At first, Melissa (identifying details, including her name, have been changed in light of ongoing litigation) and her five roommates thought the letter was a bad joke. The vague legal document in front of them stated that their Internet Service Provider was being subpoenaed and all the Internet usage records on their computers were subject to seizure and review. Upon calling their ISP, the UW-Madison students learned the very unfunny reality of their situation: They had just been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, the legal trade group representing 90 percent of the U.S. recording industry.
As the students learned more, their situation became grimmer. Melissa learned the RIAA had spent months tracking more than 1,400 illegally-shared copyrighted songs to their IP address. As if that were not bad enough, the RIAA representative presented two legal options for the roommates. First, they could fight the multi-billion dollar music industry in court, possibly lose and pay $750 per 'pirated' song, which amounted to potential legal fines of $1,125,000. Or, as the representative cheerfully explained, settle with the RIAA and pay $4,300 in fines.
'You hear about this happening,' Melissa said. 'But you don't know one person who hasn't downloaded music before.'
Unfortunately, Melissa's story is not unique, and other UW-Madison students can expect to find similar legal documents in their mailboxes in the coming months. An aggressive push by the RIAA into Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison has exposed hundreds of IP addresses in Wisconsin, and no one, student or otherwise, is safe from the legal arm of the RIAA.
15,000. That is the number of lawsuits the RIAA has filed against alleged music 'thieves' since its first lawsuit against Napster in 1999. It now files over 700 lawsuits a month and plans to continue its crusade against illegal downloads indefinitely.
'We must do everything to protect the integrity of the marketplace. That means ?? sending a clear message that stealing music will bring consequences,' said RIAA President Cary Sherman in a press release heralding the newest batch of lawsuits in seven new states, including Wisconsin, this past Christmas.
But have these aggressive tactics really reduced the number of people downloading music? History has shown that when one file-sharing program (Napster, Grokster) is shut down, new ones arise in its place (BitTorrent, Ares, eDonkey2000, etc.). And as for individual file sharers, the music industry's attempts have had mediocre results at best. While the RIAA claims their lawsuits have slowed the number of individuals who are joining new P2P sites, computer scientists at UC-San Diego and UC-Riverside and other prominent studies have indicated that 2004-'05 P2P activity has increased rather than diminished.
'The strategies being used by the music industries are not at all effective,' said Rebecca Jeschke, spokesperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group that has been fighting the RIAA for years. Jeschke says shutting down P2P sites is like punishing a new technology for being used illegally and is squashing many new technological innovations.
'This new technology is a way of life that they should be trying to work with, not against,' she said.
Certain record companies claim they are reaching out to consumers with P2P compromises like the pay-per-song iTunes or (the new) Napster, which allow users to download 'unlimited' amounts of music for a base fee every month. However, Napster restricts what users can do with the music after it is downloaded, and users must maintain a Napster subscription in order to continue listening to the music they downloaded.
But while experts argue over the future of the lawsuits and P2P software, possibly the biggest impact from the recent lawsuits can be felt on the customers once loyal to the music industry.
UW-Madison senior Justin Reynolds, one of the first consumers ever sued by the music industry, said he felt betrayed by the bands he once loved. After he had over 300 of his CDs stolen from his car, he felt he had the right to download his original music from a P2P program. The RIAA thought differently, and Reynolds was forced to pay $4,000 as part of a settlement agreement.
'This really affected my attitude towards music,' said Reynolds, who continues to download music and refuses to buy any more CDs.
Melissa agreed. While she has stopped downloading, she said she will no longer pay $15 for a CD she feels the music industry no longer deserves.
'Britney [Spears] doesn't need any more cash,' she said.
