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University of Ohio Abandons Students Attacked by RIAA

Posted by Zonk on from the just-have-to-run-faster-than-the-hafling dept.

newtley writes "The University of Ohio was putting a brave face on being #1 on the RIAA hit list, but it now appears they have caved in to RIAA intimidation. Now, 'It appears that many institutions are simply prepared to wash their hands, refusing even to question the tactics of the industry,' let alone giving students meaningful legal assistance, says Ohio lawyer Joe Hazelbaker. He's written to OU associate director of legal affairs Barbara Nalazek saying, 'Ohio University has an obligation to protect the privacy of its students and their records, which includes directory information.' The Recording Industry vs. The People blog is hosting a letter universities whose students being attacked might want to consider."

4 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Another one bites the dust by ajanp · · Score: 4, Informative
    I guess they decided to not to take the advice from our favorite anti-RIAA Harvard professor http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/05/04 13249

    I'm going to go ahead and take a wild guess that a couple hundred University of Ohio students will be receiving some pre-litigation notices in the mail sometime next week.

    --
    File Deletion is Murder.
    1. Re:Another one bites the dust by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, let's be careful here.

      Ohio University's office of Student Legal Services has done an excellent job -- far better than the SLS at many other schools -- of advising the students. In fact they affirmatively went out of the way to help them find counsel and to make them aware of their legal rights, and of resources upon which they could draw.

      The problem is that under their charter, they're not authorized to litigate in federal court, and have to refer the students to outside counsel.

      Now the university's counsel's office should be taking a more activist role than it has, as Mr. Hazelbaker eloquently pointed out in his letter (pdf).

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      Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  2. It's Ohio University by Eldred · · Score: 5, Informative

    Correction: The school referred to in the story is called "Ohio University," not "University of Ohio."

  3. Re:Slashdot's hugely biased reporting by BakaHoushi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Practice what you preach. They "broke the law?" No, they did no such thing. They allegedly "infringed on a copyright." They are two separate things for a reason. copyright infringement != theft. That's why people aren't locked up for it. They're sued.

    And mind you, many of these words may be buzzwords, but at their heart, can you honestly say this is not intimidation? How many people who have NOT downloaded anything illegally have been sued? How many laws (note, LAWS) has the RIAA tried to bend/break in order to GET information on people?

    And one last bit that gets said over and over again:
    When you pay for that System of a Down CD, 95% of that money (number made up off top of my head, point is, vast majority) goes to... the RIAA/its affiliates. Bands make money off of tours, merchandise, etc.

    And for the record, no, I don't pirate music. Or anything, really. I simply don't really care for most music, and my last album (Weird Al's Straight Outta Lynwood) I did get in physical form.