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by EDWARD SZTUKOWSKI
News Reporter
Though the days of plundering the high seas and pillaging villages are long since past, pirates are still at large on the Internet.
Armed with keyboards, not cutlasses, music and movie pirates are a growing problem for the record and film industry and Appalachian State University.
Though the campus does not actively seek out students who pirate movies or music, they act according to takedown notices from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
 Approximately 300 pirating violations have been filed since the beginning of the semester. Photo by Rachel Noel
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According to a
brochure from Technical Support Services (TSS), copyright owners hire
companies to log in to BitTorrent, Limewire or other popular file
sharing sites, and track computers sharing files illegally.
“At the
beginning of this semester, we had around 300 violations. Since then,
we’ve received around 10 to 15 takedown notices from the RIAA and MPAA
a day,” TSS Director Thomas M. Van Gilder said. “It’s up from the
original numbers now, around 1,000 violations since spring.”
The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) passed in 1998, requires
college campuses to comply with take down notices; TSS does none of the
policing itself.
“On a
first violation, the student receives a takedown notice to remove the
allegedly offending material,” Van Gilder said. “On a second violation,
we shut off the student’s Internet for a week.”
TSS and
the Office of Student Conduct are working to inform the student body on
the risks of downloading movies and music, with steps in place to talk
with Housing and Residence Life and put out brochures on the subject.
“Students
are gaining a better understanding of music pirating,” Office of
Student Conduct Director Judith M. Haas said. “Some students don’t know
the logistics of pirating, and may do it mistakenly.”
Although the risks may be high, some students feel the rewards exceed the benefits.
“I feel
all music should be an open trade, you shouldn’t require money for
art,” junior sociology major Jordan S. Adams said. “Although, I will
buy local bands and underground music. If I like it, I’ll definitely
support it.”
Adams has not received any notices from the RIAA, so the idea of pirating does not include much risk for him.
“It’s
really all about the music for me. I usually don’t think about it while
I’m downloading it,” Adams said. “Actually, the only time I think about
it is when people ask me questions about the RIAA.”
The RIAA has a list of the top 25 colleges with infringements, North Carolina State University ranking number nine.
While students seem more likely to pirate, some students feel it is wrong.
“I feel
that, with the music I listen to, if I’m going to spend time listening
to an artist, I’m going to support them as well,” senior commercial
recreations and tourism management major R. Julian Cockerham said.
While
students can choose for themselves what to do, the university is
serious about spreading the word that the RIAA and MPAA are targeting
students.
“Students
are at risk. We’re trying to get the word out that a $20,000 fee on top
of a school tuition is not good,” Haas said. “Even we don’t know who is
pirating until the companies contact us. You can’t hide from the DMCA.”
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