Universities strike back in battle over illegal downloads
With 1.3 billion music files pirated by college students last year, schools are turning to technology to curb the practice. Congress watches with interest.
from the June 18, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
But that immunity could be reconsidered, Keller says pointedly, "if we find that we continue to have a situation where over half of the college students continue to illegally download and the colleges do nothing about it."
Many universities are enlisting technology to deter piracy. Software programs like Audible Magic installs a campuswide filter to stop the flow of copyrighted material.
Charles Wright, an associate vice president at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, testified to Congress that RIAA copyright violation notices to his campus declined more than 90 percent since the software was installed two years ago. The University of Florida saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in bandwidth costs after implementing Red Lambda, a program that blocks P2P systems.
While Napster, iTunes, and Rhapsody Music now have subscription-based services for the general public, Ruckus uses an ad-supported model. (A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student who uses Ruckus and LimeWire says Ruckus is "not very user friendly" because "there are way too many advertisements on it.")
According to Ruckus spokesman Chris Lawson, schools with Ruckus contracts get extra benefits, such as a local server that reduces bandwidth consumption, and a movie and TV library that students can subscribe to for about $15 per semester. Mr. Lawson says students from 900 universities have registered with the service, and some 120 universities have Ruckus contracts.
The music is free to students to download and play, but if a user wants to transfer files to a portable music player, he or she must pay about $20 per semester. Note: Ruckus uses Microsoft Digital Rights Management software; it won't work with Apple computers or iPods.
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