ww1912 and GristyMcFisty both used our news submit to let us know that some U.S. universities are having some problems with the records industry's requests to provide them with personal information when a student (illegally) uses file-sharing software such as KaZaA:
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Both schools said they were opposing the subpoenas on procedural grounds, rather than contesting the RIAA's right to the information. As a result, the refusals could further delay--but are unlikely to derail--the recording industry's efforts to unmask the identities of file swappers and ultimately file suit against them. The Recording Industry of America (RIAA) has filed close to 1,000 subpoenas in the U.S. District Court in Washington this month requesting information from educational institutions and Internet service providers (ISPs) on users of Kazaa, the peer-to-peer file-sharing service. The group issued the requests as part of its continuing effort to crack down on individuals using the Internet to illegally distribute copyrighted music. ISPs, schools and file swappers themselves are scrambling to figure out just how much legal space they have to contest the stream of requests, which is testing new areas of law. |
Right now it looks like the schools won't have to give out personal information on their students on the short term because of privacy laws. However, on the long term the schools will probably be forced to claim greater responsibility for the manner in which their computer networks are used.
Source: News.com
