The University of Oregon (my alma mater, coincidentally) is believed to be the first US educational institution to refuse an RIAA demand to hand over the names of students alleged to have illegally downloaded music. Detailed reporting and lengthy discussion can be found at SlashDot - one alumni tech blogger's perspective below.
The Oregon Attorney General, working with the University, has filed a motion in court to quash the legal move by the Recording Industry Association of America, which the University says is trying to force the educational institution to perform a legal investigation for the benefit of a private corporation. The agrieved parties ought to perform their own investigation, the University argues.
A number of the names requested are of students living in University of Oregon dorms, making it impossible to determine which of the students living there downloaded the music, representatives of the school said. The U of O is infamous for its inhumanely cramped dorm rooms, though, making it improbable that one resident could have committed such an act without the other being intimately aware.
According to the elderly gentleman in line at the coffee shop this morning who first told me about the news (we were discussing In Rainbows, which was playing on the stereo there) - the music industry needs to get with the times and stop taking their giant profits from the old business model for granted.
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I think this article need the context of John Palfrey's call for civil disobedience in a piece published via the Berkman Center at Harvard. John makes the same arguement as Oregon is making, and it's widely believed that because of John's proactive stance against Universities aiding private corporations in discovery, the RIAA has not issued any requests for information from Harvard. Source: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/filter?func=viewSubmission&sid=2802&wid=379
Posted by: Andrew Parker | November 2, 2007 10:02 AM
Go Ducks! Kudos too to Hardy Myers for making the call.
Posted by: J-P Voillequé | November 2, 2007 10:44 AM
1. Go Ducks.
2. As a former tenant of those dorms, "inhumanely cramped" is a bit strong. Especially since there are a grip of new dorms that are pretty sweet there now. And honestly, I have fond memories of those cramped dorms... Which had nothing to do with file sharing in 1994. :)
3. None of that matters in the face of UO sticking it to the man. Way to represent the hippy town you reside in.
Posted by: Jason | November 2, 2007 10:52 AM
The people I've talked to in the music industry are quite aware that their current business model is doomed. But they're also aware that they won't be able to have a new business model in place anytime soon. These lawsuits are just an attempt to buy some time. I hate to say it, but if I were in their position, I'd probably be doing the same.
Posted by: Marcello | November 2, 2007 11:30 AM
The music biz (old) bridging to the new model (today) is going to take a lot of getting use too for everyone. The (old) are hanging on to make enough money to pay off their cars, houses, etc... and the (today) group is trying to make a go of it now and not later.
The struggle that the RIAA is going through is that they realize the (today) is going to make them irrelevant so they have to do what they have to do in order to survive. It's survival of the fittest.
Rex
Posted by: Rex Dixon | November 2, 2007 12:12 PM
Not really the first. The University of Kansas refused to send RIAA letters back in August.
Posted by: hal | November 3, 2007 7:09 AM
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has also refused the RIAA (happend last year) but go Ducks!
Posted by: Wedge | November 3, 2007 7:16 AM
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO DUCKS
Posted by: Travis | November 3, 2007 7:19 AM
Though I'm always happy when someone stands up to the RIAA, I find it hard to believe a story with a cited source of "the elderly gentleman in line at the coffee shop."
Posted by: Prime | November 3, 2007 7:19 AM
lol i wish my college would that, like a week back all students got an e-mail saying that names are and will be released if so inquired by RIAA or any other company.
FLORIDA TECH
oh well... GO DUCKS!!!
Posted by: John | November 3, 2007 8:46 AM
New York State or University of New York (know for a great law program) did this very thing last year.
Posted by: da | November 3, 2007 10:37 AM
woo oregon schools. Portland State holds off on giving RIAA student info until dealing with it themselves, but i doubt they will flat out refuse. Hopefully this thing at UO will start a trend.
Posted by: Josh | November 3, 2007 12:03 PM
I think it's time that everyone got together and picked a time frame to show the RIAA exactly what we think of them.
We should pick a few days, and
1) not visit your local movie theater
2) not buy any music or movies.
3) not rent any type of item from your local video rental store.
Once the big corporations realize that we won't BUY or RENT, they will turn against the RIAA.
It's all about money right, so lets stop giving it to them.
we need to start with local stuff, and turn it into a national Issue.
Posted by: jeffrey north | November 3, 2007 7:04 PM
Unfortunately, for many music industry business types, alot of people have already, or will soon be loosing their jobs. The industry is changing, and (average)people are aware of some of the profits that big corporations are reaping in over mechanical royalties.... it has become common knowledge that one can burn a cd AT BEST BUY PRICES for about 10 cents per copy! Speaking as musician, and as someone who has worked for "the man", god bless radiohead! And rock on U of O... but PLEASE support artists... otherwise there will be no great music, because no one will be able to afford to make it. (thanks for reading :) god I love music. )
Posted by: Jason | November 3, 2007 10:28 PM
I've boycoted the industry for years now. I used to spend a lot of money on records, movies etc. but after I started seeing all the greed and injustice and unlawful business practises they use, I stoped WANTING their product.
F them. Big time.
Posted by: Boy Cott | November 4, 2007 1:47 AM
I'm all for supporting the artists. Perhaps its time for the artists to boycott the music industry until it can redefine itself? I haven't purchased a music CD in over 8 years and I won't look back. I've started listening to local radio stations instead, they play the music at no cost to me.
Posted by: Pete | November 4, 2007 10:03 AM
I listen to internet free radio.
I listen to the radio.
I hear a sound I like, I like it enough, I go buy the record.
Only to find that 2 of 14 songs are even worth listening to.
Fergie's and Stefani's new albums are proof.
I download a good song, and pay a $1 for the song, that is worth it. To pay $19.00 for 2 good songs sucks!
I want a good quality recording of the song I can put on my phone, thumb drive, home and work computer. Not some restricted 1 time download, encrypted garbage file.
When the recording industry finally gets around to doing this, I will support them. For now, the CD industry is pretty much dead, because customers are tired of paying for lots of bad songs, to get to 1 or 2 good ones.
Universities are not required to have logins, or to keep track of IP activity in logs. Neither are ISPs. If they do what Univ. of Oregon does, and stop requiring, collecting, and monitoring student internet useage; guess what, they won't be liable for providing that information - because they don't have it.
Universities should be the leaders in freeing the internet! Stop monitoring and collecting data on internet use!
If a real crime is committed, and some investigation is required, the police will investigate, not the RIAA.
Posted by: Ariel | November 5, 2007 1:42 PM