On March 21 the Recording Industry Association of America sent the College 11 pre-litigation "settlement letters" identifying the IP addresses of College network users who illegally downloaded or shared files online.
According to Dartmouth General Counsel Robert Donin, Computing Services was able to identify several of the network users from the IP addresses provided.
The identified users were forwarded the settlement letters, which allowed them the opportunity to contact the RIAA to negotiate a pre-litigation settlement.
Donin would not say how many network users were identified, nor how many identified users were students as opposed to other Dartmouth community members.
In a March 22 e-mail message sent to all undergraduate students, Senior Associate Dean of the College Mary Liscinsky said that pre-litigation settlements generally range from $3,000 and $5,000.
But if one takes the case to court, according to the Dartmouth Copyright Policy and Guidelines, the RIAA can sue for $150,000 for each instance of willful infringement.
"Each time you upload or download a copyrighted work from someone, that could be a separate case of willful infringement," Donin said. "They could sue for $150,000 per song."
In the past, before the RIAA implemented its pre-litigation settlement policy, settlements generally ranged from $5,000 to $10,000, Donin said.
The RIAA sent 405 pre-litigation settlement letters to students at 23 colleges and universities in its most recent attempts to curb illegal downloading.
Recipients of the settlement letters have twenty days to contact the RIAA to negotiate a settlement; if they do not make contact within 20 days, the RIAA will initiate a lawsuit.
According to Donin, the College holds no official position on whether an identified user should contact the RIAA if he or she receives a pre-litigation settlement letter.
"But we do recommend that a user consult with an attorney before deciding whether to respond," he said. In the meantime, the RIAA does not yet have access to identified users' contact information.
"Please understand that the College will not disclose any student's information to the RIAA unless a subpoena is issued," Liscinsky's e-mail message said.
Donin explained that a subpoena from the RIAA was possible, but "not definite."
"The RIAA has informed the College of its intention to subpoena the names and contact information of those system users who were involved in the particular file sharing transactions that the RIAA has identified, and that is all we know at this time," he said.
Liscinsky's e-mail message outlined measures for students to take to avoid future settlement letters or lawsuits.
"In light of this new campaign, we advise all students to remove illegally obtained copyrighted material and/or peer-to-peer applications that might illegally share copyright material with other users," Liscinsky wrote. She said that the Student Computing Help Desk can help students remove these programs.
Donin explained that even if a student removed the programs and the illegally downloaded files from his computer, however, he could still get in trouble if his IP address had already been identified for illegal downloading and file sharing.
Students have responded differently to Liscinsky's e-mail. Aimee Moon '09 said that she removed the file-sharing program LimeWire from her computer after receiving the message.
One male member of the Class of 2008 who requested to remain anonymous because he did not want his name connected to illegal activities, however, chose not to remove his version of OurTunes from his computer.
"At first I thought, oh man, should I reconsider, maybe this is a serious illegal offense," he said. In the end, however, he decided that his love for music was worth what he perceived as a small risk of getting caught.
"After a while I was like, no, I like music too much, I like things that are free too much, I'm going to continue greedily downloading things for free," he said.
