"The fact that copyright piracy is not unique to college and university campuses is not an excuse for higher education officials to fail to take reasonable steps neither to eliminate such activity nor to appropriately sanction such conduct when discovered," said a letter addressed to President Martin C. Jischke, Purdue University, on May 1, 2007. Purdue is among the top 10 universities with the most illegal Internet downloading activity in the U.S.
Recent studies reveal that 44 percent of domestic piracy losses suffered by the U.S. motion picture industry -- more than a half billion dollars annually -- can be attributed to college students, while a Spring 2006 survey by Student Monitor found more than half of all college students download music and movies illegally.
Meanwhile, a recent survey of college students conducted by the NPD Group, a market research firm, found that students reported that more than two-thirds of all music they acquired was illegally obtained. NPD also concluded that college students were responsible for more than 1.3 billion illegal music downloads in 2006 and that college students disproportionately used peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to download unauthorized music files. In the study, students represented just 10 percent of the sample surveyed but accounted for 21 percent of all P2P users and 26 percent of all P2P downloaded music.
"This theft of digital intellectual property is in the billions of dollars. Beyond the money, the cost also includes job losses and severe economic dislocation. No college or professor would tolerate this theft if it were their own intellectual property," said Safwat Fahmy, CEO & President SafeMedia Corp. "Most importantly, compliance with copyright protection ensures that all members of the academic community -- faculty, staff and students -- respect the rights and privileges of intellectual properties, whether created on or off campus," he said.
The Congressional letters were sent to the presidents of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Boston University, Columbia University, Duke University, Howard University, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, Ohio University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Massachusetts at Boston, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Vanderbilt University, and Purdue University. The letters were signed by the chairs of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property as well as the House Committee on Education and Labor. The letter requires that the "Survey of University Network and Data Integrity Practices" be completed and returned no later than May 31, 2007.
"The presence of your institution on both 'Top Ten' lists is a troubling indication that authorized users of your university computer networks routinely utilize your facilities to engage in the theft of copyrighted works," the letter says. "Your full and complete responses to the enclosed survey will assist us in determining what 'best practices' need to be instituted. It will also help us to assess whether Congress needs to advance legislation to ensure the unacceptable use of educational facilities to obtain or traffic in copyrighted goods is no longer commonly associated with student life on some U.S. campuses."
Of some 400 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pre-litigation letters sent out in February 2007 to students suspected of illegally downloading music over the Internet, more than 115 responded and have settled with the association. According to published reports, lawsuits are being prepared and filed against those who did not respond.
