by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
Seventeen people may soon have to face the music for illegally sharing files on UNM's network.
The University received pre-lawsuit notices from the Recording Industry Association of America on Wednesday, offering network users the opportunity to settle their cases before going to court, said Richard Mertz, a lawyer for UNM.
Mertz said the letters ask ITS to forward early-settlement letters to the network users suspected of illegal file sharing.
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"If that subscriber doesn't pay them a bunch of money to settle it, then they will subpoena that person's name from UNM," he said.
This is the second set of pre-lawsuit letters the University has received this year.
The RIAA filed lawsuits against 16 unidentified network users in May.
The RIAA monitors the Internet for illegal music sharing and logs the IP addresses of violators.
It has to subpoena Internet providers to identify who the addresses belong to.
Mertz said the association began cracking down on colleges and universities about a year ago.
He said the letters give network users 20 days to contact the RIAA to settle before lawsuits are filed.
"The 20 days is an inadequate amount of time," he said. "I have asked the RIAA, if you're going to do this, give the students more time than 20 days, because sometimes it takes almost that long to get the letter to somebody."
Representatives from the RIAA did not return calls Wednesday.
Mertz said it is too early to tell if UNM can comply with the association's demand to forward the pre-lawsuit letters.
ITS has to review the information the RIAA provided and see if it still has the network IDs, he said.
The department keeps logs of network information for about 28 days, Mertz said.
"The first thing will be to try to sort through and try to figure out whether some of them are too old," he said. "A number of them look like they're beyond our log rotation."
A pre-lawsuit settlement will be cheaper than if a case goes to court, Mertz said.
The letters don't specify how much the association will settle for, but it will probably be about $4,000, he said.
The minimum amount the RIAA can claim in court is $750 per song, Mertz said.
He said that a few weeks ago in Minnesota, a jury awarded the association $9,250 per song for 24 songs - more than $220,000.
Students shouldn't illegally download music because it's not worth going to court, said Cheo Torres, vice president for student affairs.
"I'm just concerned about the students, and I don't want them to get in trouble," he said. "I'm just hoping the students are using good judgment and not copying copyrighted material."
Torres sent an e-mail to all UNM students Tuesday urging them to not illegally share files.
He said the University can't help students if they get sued by the RIAA.
Mertz said the association is targeting colleges and universities across the country.
The association sent pre-lawsuit letters to 22 universities this month, according to a press release.
In May, the RIAA subpoenaed the University for 16 unidentified users' names, but only three of the network IDs could be identified.
One user settled with the association, and one case was dismissed because the computer in question had multiple users. The third case is still pending.
Student Mina Nguyen said the RIAA's lawsuits won't stop people from getting music for free.
There are other ways to get music without using the Internet, Nguyen said.
"People aren't going to go out and buy the CD," she said. "They'll just go burn it from their friends."
Student David Holyfield said music should be free.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal," he said. "It's just music. Why should we have to pay
for it?"
