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StudentsChannel One Broadband Site to Feature Student-Generated NewsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 16, 2006 - 3:56pm.
New York - Channel One, a closed-circuit news channel that reaches over 7 million U.S. middle school and high school students, on Wednesday announced the launch of a new 24-hour broadband video channel.
Online Game Challenges Accounting Students to Save Ailing Record LabelAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on January 5, 2006 - 6:44am.
New York - The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) on Thursday announced the launch of an online game that challenges students to operate a record label. "The Turnaround Game," designed to spark high school and college students' interest in accounting careers, asks players to develop a winning proposal to save an ailing record company called BigNoizz.
Stephen King, Students Collaborate on Story Through Weekly Reader WebsiteAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 28, 2005 - 3:49am.
Stamford, Conn. - Horror author Stephen King has partnered with the Weekly Reader, a newspaper distributed in schools to students, on a Web-based, serial storytelling collaboration. King penned the opening lines of a story called "The Furnace," which were posted to the Reader's "Weekly Writer" site in late September; since then hundreds of students have submitted ideas for the next paragraphs. The Weekly Writer program also includes online interviews with the author, and a forum where King will answer students' questions about writing. Over the coming school year, authors including R.L. Stine and Jane Yolen are slated to launch collaborative online writing projects with students through the Weekly Writer.
Survey: Half of Students Say It's Okay to Share Digital Copyrighted WorksAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 22, 2005 - 7:57am.
Washington -- More than half of college and university students think it is acceptable in the workplace to swap or download digital copyrighted software, music and movies without paying for them, according to a new survey by the DC-based Business Software Alliance (BSA). The survey, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, reveals that 52% of the student respondents and 25% of academics believe that, even in the workplace, it is okay to download and swap files, no matter the value. BSA members include the country's largest software makers, including Adobe, Apple, Macromedia, McAfee, Microsoft, and Symantec. "College-age students -- most of whom grew up with technology -- are our future workforce," said Diane Smiroldo, BSA's vice president for public affairs. "Before they begin their careers, they need to understand that they may put their employer at risk by engaging in software theft." The BSA often files lawsuits against companies that have violated software licenses.
Report: Two-Thirds of College Students See No Problem With File-SharingAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2005 - 8:33am.
Washington -- Two-thirds of university students see nothing unethical about downloading copyrighted media for free, and 52% believe the practice is also acceptable workplace behavior, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Forty-five per cent of students said they used campus networks for peer-to-peer downloads, with 36% reporting an increase in their downloading behavior. A minority of 32% of students said it's not okay to swap files, up from 23% in 2003. The survey also found that 27% of admitted music downloaders also reported downloading pirated software programs; however, 70% of students said that media reports about unlicensed software or industry actions against downloaders have made them less likely to download. While nearly three-quarters of academics also surveyed for the report said they believe campus downloading policies are effective, only 45% of students surveyed agreed.
Students Prevail Against Diebold in DMCA "Takedown Notice" Abuse CaseAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 1, 2004 - 3:29am.
San Jose, Calif. -- In the first ruling regarding the application of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "takedown notices," a California district court has ruled that Diebold Election Systems violated several students' free speech rights when it attempted to prevent them from publishing company memos detailing flaws in its electronic voting machines. Two Swarthmore college students and the independent news site IndyMedia sued Diebold, with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), claiming that Diebold knowingly misused the "takedown notice" as a means of quashing speech critical of its technology. "No reasonable copyright holder could have believed that portions of the e-mail archive discussing possible technical problems with Diebold's voting machines were protected by copyright," Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote, in his ruling. "Judge Fogel recognized the fair use of copyrighted materials in critical discussion and gave speakers a remedy when their speech is chilled by improper claims of copyright infringement," said EFF staff attorney Wendy Seltzer.
RIAA Sues Another 532 Alleged Song Pirates; Many Students TargetedAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on March 23, 2004 - 4:44am.
Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Tuesday that it has filed 532 additional lawsuits against alleged music file-swappers, bringing the total number of individuals sued for copyright infringement by the record label trade group to 1,977. This third wave of suits includes actions filed against students at 21 different universities, where peer-to-peer file-sharing is extremely popular. "It's important for everyone to understand that no one is immune from the consequences of illegally 'sharing' music files," said RIAA president Cary Sherman. "Piracy, which is particularly rampant on college campuses, continues to hurt retailers, musicians, producers, record labels and the thousands of less-celebrated individuals involved in making music." The current RIAA lawsuits were filed against "John Doe" defendants, following a federal court ruling that stipulated an earlier expedited process used to obtain file-swappers' identities from their Internet service providers was illegal. None of the RIAA's lawsuits against individual file-swappers has gone to trial; the group has settled over 400 of the suits for sums averaging $3,000.
