Illegal downloading of media files may no longer be a smooth experience in the long run. Some intellectual property companies are in headlines for offering copyright protection. A Columbia university student got an email claiming she has to go for monetary settlement owing to unlawful downloading of Taylor Swift melodies. It was done by Rightscorp Inc who acts on the behalf of clients such as Swift by keeping an eye on networks based on peer to peer media file sharing and tracking unlawfully downloaded music.
The aforementioned piracy was conducted from the Wi-Fi network of a university. In such cases, Rightscorp alerts the university regarding the violation. More and more universities are depending on the quality services of similar intellectual property protection companies for monitoring unlawful network activities. Robert Hornsby from Colombia University in an email press release points out that online activities of their students aren’t monitored or reported.
The Associate VP for media relations stated that university takes proper action after receiving infringement notice under DMC act violations. This includes restriction on network access for individuals charged with unlawful file sharing. It required these individuals to answer copyright quiz questions and agreeing upon not downloading illegal materials again prior to restoring access, expressed Hornsby.
Extreme possibilities are outlined through emails from the intellectual property company Rightscorp. The recipients are notified through initial email that lawsuits ranging up to $150000 can be filed against them and internet could be shut off. As per the first notice, the accused Becher’s online services were temporarily disconnected at Columbia. According to Becher, she was questioned stating that her university isn’t tracking her and the she’d get Wi-Fi facility back. It happened twice consecutively when she received email from the intellectual property firm asking for payment settlement for some songs of the artist involved.
As per DMC act, these kind of universities need to take up each infringement report expediently. It involves the termination of online services for the second time offenders. Standard university removes the online access of a student who has committed three DMC act violations. Email recipients are stated through Rightscorp that the settlements worth $10 for each infringement. As soon as the payments of infringement have been made, copyright and intellectual property right owner forwards a lawful release.
Last year, there were more than 340 infractions of DMC act at the State University of Ohio. The university employs third party firms for monitoring unlawful network activities. Becher said that she had paid twice the asked amount due to fear and she is called by Rightscorp on Taylor Swift everyday either once or may be twice.
The Recording Industry Association (RIA) in America came hard on copyright infringement and unlawful file sharing in 2003. According to some reports, four students of a college were sued due to operating search engines which allowed them to search the downloadable files. In 2004, as much as 5460 lawsuits were filed by RIA against the university students in the academic year which climbed to 7437 in total.
Image credit: Kheng Ho Toh