What Happens If The RIAA Targets You

By: Andrew Peters

Posted: 3/6/08

Editor's Note: The name of the student featured in this story has been changed to "Dave" to protect his identity.

When Dave went back to his room after dinner to check his e-mail Jan. 9, he almost deleted the two spam-like messages.

"The title was like, 'Fwd: Fwd, some weird numbers, from the university," he recalled.

But Dave got a sinking feeling when he realized what the e-mails were about. He had been cited by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegally sharing music over the Internet using LimeWire, a peer-to-peer downloading program.

The messages - one from UConn and another from the RIAA's lawyers - told Dave he had 20 days to settle the claim by paying the RIAA $3,000. If he chose not to settle, he would be sued.

"I was shocked," Dave remembered, shaking his head. "I knew this wasn't going to go away and I was in some serious trouble.

"What I didn't get was I had LimeWire but never used it," he continued. "I never download at campus, but people downloaded off of me."

But just sharing 109 songs for others to download was enough for the RIAA to target him, along with 24 other UConn students, in their latest round of "pre-litigation settlement letters."

"One-hundred and nine songs," Dave said. "People I know have thousands of songs. I guess [the RIAA] is trying to make a point."

That relatively small number of songs came at a high price. Dave wrestled with the choice of paying the $3,000 settlement or attempting to fight the claim in court.

But the chances of defeating the RIAA in court are slim, according to a statement by University Information Technology Services (UITS) Chief Information Officer Michael Kerntke.

"Several of these cases have proceeded to court and to date the RIAA has prevailed in each of them," Kerntke wrote. "A recent court decision awarded an amount in excess of $200,000 to the RIAA."

For those who have taken their RIAA cases to court, the RIAA has sought $750 in damages for each illegally shared song. In Dave's case, the total damages for his 109 songs could have totaled upwards of $80,000. Considering the risks and legal costs, he grudgingly opted to pay the $3,000 without going to court.

"I thought, 'what are the chances they issue a subpoena?'" Dave said. "But I didn't know anyone who's taken that chance, and it would have cost at least $3,000 to get a lawyer to fight the case."

Dave barely had the $3,000 that he was forced to pay. Working at his on-campus job 10 hours a week for minimum wage, he would have to work over 43 weeks to recover his losses.

"I tried to think of ways around it," he said. "But you can't run away from it."

Since paying the settlement, he's had to make some adjustments to cut his expenses.

"I don't go out as much. I don't drink when I do go out," he said. "Nothing in this world is free. I wish I could have just paid $100. But to take everything I have, everything I've worked for, it's ludicrous.

"It does seem a little unfair," he continued. "They go after the first people they see. Not just big people - they'll go for anyone."

"They're going to catch bigger fish -" Dave stopped to correct himself mid-sentence, "more fish in a bigger pool here."

As for the music, Dave said he wasn't even particularly attached to the songs he had been sharing.

"I'll listen to anything," he said. "Half the time I'll hear a song and not know the name, who sings it, or the lyrics."

But no matter the song or the software, UITS recently warned that illegal downloading could mean harsh fines.

"It is important that you understand the consequences of engaging in the sharing of copyrighted material such as music and movie files," Kerntke's statement reads.

"Several individuals at UConn who have received pre-settlement letters claim that they were unaware that they were running software that was sharing their files via the Internet." The statement continues, "In the interest of avoiding a costly error, each of you should examine and remove from your computers any peer-to-peer software and infringing material that you may find."

But the most recent warning was too late for Dave, who had received the RIAA notices over a month before.

"I was kinda pissed off," he said. "Why don't they warn people before? I wish they would have sent a warning first, a letter of notice every year when you move back in or something."

"If I'd have found this out - the potential of [being caught] - I'd never have done it," Dave said.

UConn actually did send a warning e-mail in August.

"If you engage in peer-to-peer file sharing activity which infringes the copyright in [music, movies, software or games], the university strongly urges you to discontinue that activity immediately," read the message from Elaine David, director of IT security, policy and quality assurance.

Nevertheless, Dave and 24 other students were found to be in violation of RIAA copyrights, raising the total number of RIAA citations at UConn to 84, according to the release.

"You've got to learn from your mistakes," Dave said, then reconsidered. "Or people downloading off of you."

Contact Andrew Peters at

Andrew.Peters@UConn.edu.