Aussie Students Get Suspended Sentences in 'Net Music Piracy CaseAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2003 - 7:19am.
Sydney, Australia -- Two Australian college students convicted of illegally distributing 1,800 songs on the Internet were given 18-month suspended prison sentences, and will complete 200 hours of community service, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The convictions were the first for criminal online copyright violations in the country. Prosecutors had sought prison time for Charles Kok Hau Ng, 20, and Peter Tran, 19, as the recording industry there estimated their losses at $60 million, but the judge in the case took into account the offenders' youth and the fact that they did not personally profit from their MP3 website. A third accused, 21-year-old Tommy Le, also plead guilty to lesser copyright infringement charges and received 200 hours of community service.
Penn State to Offer Premium Napster Service Free to All StudentsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2003 - 8:12am.
Anaheim, Calif. -- The new Napster service has reached a deal with Penn State University to offer students access to Napster for free, charging students only when they choose to make permanent downloads or burn songs onto CD. Penn State president Graham B. Spanier announced the deal on Thursday at an educational conference in Anaheim, Calif. "This will be the first step in a new, legal approach designed to meet student interest in getting extensive digital access to music," said Spanier. The cost for the Napster Premium Service will come out of the information technology fee included in the tuition paid by the school's 83,000 students, although exact figures were not given. An initial roll-out in January for Penn State's 18,000 on campus residents will be followed by a full launch in the fall of 2004 for all students and faculty. The school also intends to explore offering the service to its 150,000 dues-paying alumni. University president Spanier also serves as co-chair of the Committee on Higher Education and the Entertainment Industry, along with Recording Industry Association of America president Cary Sherman.
SunnComm to Sue Princeton Student Over CD Copy-Protection ReportAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 9, 2003 - 4:49am.
Phoenix, Ariz. -- SunnComm, a developer of CD copy-protection technology recently used by major label BMG on a commercial CD release in the U.S., announced on Thursday that it intends to sue a Princeton grad student who published a report revealing the technology could be defeated simply be depressing the "Shift" key on a PC. "The conclusions contained in the Princeton University grad student's report issued last Monday were derived from incorrect assumptions by its author… [and have] caused the market value of SunnComm to drop by more than $10 million." Arizona-based SunnComm believes that Princeton grad student Alex Halderman violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in his report by disclosing unpublished MediaMax management files, and admitting that he disabled the technology in order to make an unprotected copy of the disc's contents. The DMCA makes it a felony to circumvent the copyright protections on a digital device. "This cat-and-mouse game that hackers and others like to play with owners of digital property is over," said SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs. "No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property."
Student Claims Holding "Shift" Key Can Break BMG CD Copy-ProtectionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 7, 2003 - 5:01am.
Los Angeles -- A Princeton grad student has discovered a method -- which consists of simply holding down a PC's "Shift" key when inserting a CD -- that he claims breaks the CD copy-protection technology recently used on a commercial CD released by major label BMG, Reuters reported. Princeton's John Halderman wrote on his website that, in addition to depressing the "Shift" key, Arizona-based SunnComm Technologies' MediaMax CD3 software may also be defeated by disabling the driver the CD installs when it is first inserted into a PC. The technology is intended to prevent users from ripping the encrypted tracks on an album to a PC, enabling their upload to file-sharing systems or mass copying via a CD burner. "SunnComm's claims of robust protection collapse, when subjected to scrutiny, and their system's weaknesses are not only academic," Halderman wrote on his website. BMG spokesman Nathaniel Brown told Reuters the company was "fully aware" of the Shift key circumvention, but said the company "erred on the side of playability and flexibility" with its choice of copy-protection technology.
Australian Music Industry Asks Harsher Sentences for Student Music PiratesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 3, 2003 - 5:15am.
Sydney -- Three students have pleaded guilty to online music copyright infringement in Australia's first criminal hearing on the matter, but the Australian music industry says the deal they struck with prosecutors will result in too lenient a punishment, Australian IT reported. The students admittedly ran a site called "DJ Ace" that offered 390 CDs for download and received over 7 million hits. The Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), a non-profit arm of the Australian Recording Industry Association, asked the judge in the case to allow it to argue as a "victim" in the sentencing process to try to recoup the cost of its investigation. MIPI spokesman Michael Speck told Australian IT that it wanted to have a say in sentencing because "the case was watered down to nothing." "These guys will be getting away with the biggest rip-off of copy in Australian history, and they will probably get away with a slap on the wrist," added Speck. Magistrate John Andrews responded to the request by saying that MIPI's involvement in the sentencing process would be "totally inappropriate."
