Originally written on May 24, 2007.

Internet2 (aka I2), a high speed research network with over 200 universities, can also be used for transferring non-research related data like music or movie files.

In April 2005, when I heard that the RIAA was going after people on Internet2, I remember asking my colleague, “How the hell did they get into I2?” It’s still fishy how they were able to discover illegal file-sharing on these networks since they technically weren’t allowed into this private network and didn’t join the I2 consortium until September 2005.

I went to a virtual seminar Stuck in the Middle with You: A Survival Guide for Campuses Caught in the File-Sharing Wars provided by the National Association of College and University Attorneys in collaboration with Educause. I found the seminar very informative which was done over a conference phone and a laptop with Webex. The Webex set up was pretty neat and allowed people to submit questions verbally and also written questions through the laptop which were both answered verbally.

A few things:

1. MediaSentry is the company that’s involved with the discovery of illegal file-sharing: “monitoring popular forums for copyright infringement, aid in litigation, early leak detection, and the distribution of decoy files”. There has always been a guess as to how the industry finds people, and this was confirmation about how they actually accomplish it.
2. A woman fought the Law, and the Law Won - In BMG Music v. Gonzalez, the woman was found guilty of downloading 30 songs even though she claimed she wanted to sample before buying. Her fines were $22,500 (could have been $4.5 mil) plus attorney fees and an injunction against further downloading.
3. Not only are there pre-litigation letters (also called Early Settlement Letters), but the industry is also sending preservation notices (which occur before the pre-litigation letters).
4. The accused is given 20 calendar days to respond to a pre-litigation letter. If they do not respond, a lawsuit will be filed against them.
5. During pre-litigation, the settlement fees are $3k if paid within 30 days, $3.25k for 6+ months, and $3.5k for 12 months. Payment plans are available (that’s so very nice of them).
6. After pre-litigation, but before a lawsuit is filed, settlement costs go up by $1,000 at each level.
7. Other people besides Larry Lessig call it the R-I-double-A.

Basically now there’s a PRE-pre-litigation letter that gets sent to colleges that ask the school to preserve evidence, but the letters aren’t binding. The pre-litigation letters (Early Settlement Letters) that arrive later asks the schools to not “spoliate” the evidence or they might be liable for aiding in infringement.

So I asked the one of the attorneys about “requiring that the student disable the unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing program or move all of the unauthorized copyrighted sound recordings out of the shared directory from which files are being distributed illegally without destroying infringing material that may be evidence in a lawsuit”. Why would someone still want to keep evidence against them? The idea is that if the person were to delete the evidence and were found guilty in a court of law, they would also be subject to punishment for getting rid of evidence which is more serious than dealing with just a DMCA issue.

I love how the University of Nebraska is sending the RIAA a bill, though.

UPDATE 01.19.2008: Sample pre-litigation letter and sample pre-litigation agreement.