The Recording Industry Association of America has announced it will send letters to several universities offering students who illegally download music a chance to settle with the RIAA before they are sued for copyright infringement.
USC is one of 13 universities receiving letters, which the RIAA sent on behalf of major record labels.
The "pre-litigation settlement" letters will ask the university to inform individual students or staff members that they are about to be targeted for a lawsuit, according to an RIAA press release issued Wednesday.
The letters are part of the RIAA's new plan to crack down on illegal downloading at college campuses. Of the 400 letters sent, USC received 20. Ohio University topped the list with 50 letters, the release stated.
After receiving one of the letters, the student or staff member will have 20 days to contact the RIAA and settle for a "discounted rate," according to the statement. If they fail to contact the RIAA, the association will issue a lawsuit.
The litigation threat most likely means more users are downloading illegally at USC than elsewhere, said Jonathan Lamy, the RIAA's senior vice president of communication.
"It's not surprising that where there are high instances of piracy happening, a university will receive the most notices that their students will be sued," Lamy said.
Still, it is difficult for the RIAA to target specific schools.
"It's really university agnostic," he said. "You can't search for a particular individual at a university."
The program was met with mixed feelings by students.
Lauren Li, a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism, said that while the RIAA has an obligation to try and prevent illegal downloads, this is not necessarily the best solution.
"It's good that they're cracking down on illegal downloads, but it's unfair that they're just picking random people," Li said. "They have to realize that thousands of people worldwide download music, and to pinpoint certain people is unfair. They need to set some standard."
Lamy said the program is designed to be beneficial to students.
"We're adding a feature at the very beginning that will allow the student to settle early, before a lawsuit is even filed, and at a discounted rate," Lamy said. "We're asking for help from university administrators to forward the requests immediately."
Officials at the 13 schools received no advance warning of the letters, but the president and general counsel of each school were contacted this morning, Lamy said.
University counsel Kelly Bendell, who usually handles contact with the RIAA, said while the counsel's office was not contacted this morning, the president's office did receive a brief notice informing the school of the letters.
Bendell said she doesn't see the RIAA's new methods as being that different from ones it has used in the past, where the RIAA subpoenas a university to release the names of students who download illegally and then sues them.
"What we've done in the past, once we've received a subpoena, we've contacted students and told them what is happening. So this would be no different," Bendell said.
It's unclear whether the letters will be a strong deterrent for students. The RIAA estimates that half of college students download music illegally.
One freshman majoring in interactive entertainment, who asked not to be named because he uses illegal downloading services, said he would carefully look at the content of the letter if he were served with one.
"It's a rippling effect. They start doing this, and we find sneakier ways to download illegally," he said. "Until they get the picture that we're not going to stop until they make it much easier to get music at a reasonable price, we're not going to stop."
Brandon Lang, a freshman majoring in business administration, disagreed.
"It seems like they're trying to make some sort of compromise," he said. "You've seen the lawsuits where some grandma is sued and pays thousands of dollars, so if they're willing to settle out of court - sort of like a, 'You help us, we'll help you' - that's a good thing."
Lamy said that even a small effect on student downloading is a step in the right direction.
"The idea here is not to find every single person who is stealing music online," he said. "That's not realistic. What we're trying to do is inject a certain level of risk when people consider how they get their music."