RIAA Settles Lawsuits Filed Against Student "Mini-Napster" OperatorsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on May 1, 2003 - 8:28am.
Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Thursday that it has settled copyright infringement lawsuits it filed against four college students accused of operating "mini-Napster" campus file-sharing networks. The students -- two from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and one each from Princeton University and Michigan Technological University -- will pay damages of between $12,000 and $17,000 each over a four-year payment schedule, in addition to promising not to knowingly infringe music copyrights. The damages are far less than the maximum penalty of $150,000 per song that the RIAA initially sought in its lawsuits. "We believe it's in everyone's best interest to come to a quick resolution, and that these four defendants now clearly understand the seriousness with which we view this type of illegal behavior," said RIAA senior vice president Matt Oppenheim. "We have also sent a clear signal to others that this kind of activity is illegal." One of the defendants, 18-year-old Princeton sophomore Daniel Peng, denied any guilt in the matter. "I don't believe that I did anything wrong," Peng said, in a statement.
Aussie Police Shutter Music Piracy Sites, Arrest 3 College StudentsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 24, 2003 - 10:11am.
Sydney -- Reuters reported on Thursday that Australian police have arrested three college students who were allegedly operating an online music piracy network that distributed an estimated $37 million in unauthorized music and video files. The "MP3 WMA Land" network offered music and video files for download on a bevy of hard to trace "mirror" sites, many of which were hosted on university computers. "It's a tremendous result and represents a turning point," Michael Speck, general manager of the Australian music industry's piracy investigations unit, told Reuters. "It's a clear message to Internet pirates that they can no longer hide behind the mythology of the Internet. It's now revealed as nothing more than another form of theft." The students were released on bail and are due to appear in court next month, where they could face penalties of up to five years in jail or a $37,000 fine.
Penn State University Cuts Students' 'Net Access Over Music DownloadingAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 23, 2003 - 10:20am.
State College, Pa. -- Penn State University has suspended the Internet access of 220 students who were found to be using the school's computer network to trade copyrighted music and movie files. The university told Reuters it received a "complaint" from an unnamed source notifying it that the students were using computers in residence halls to download music. Penn State said that the students' Internet privileges would be returned once they showed they had removed the files from their computers. Earlier this month, Penn State's executive vice president and provost Rodney Erickson sent an email to 110,000 students and faculty at the university, warning them of the penalties for copyright infringement on the campus network. The move by Penn State comes shortly after the Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against four students at various institutions for copyright infringement on campus networks.
Univ. President Condemns RIAA Copyright Suit Targeting StudentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 11, 2003 - 2:19am.
Houghton, Michigan -- Michigan Technological University president Curtis J. Tompkins last week sent an open letter to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), criticizing the organization for filing a copyright infringement suit against one of its students who was operating a campus file-sharing network. Tompkins says the RIAA did not follow its own protocol for informing schools about Internet piracy and dealing with offenders. "I am very disappointed that the RIAA decided to take this action in this manner," wrote Tompkins. "As a fully cooperating site, we would have expected the courtesy of being notified early and allowing us to take action following established procedures, instead of allowing it to get to the point of lawsuits and publicity."
RIAA Sues Students Operating Campus File-Sharing NetworksAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 4, 2003 - 3:13am.
Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed copyright infringement lawsuits against four college students allegedly operating private file-sharing services on their school's computer networks, saying the students were offering a combined 2.5 million songs for download. The suits target two students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and one student each at Michigan Technological University and Princeton University, whom the RIAA said used software like Flatlan, Phynd or Direct Connect to create local area networks for file-sharing, or as the RIAA dubbed them, "local area Napster networks." The RIAA is seeking the maximum penalty, or $150,000 per each infringed recording. "This is a particularly flagrant way to illegally distribute millions of copyrighted works over the Internet," said RIAA president Cary Sherman. "The people who run these Napster networks know full well what they are doing -- operating a sophisticated network designed to enable widespread music thievery."
Norwegian Student Fined For Online Music PiracyAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on January 24, 2003 - 5:08am.
Lillehammer, Norway -- A court has fined a 24-year-old Norwegian student about $14,520 over his song-swapping website in a ruling welcomed as a victory by the music industry, which has blamed sagging sales on Internet music piracy. The case followed similar rulings in neighboring Sweden and Denmark in favor of the industry. The court ruled that Frank Bruvik broke the law when offering links to unauthorized downloadable music files at his Napster.no website. "This was the most high-profile piracy site in Norway for downloading music and an important victory for us," Saemund Fiskvik, director general of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in Norway, told Reuters. http://shorterlink.com/?196CH8
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