Internal Campus

Movie, Music Industries Target File-Sharing on Internal Campus Networks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 28, 2006 - 9:16am.
Washington - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) this week launched an anti-piracy campaign against file-sharing on college campuses, targeting students using local area networks (LAN) and software such as Direct Connect, MyTunes and Our Tunes. The entertainment industry trade groups sent letters to 40 university presidents in 25 states, alerting them of LAN piracy problems and "encouraging immediate action to stop and prevent theft by such means." Software such as MyTunes and Our Tunes was developed by independent programmers to allow sharing of songs within Apple's iTunes over a local network. The RIAA and MPAA said blocking and filtering devices are available to help administrators restrict the inappropriate uses of campus networks. "As we prioritize our focus on campus LAN piracy in the coming year, we hope administrators will take this opportunity to fully evaluate their systems and take action to stop theft by all means," said RIAA president Cary Sherman. The groups have previously targeted campus file-sharing through copyright infringement lawsuits against students.