In September 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America decided education alone is not enough to dissuade individuals from illegally pirating licensed music and began filing copyright infringement lawsuits against thousands of violators across the nation, according to the RIAA Web site. College students are a major target of this ever-increasing legal pressure, but have the association’s bullying tactics eliminated or slowed, in the least, the rate of illegal online downloads? Even RIAA representatives admit lawsuits can never eliminate online music piracy.

N.C. State has consistently ranked among the top five universities in the nation for the number of RIAA pre-litigation settlements filed against its students. Does this mean individuals at this institution are downloading more music than other college students? This is obviously not the case. It is clear the RIAA has decided to use our University to set an example for other colleges in the area. In recent years, NCSU has had around 25 to 30 students subpoenaed by the RIAA each month, according to University Legal Services.

It is frustrating that our University is being overtly targeted for legal action, but letting this trend of lawsuits continue to grow is not a healthy option for our student body. University officials need to reanalyze their approach to regulating student Internet privileges and develop a means to better protect Internet users on campus. As an educational facility it would be unproductive to severely limit internet usage across the board, but there needs to be some kind of compromise that can quell our legal dilemmas.

The RIAA won’t stop prosecuting individuals anytime in the near future, bearing some kind of unforeseen intervention by the federal government. In the meantime the power of technology continues to grow exponentially and Internet music pirators seem undeterred by the few individuals who are caught and punished. This is a battle where, at present, neither side can score a decisive victory.

For now the University should continue to help students resist the harassing tactics the RIAA uses to frighten and subjugate students. At the same time, all constituents on campus need to work together to develop comprehensive Internet restrictions that can begin to mask us from the RIAA’s crosshairs.