WASHINGTON-On April 27th, 2006 the Collegiate Presswire released an article informing college and university students across the country to be careful what they download. Popular peer-to-peer (P2P) programs such as Limewire allow students on college campuses to (illegally) download files and will even alert the user if the file they are downloading is from another student on their college network.
Apple’s popular music program, iTunes, is being used by illegal downloaders through third party programs such as myTunes Redux. iTunes allows users to legally upload music from C.D.’s or they can purchase songs through the iTunes Music Store for $1.00 each or users can buy an entire album for about $10.00.
With iTunes users are able to (legally) listen to music that other users on their network have put in their shared lists, but not download them.
myTunes Redux is a program that allows you to download music provided by iTunes. It allows you to search everything on the network at once and it works with all versions of iTunes from 4.1 through 4.7.
Users of myTunes Redux are then able to illegally download music from other users.
This program will most likely only work on Windows XP (and probably Windows 2000).According to the Collegiate Presswire, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has teamed up with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to combat illegal music and movie downloading on college campuses.
As reported in the Collegiate Presswire, the RIAA and the MPAA announced a systematic program to identify and curtail campus Local Area Network (“LAN”) piracy at universities across the country.
The Collegiate Presswire cited the following as states where colleges and universities who were sent letters about their campuses piracy issues, urging them to take action: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Washington D.C. .
The Collegiate Presswire states that these letters are encouraging campus administrators “to review the use of their computer networks . . . take steps to stop to prevent such theft. Blocking and filtering devices are currently available to help administrators restrict inappropriate use of a campus network.”
The RIAA’s warnings hit home for four student campus operators of illegal LAN network usage at their colleges in 2003. According to the Collegiate Presswire, these students, at a total of three universities, and their actions had a ripple effect, causing university administrators to temporarily take down no less then twelve campus LAN servers that had been sited as areas where LAN networks were being abused.
The Colligate Presswire also noted that since the 2003 lawsuits, campus LAN piracy has become a higher priority issue for both lawmakers in Congress as well as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities.
RIAA President Cary Sherman told the Colligate Presswire, “Campus LAN piracy is not new, yet the problem has taken on new urgency. We know from past experience that bringing this problem to light can effect real change. We are hopeful that this new systematic program will yield even more positive results.”
Students who think that downloading their favorite artist’s latest album without paying for it, should be reminded that their school’s administrators are watching.