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Duke Demands Proof of Infringement From RIAA

Posted by Soulskill on from the bluff-called dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "According to a report at p2pnet, Duke University has told the RIAA that it will no longer forward the RIAA's 'early settlement' letters to its students unless the RIAA submits 'evidence that someone actually downloaded from that student,' and said that 'if the RIAA can't prove that actual illegal behavior occurred, then we're not going to comply.' While it is good news that a university is requiring the RIAA to put up or shut up, the forwarding — or not forwarding — of letters is pretty insignificant. What I want to know is this: 'When the RIAA comes knocking with its Star Chamber, ex parte, 'John Doe' litigation to get the students' identities, is the University going to go to bat for the students and fight the litigation on the ground that it's based on zero evidence, and on the ground that the students weren't given prior notice and an opportunity to be heard?' Over 1,000 infringement notices were sent to Duke students in the last year."

7 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Why not earlier? by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Informative

    The question is, why the hell didn't universites see the RIAA's challenges for what they were(bullshit) and begin to fight against the RIAA for their students much sooner? Last I checked, students pay the tuition, not the *AA's.

    Here's the top-25 universities which handed out copyright infringement notices during the 2006 - 2007 academic year.Note the geographic locations of the majority of the list.

    1. Ohio University - 1,287
    2. Purdue University - 1,068
    3. University of Nebraska at Lincoln - 1,002
    4. University of Tennessee at Knoxville - 959
    5. University of South Carolina - 914
    6. University of Massachusetts at Amherst - 897
    7. Michigan State University - 753
    8. Howard University - 572
    9. North Carolina State University - 550
    10. University of Wisconsin at Madison - 513
    11. University of South Florida - 490
    12. Syracuse University - 488
    13. Northern Illinois University - 487
    14. University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire - 473
    15. Boston University - 470
    16. Northern Michigan University - 457
    17. Kent State University - 424
    18. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - 400
    19. University of Texas at Austin - 371
    20. North Dakota State University - 360
    21. Indiana University - 353
    22. Western Kentucky University - 353
    23. Seton Hall University - 338
    24. Arizona State University - 336
    25. Marshall University - 331

    From the 2008 list we see that the RIAA seem to be bolder, but the trend as before remains the same, for the most part. Texas Christian university? Thou shalt not steal ;)

    1. Re:Why not earlier? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      Because the Universities knew damn well their students were illegally sharing music, and they feared facing consequences for not doing a damn thing about it.

      Revile though we may the RIAA's tactics, they're not completely off-base.

    2. Re:Why not earlier? by esocid · · Score: 5, Informative

      They don't literally send a letter addressed to "John Doe." They send a letter to the University with a time and IP address and ask the University to forward the letter to whichever person had that IP at the time. This is what Universities are so pissed about. They are the ones who have to investigate and provide proof that this person did what the MAFIAA's letter described. They put an undue burden on them and strong-arm them, and then the student into rolling because it's worked for this long.....Even though everyone knows the little proof that they have is most likely not even proof at all, or points the finger at the wrong person.
      Now Duke is growing a pair and saying, 'you do your job and we'll do ours: provide education and experience.' This should have happened a long time ago, but at least it's happening, right?

      --
      Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
    3. Re:Why not earlier? by Khyber · · Score: 3, Informative

      Let's see, most of the colleges listed are East of the Mississippi river, so I'd assume that yes a reference to the eastern USA is what was intended.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  2. Re:Licensed Investigators Requirement by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Informative

    The university should have also stated that the evidence must come from investigators licensed in the state of North Carolina.

    Interesting you should say that, because their "probable cause hearing" in North Carolina is coming up soon.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  3. Re:How long before the dorms are nat'ed so the ip by ion.simon.c · · Score: 2, Informative

    If they're anything like my dorms, every machine has an Internet-facing IP.

  4. Re:Presumption of Innocence? by icydog · · Score: 2, Informative

    It looks like sometime since Duke settled with the wrongly accused rugby players

    I know Slashdot users tend to stay in basements, avoid sunlight, yadda yadda etc, but rugby and lacrosse are two very different things...