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In fact, the group appears to be accelerating its efforts against college students. In the last two weeks, the RIAA has sent some universities up to 20 times the typical number of notices about infringement, according to press reports.
For instance, George Washington University has received more than 120 notices about on-campus piracy in the last 10 days, up significantly from the usual five to 10 per week, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
And at the University of Cincinnati, the information security department has received 13 notices in the last two weeks, compared to the typical rate of 25 to 30 a year, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
Other schools to see a surge in RIAA notices include the University of Chicago and Indiana University, according to Wired.
This news is odd because no one is reporting a corresponding increase in on-campus piracy. Rather, it appears that the RIAA is simply stepping up efforts on college campuses. An RIAA spokesperson denied there had been a change in procedure. "We are always making an effort to more effectively and efficiently detect infringing activity on the Internet, as we are continuously looking for ways to improve our ability to find and act on incidences of theft online," the spokesperson said. "Having said that, there's been no change in our procedures."
The RIAA began targeting individuals in 2003, but didn't launch concentrated campaigns targeting college students 2007. Many of the first individuals to be threatened agreed to settle with the RIAA rather than litigate.
But in the last year, some colleges aggressively fought the RIAA, by arguing to quash subpoenas for users' identities. In fact, in some cases college students have been able to tap into lawyers' expertise. The University of Maine's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic recently took up the cause of undergraduates at the school. And in Oregon, the state attorney general has gotten involved and argued that the RIAA's investigations were illegal.
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They harass colleges and students... yet in every major city in the world bootleggers are stealing artists profits to the tune of billions of dollars.
The artists themselves need to smarten up as well. Why would they let an organization attempt to throw their customers in jail.... and let the real criminals go hassle free?????
I hope more artists begin to work around the major labels and the RIAA and earn all the profits themselves..
Most corporations, organizations, and even our government need to get rid of the old school idiots who line their pockets and destroy the country.
Very old people are out of touch with reality and having them as leaders is not leadership.........
Peace Love and Rock n Roll!!!!!!!!
I go all the way back to the days of vynl, but remember being able to dub records on to reel to reel on my TEAC and share with friends. And we shared and swapped LP's all the time.
I guess I should be posting this from some Supermax prison instead of my office.
In most cases, those fiends got turned on to the artist and ended up buying more records.
Don't get me wrong, the artist deserves to be fairly compensated but there are a few holes in the dike and even the almight RIAA isn't going to plug them.
What RIAA fails to understand is what's leaking, eventually is selling.