UM students cited in Net music theft

More University of Maine System students have been accused of illegally downloading or sharing music files on the Internet, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

On behalf of major record companies, RIAA sent pre-litigation letters last week to 58 schools nationwide, offering students the opportunity to resolve copyright infringement claims against them at a discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed.

This is the second round of letters that has cited students from the University of Maine System and is the seventh wave of letters from RIAA as part of a broad education and deterrence campaign focusing on illegal file trafficking on college campuses.

The RIAA attaches to each letter an Internet service provider address, but doesn’t have the student’s name.

It then is up to the universities in question to match the ISP addresses with computers so that the letters can be forwarded.

UMS officials passed on the previous letters but haven’t said how they intend to treat the current situation.

Each pre-litigation settlement letter informs the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement lawsuit against one of its students or personnel and requests university administrators to forward the letter to the appropriate network user.

“RIAA has sent UMS pre-litigation letters for 34 individuals currently accessing the Internet through the university system,” UMS spokesman John Diamond stated Monday. “The alleged violations reportedly involve students from all seven UMS universities.”

Bowdoin College in Brunswick also received pre-litigation notices last week in addition to schools in California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts and Mississippi.

In March, after the previous round of letters was sent to UMS, 22 lawsuits alleging music theft were filed in U.S. District Court in Maine against UMS network users, according to previous BDN reports.

Diamond explained last March that the federal Family Education Right to Privacy Act prevents the colleges and universities from releasing personal information, such as the name of a person assigned an Internet protocol address, unless ordered to do so by a judge.

Information on the status of those lawsuits wasn’t available Monday afternoon.

BDN reporter Judy Harrison contributed to this story.