Friday, April 6, 2007
New RIAA crackdown aimed at college students
By Joshua Lane
student life editor
The Recording Industry Association
of America RIAA, in its long and won
derful history of suing everyday citi
zens for the past four years, has once
again opened up its legal department
and decided to start filing suits. Only
this time, those suits are aimed specifi
cally at you. It's no secret that the RIAA
has been narrowing their hunt at college
kids for illegal downloading and file
sharing, but this time they have decided
to take the next step. They have chose
to aim their guns at the colleges them
selves.
College students have long been in
the crosshairs of the RIAA, and some
would say it's for a good reason. A 2006
survey by the Student Monitor claims
that more than half of all college stu
dents participate in illegal downloading
and college students were responsible
for over one billion illegal music down
loads in 2006 alone. The RIAA calls
this amount of file sharing
and unacceptable
The next wave in the RIAA crackdown involves mass mailing university presidents and asking for their
cooperation in the ongoing fight against illegal downloading. The RIAA is also sending what they call pre
litigation letters to students, effectively hulls Mg them by telling them they can either take a hefty fine, usu
ally between $3,000 to $5,000. or they can go to court where the RIAA will then sue for $750 per song,
which could add up to millions.
Kander and Ebb opens in Behrend Studio Theater
By Brian Hutchison
contributing writer
For students and others interested in the theatrical
arts, the Penn State Behrend Theater Department
will be beginning its spring semester performance
April 13, at 8 p.m. in the campus's Studio Theater.
Instead of the usual play however, students this time
will be perform-
ing a music
review
amongst the seating.
This feature will take the
number of available
seats down from last
year's three night sell
out, the "Comedy of
Errors." Because of the
different set sizes each
production requires, the
number of seats avail
able changes. In the
past, productions such as
full-length plays, musi
cals, and one-act plays,
have been performed in
the Studio Theater, uti
lizing every inch of its
usable space.
Westwood explains
that, "there are few out
lets on Behrend's cam
pus for the dramatic arts
since there is currently
no theater major offered
here. There is an inter
setCONTRIBUTED PHOTO
est among students
New play hopes to sell out at Behrends own Studio Theater here, and this is one of
the ways that they can
experience the theatrical arts here on campus." The
musical revue of "Kander and Ebb," opens April 13
at 8 p.m. in the Behrend studio theater. Shows will
also be held on the 14th, 18th, 19th, and 20th, all at
8 p.m. The April 15th show will begin at 2 p.m.,
and the closing show will be at 7 p.m. on April 21st.
"Kander al
Ebb." Unlike
play or music.
that has a pli
line, this 111111 f
cal review w
consist simpi
of songs pei
formed one aft(
another.
This perform.
ance will be the
last
Behrend's onl
full-time theatl
professor any
show directs
Dr. Christie
Mangone, as sl
travels
Connecticut f'
a new job. Part
time profess,
T.J. Laffan,
teaches
Behrend's
building
will stay as a
nationwide search for a replacement full-time pro
fessor is conducted.
Songs written by Kander and Ebb including "All
That Jazz," and "New York, New York," will be
sung by a cast of Behrend students made up of five
men and four women. Stage Manager, and Penn
State *unior R an Westwood claims, "every show
rir
\,j
The Record Industry Association of America cracks down on file sharing. This time it's aim is at universities
extensive
n ['LEI frrl L i
I've worked on has had the best cast. We all form
unique bonds with each other. It's always great
because each show consists of a different group of
people
Along with the musical revue format that will set
this performance apart from others, a cabaret style
will also change the experience from that of past
shows. Students will be invited to help themselves
during the show to
drinks and snacks that
will be set up on tables
of songs many of which were hip-hop.
They also have sued an 83-year-old woman in 2004 who had been dead for over two months. They claimed
that she was responsible for making over 700 songs available for illegal download on the internet. The
main problem with this new wave on college students is that many students share a dorm with one to three
people. It is impossible to distinguish who downloaded what song.
Spacious 3 &
apartments
$625-$lOOO per person
id El
Top 5 Animated Shows
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles.
4. Family Guy
3. Chip & Dale/Rescue Rangers
2. Doug
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Priced as low as
for the summer
The Behrend Beacon I
Last month, the RIAA sent out
over 40(1 of these pre-litigation letters
to students at I 3 different schools. The
RIAA promises that this action is only
the beginning of their newest cam
paign. They promise to have "hun
dreds of similar enforcement actions"
every month.
The RIAA has also set up a web
site called P2P Lawsuits, which is
designed to allow college students to
basically give up their Fifth
Amendment right and incriminate
themselves. The site works a lot like
the failed 'Clean Slate" website did
hack in 2003. The idea is illegal file
sharers can "confess - to the RIAA that
they do participate in file sharing and
they can then sign a notarized affidavit
saying that they will never again
download illegally and will immedi
ately delete all illegal music from their
computer.
The RIAA is, and has been under
stiff criticism for their suing rants. In
2003. the RIAA sued a 65-year-old
woman for illegally sharing thousands
Andy McLachlan
4 bedroom
available
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