The Red and Black

Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Opinions

Univ. a legal pawn?

With students facing RIAA, Univ. won't provide legal defense, just legal offense.

Executive Director of Legal Affairs Stephen Shewmaker sat with The Red & Black Wednesday afternoon in our newsroom to discuss the University's tango with the Recording Industry Association of America.

This dance, which the University claims is in students' best interests, actually is stepping on their toes and leaving them partnerless in the uphill battle with the behemoth RIAA.

The University has been serving as a "conduit," Shewmaker said, of communication between the RIAA and students who are accussed of illegally downloading music. After the RIAA requests the University to preserve IP addresses, dates and times, the University later forwards pre-litigation letters to students. The letters inform students they can pay the RIAA thousands of dollars by settling out of court or face a lawsuit.

During our heated discussion Wednesday, Shewmaker defended the University's actions on two grounds:

1) If the University does not cooperate with the RIAA's requests, it later may be subpoenaed, as was the University of Oregon.

However, instead of waiting to be subpoenaed, the University has acquiesced by internally matching IP addresses to UGA MyIDs, therefore identifying the student. They subsequently inform the students of their alleged misuse.

The University has helped the RIAA stumble upon a flawless system in which all it does is send out letters to colleges and universities and get back thousands of dollars from students.

2) "This is a part of the educational process, that if you are misusing the University bandwidth, you need to be aware of that," Shewmaker said. He added the University is providing knowledge to students not only on copyright infringment but also the court process. A University education transcends mere academics, he said and teaching students to be "good stewards" of their "times, talents and efforts."

If the University is adamant about real-world education, as Shewmaker repeatedly asserted, then why have its actions been solely "reactionary"?

Shewmaker said the University has been working with the RIAA for nearly four years. The University knew that litigation likely would come well before May 2007, when the letters began to arrive.

Why then does the education begin and end with those students who are served the litigation notices? Why isn't the University being proactive and informing students of the ramifications of illegal downloading?

As it is now, the University is educating students in trickles of a dozen, after the RIAA makes its requests. Instead, e-mails should be sent over the Arches listserv. The Office of Legal Affairs should begin hosting forums for students today. Furthermore, a session informing students of the copyright laws pertaining to music downloading, as well as the process by which the member record companies of the RIAA currently are targeting students, should be incorporated into incoming student orientations.

We also suggest Legal Affairs inform students of the University's willingness to do the RIAA's dirty work for them, but we're smart enough to know that's not going to make the cut. It is about time someone cut in on this damaging dance before the music ends.


- JoAnn Anderson, Matt Grayson, Jacquelyn Greenwood and Juanita Cousins for the editorial board.

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