October 31, 2007
The Cost of Copyright Compliance
In an article on yesterday’s file-sharing forum, Ohio University’s student-run newspaper, The Post, sheds some light on the cost of fighting campus piracy. The university, which was once inundated with copyright-infringement claims, hasn’t received any such notices in months. But copyright compliance hasn’t come cheap:
Today, the university uses a nearly $60,000 software and hardware package from Audible Magic to stop file sharing on its network and pays about $16,000 for support, maintenance, and regular database updates that allow the system, called CopySense, to detect newly released music.
Campus officials seem satisfied with the investment, and they must certainly be happy that record-company complaints are no longer taking up their time. But how many colleges can afford to devote that much money to an antipiracy tool? —Brock Read
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Many sites using CopySense have found it to be considerably less than 100% effective in detecting copyrighted material. I have a less than rhetorical question: Has it really been that effective, or has the RIAA simply quit targeting Ohio U. now that they’ve invested in the product? Using the number of Take Down Notices one receives as the measure of illegal filesharing on one’s campus is kind of like measuring the amount of speeding on a street based upon the results of an occasional radar speed trap.
— Don Nov 1, 07:11 AM #
You may be right about the targeting, Don. But I still don’t understand why such a to-do is made of money spent to prevent theft.
It seems to me that FAR more than $60K is spent to prevent theft of lab equipment, sports gear and other university belongings. Why then is the focus of the story on how much money is being spent to prevent a university’s systems from being used for theft? Why, instead, isn’t the story lauding the university for taking some affirmative steps in theft prevention?
The wrong people are being vilified. It’s not the RIAA who’s at fault (though I eschew their methods); it’s our kids who haven’t been taught to think responsibly about others.
— Rob Nov 1, 07:42 AM #
Simple answer: $60K pales in comparison with the potential liability from copyright infringement statutory damage awards.
— Sandy Thatcher Nov 1, 10:01 AM #
That does not come even close to the real cost for response, trace back, student life, honor and conduct, and the many and varied people involved in the trace back and complaint presentation processes.
— Matthew Hall Nov 1, 10:22 AM #
I wouldn’t be surprised if the RIAA had a vested interest in CopySense and its parent company. That $60k is a retail price on the hardware/software combo — and probably is several thousand times the actual cost of producing the product. Why is it so high? Probably not because that’s the norm in business. Probably more because this isn’t about the law and copyright infringement. This is about greed, no matter what stories the RIAA use to justify their cause. No doubt they are getting a cut from CopySense sales – they will get their money one way or another.
I read someplace, possibly on a previous post here, a very good analogy. Typically if a student supposedly robs a store, and the police come a-knocking, the school is not under any obligation to give up information on the suspect. Why is this different? That they’re using the infrastructures in place to transmit their data? Or maybe its that Higher Ed buckles, doesn’t take itself or its own strengths and resources seriously. If institutions got together to stop the bullying, I believe we’d be in a better situation. But we just give into the scare tactic of “potential liability” because we can’t stand up and show that it’s injustice.
Besides, a lot of our infrastructure is made possible through government money anyway — why don’t we sue them?
— Joel Nov 1, 10:36 AM #
The RIAA’s tactics are reprehensible and are clearly backfiring in terms of public sentiment (see recent Chronicle stories). In the long run, it will hurt the RIAA badly. The Motion Picture Industry Association’s efforts to kill videotape machines in the 70’s come to mind in this regard.
However, I suspect the issue isn’t whether 100% of file sharing is stopped (an impossibility); it’s whether the practice is sufficiently suppressed to make the problem a non-issue. And for most institutions, in relative terms to the overall computer budget, $60K isn’t a big deal – although the staff time may be a considerable hidden cost that exceeds $60K.
— Al Nov 1, 11:17 AM #
This is absurd. By this logic, we need to be suing the computer manufacturer’s because they make computers that work on the internet.
It is NOT the responsibility of academia to monitor all mail (electronic or otherwise) of its students.
The RIAA needs to come up with a strategy that is legal and covers all US citizens. The simplest thing would be for them to properly evolve their business model, but they’re already 20 years too late for that.
— Stephen Nov 1, 11:51 AM #
Underneath the cops and robbers soap opera we all deplore is a basic problem. Information is no longer a physical object. Ownership (and copyright) must adapt.
The students behaviour isn’t just lawless sloth, there is a growing deliberate subversion of social expectations – think UC Berkeley and the 60’s.
These kids will not be dissuaded from buidling a new model, legal and financial, to permit the distribution process to work. Google will figure it out, or someone just like them.
Hang on. It’s going to get rough.
— Bob Sams Nov 1, 01:32 PM #
Why is it the University’s responsibility to buy the anti-piracy software? It should be the financial responsibility of the RIAA to provide Universities with it. If I don’t want my car to be stolen, I am responsible for purchasing anti-theft devices.
— Joe Nov 1, 02:46 PM #
In 2006, as part of their Digital Citizen Project, Illinois State pegged their cost of responding to DMCA notices at $76 for first-time offenses and $146 for second/critical offenses. Their brief report is available at http://www.digitalcitizen.ilstu.edu/documents/ISUGreenfield%20-%200607%20-%20DMCA%20Process.pdf.
Offhand, I don’t know of any other similar studies so I don’t know (a) the variance between institutions and (b) the variance between years (I would hope it would get cheaper over time as we become more efficient).
— Kevin Guidry Nov 4, 10:08 AM #