Previous Campus Librarians Fight Proposed Expansion of Surveillance Powers |
Next |
November 02, 2007, 03:55 PM ET
U. of Oregon Says No to John Doe
Add the University of Oregon to the small but growing list of institutions that are fighting the recording industry’s antipiracy lawsuits: The university is asking a federal judge to quash subpoenas seeking the names of 17 campus song-swapping suspects.
The Recording Industry Association of America asked Oregon officials to forward pre-litigation notices — which offer discounted rates for out-of-court settlements — to the students earlier this year. But the university declined, so the trade group went ahead and filed a “John Doe” subpoena that called on Oregon to name students identified only by Internet-protocol numbers.
When faced with similar subpoenas, most colleges have acquiesced. But according to Ars Technica, Oregon officials enlisted the state attorney general’s office to help them argue that they simply cannot identify the students the RIAA wants to sue.
Most of the students did their file sharing from the university’s wireless network, campus officials say, and several others used computers in double-occupancy dorm rooms. Students have to enter user names when they log on to the campus network, but the university says it cannot conclusively determine whether the people who signed on to the network were the ones guilty of copyright infringement.
Oregon officials say they don’t have the resources to conduct a more thorough investigation on the recording industry’s behalf. The John Doe subpoena “requires the university to create discoverable material to assist plaintiffs in their litigation rather than merely disclose existing documents,” wrote the university in an affidavit. —Brock Read
Categories: Legal-Troubles, Campus-Piracy
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.