Jari Ketola
24 Mar 2004 9:16
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed lawsuits against 532 suspected pirates. Among those sued are, for example, 89 students from more than 20 different universities.
"There is an exciting array of legal music services where fans can get high-quality online music," said Cary Sherman, president of RIAA. "Lawsuits are an important part of the larger strategy to educate file sharers about the law, protect the rights of copyright owners and encourage music fans to turn to these legitimate services."
College students are generally considered to be the most active users of peer-to-peer networks. That's why it's not too surprising to see RIAA make a major move against them. Several universities have already signed deals with for instance Napster to allow their students access to legal music services at a reasonable price.
The rest of the sued individuals were users of commercial ISPs. Lawsuits were brought against them in California, Colorado, Missouri, Texas and Virginia.
Source: Reuters