University of Wisconsin Tells The RIAA To Piss Off
The University of Wisconsin has decided not to cooperate with the new RIAA Copyright Infringement DriveThru. The RIAA recently implemented a new strategy to fine college students with an out-of-court settlement procedure for identified copyright violators.
The faster, credit card serviced, and more convenient process did not sit well with administrators and the school’s IT department. “These settlement letters are an attempt to short circuit the legal process to rely on universities to be their legal agent,” Brian Rust, communications manager for the UW Division of Information Technology (DoIT) recently told the the local Badger Herald newspaper. Rust revealed that the DoIT receives about 10 to 20 cease-and-desist letters per day, and noted that settlement fines usually fall within the $700 range., but some fines hit $3,500. The university does warn students about illegal file-sharing and intellectual property violations, but leaves it up to the RIAA to handle the dirty work.
The RIAA immediately countered fearing other Universities will adopt the same attitude to their intensified efforts. “If the University of Wisconsin has adopted this policy – and we have had no direct communication from them to indicate that they have – it would be unfortunate that students would lose the opportunity to settle any future claims against them at a substantially discounted sum and with the benefit of no public mark on their record,” said RIAA representative Jonathan Lamy.
