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MPAA to Warn Colleges Of Copyright Infringement

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is issuing warnings to universities and colleges about illegal downloading activity by its students.

December 7, 2010

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) will issue warnings to universities and colleges about illegal downloading activity by its students, the organization said in letters to the schools.

"We will ... be forwarding you notices related to our members' movie and television content, in order to make you aware of specific instances of illegal activity on your campus' network," wrote Daniel Mandil, senior executive vice president at the MPAA.

The letters, sent to university presidents, note that the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires schools that receive federal aid to develop and implement a plan to combat piracy.

"We can help you to ensure that your institution is abiding by the law," Mandil wrote.

The MPAA, however, will not be suing individual students for copyright infringement. "The universities themselves will decide what steps to take in response to the notices based on their own rules concerning the misuse of university networks for illegal purposes," according to an MPAA spokesman.

The HEOA was enacted in 2008, but the bill's regulations did not go into effect until July 1, 2010. As part of the bill, schools that receive federal funds must develop a plan that includes: details about one or more tech-based deterrents they will use to combat piracy; plans for how they will educate students about copyright infringement; procedures for handling instances of piracy; and procedures for reviewing the effectiveness of their piracy plans, according to a June letter from the Department of Education.

In his letter to schools, Mandil appealed to the mass of upcoming graduates without jobs lined up. "The Act was passed in recognition of the fact that more than 2.4 million workers in all 50 states depend on the entertainment industry for their jobs," he wrote. "Online theft is a job-killer that also reduces the number of opportunities for graduates of your institution to make a living in the creative sectors."

Meanwhile Educause, an IT policy think tank, has named 10 schools with exemplary piracy crackdown plans: Baylor University, Bowling Green State University, Cornell University, Illinois State University, Pomona College, Reed College, South Texas College, Texas State University-San Marcos, University of California Los Angeles, and University of Delaware.

Cornell University, for instance, blocks the IP addresses of students with outstanding violations, and issues cease and desist statements. Repeat offenders must pay a $35 "service fee." Baylor University and South Texas College use Audible Magic software in their technical safeguards layer to issue warnings to students caught preparing to download illegal copyright material from P2P sites, and the University of Delaware hosts a website with a laundry list of legal download alternatives.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the MPAA's music counterpart, sued individual users over illegal downloads for years before that it would abandon its practice of suing individuals in favor of working with Internet service providers to track down offenders; a tactic the MPAA has taken for some time.

Still, that didn't stop a hacker 4chan from launching a against the MPAA and RIAA Web sites in September.