last year when she installed LimeWire on her work computer and downloaded 274 songs illegally. It was just for convenience, she said. She already owned the CDs to most of the songs but didn't want to bring them to work.
In July, she arrived at work on the campus and found her computer was confiscated. A week later, she discovered she was one of the students targeted by the RIAA.
"When I first found out, it really upset me," she said. "[But] I cannot let it affect my work or school."
The RIAA discovered Jessica by identifying her IP address as one that downloaded a large number of files. After matching the IP address to her name, OIT sent Jessica a letter from the RIAA warning her that she could be sued.
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