After a nearly three-year lull, digital piracy at Wabash College is once again on the rise. On-campus use of peer-to-peer, or P2P, file sharing programs has become noticeably more common, and this semester and the last have seen a marked increase in the number of cease-and-desist orders sent to the College by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
Though peer-to-peer file sharing is not in itself illegal, the protocol, whereby multiple computers grant each other access to view and download files hosted on each, is often used to share copyrighted material. P2P clients such as Kazaa and Gnutella facilitate this sharing by connecting users across the world to each others’ music and video files. It is this use to which the RIAA and MPAA object.
The Associations track copyrighted materiel by using the same clients that students at Wabash and elsewhere use. With most clients, downloaded files are stored in a shared folder that is accessible to other users of the clients. The RIAA and MPAA are able to search for copyrighted material, download it, and trace the IP address of the host to find the location of the user. If the agents believe that it is likely that the user does not have copyright control or permission to share the files in question, they take further action.
For first-time violations, a cease-and-desist order is the most common response: an email or other electronic communication is sent to the address tied to the IP, and the user is requested to stop sharing copyrighted material. In the case of violations on a college campus, the college authorities are notified. It is then the college’s responsibility to find the pirate.
Brad Weaver, Wabash Director of Information Technology Services, said that Wabash men are not, by and large, the source of pirated material. However, he noted that some students aren’t aware of the consequences of P2P client use.
“They know they’re downloading music that they don’t have rights to,” Weaver said. “But they don’t realize, in many cases, that everything they download they’re distributing to everyone else.”
Since the most efficient way to find pirates is to look at the hosts of copyrighted material, users of P2P networks are relatively easy targets. When Wabash men incur the ire of the RIAA or MPAA, the college seeks out the students at fault. First, the IP identified in the cease-and- desist order must be tied to a specific user. This, said Mr. Weaver, is a long process. “IP addresses are dynamically assigned,” he said. “So if you use a computer, shut it down, and use it again, you might not get the same address.”
As a result, the Wabash IT staff has to look back at the time of the reported violation and tie the address to a specific computer. If the computer was using a wireless connection at the time, the IT staff can identify the name of the student through the wireless access registration that everyone on campus completes in order to use the campus wi-fi. In the case of wired and therefore unregistered connections, things are more difficult.
“We have to check webmail logs or blackboard logs and see who was logging in from that computer,” he said.
All together, Mr. Weaver estimates that the process of identifying a violator takes anywhere from two to four hours. When a student is identified, Wabash IT forwards the cease-and-desist order to him.
The RIAA and MPAA typically request that the violator be notified, told to stop, and be barred from internet access. However, Wabash policy is to allow first time offenders off the hook with a warning. A second offense would go to the Dean’s office, but, Mr. Weaver said, “That hasn’t happened.”
However, greater consequences do arise on occasion. Three years ago, two Wabash students were subpoenaed and sued by the RIAA for illegal file sharing. Those cases marked a start of the downward trend in piracy at Wabash that has only recently reversed itself. Legislation now in consideration, too, might force Wabash to evince a firmer disapproval unlawful P2P use, an idea that the college finds distasteful.
“Ideally, students would behave responsibly and we wouldn’t have to worry about it” Weaver said. “Some anti-piracy measure have already been discussed and discarded. It would be easy to say, ‘we’re going block LimeWire, We’re going to block Bittorrent from our gateway, but it’s not the case that all of that traffic is illegitimate.”
He did warn, however, that such measures may be mandated by law in the future. It is the college’s hope that draconian measures can be avoided through student responsibility. Mr. Weaver points out that many free and legal music services exist on the web, with varying degrees of functionality. MySpace has recently added a music player with a substantial database, Pandora internet radio is a tool used by many students and much of the IT department for the discovery of new music, and the new Napster allows a limited number of free plays of any song in their database. Other music programs such as iTunes are popular but expensive.
Mr. Weaver also noted that a great many P2P clients have problems apart from legality. P2P clients tend to accumulate spyware, which can slow system performance while acting in various sinister ways, collecting personal information, installing unwanted and harmful software, hijacking browser activity, and even altering various settings to completely foul up a computer’s usability. In fact, the IT department refers to LimeWire as “PC to Paperweight” software due to its tendency to render PCs useless over time, Mr. Weaver said.
Although Wabash does not yet have the problem that some big schools have - IU has begun to charge offenders for the IP investigations - or the problem of its recent past - Wabash charged investigation fees four years ago, too - the rise in music piracy last semester and movie piracy this semester has some in the IT department and administration worried that the school might face consequences if illegal file sharing becomes more common. Ultimately, the students of Wabash will decide how much work the college puts into fighting piracy, and debate over what may be the core issue behind piracy - the value and meaning of copyright law - is sure to continue.