UW-Madison’s Division of Information Technology will launch an initiative this semester to educate students about the consequences of illegal file sharing.

UW-Madison students will have to watch a video warning about the dangers of file sharing programs before they can gain access to the campus network. “[The video will] help educate the student body to help protect themselves,” said Meg McCall, a DoIT communications representative.

The video, written and produced by the DoIT office, UW-Madison student housing, Dean of Students Lori Berquam and UW-Madison students, aims to address the misconceptions students have about file sharing and downloading, according to McCall.

“We wanted to get across the message to understand file sharing in a fun, new, creative way,” McCall said. “It lets students know if they’re not sure about a particular activity that they’re doing, they better look into it before they continue and that they could be targeted by the [Recording Industry Association of America].”

McCall said the DoIT office receives thousands of cease and desist letters from RIAA that suggest a UW-Madison student is participating in an illegal activity while using the university’s network and needs to be contacted to stop.

However, the most recent round of RIAA complaints have gone a step further as pre-settlement offers to students because of their continuing illegal activity, McCall said.

Yet, McCall insists the video is not meant to stop the letters, but to educate students to help protect themselves.

DoIT plans to distribute the video through various ways across campus, including an e-mail sent to UW students Thursday.