The Brown & White

Whether it's being played on an iPod, blasting through a car stereo or being pumped through speakers at a frat party, many college students are listening to illegally downloaded music.

Last semester, the university received about twice the usual amount of infringement notices from the music and motion picture industries, according to Lehigh Security Officer Blair Bernhardt.

The motion picture industry has been subpoenaing colleges to get the names of students found to be infringing on copyrights, according to a press release from the Motion Picture Association of America on Jan. 22.

Investigators for copyright holders track illegal downloaders on peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, such as Limewire, Gnutella and BitTorrent, by monitoring user activity and then obtaining a unique Internet connection number, called an Internet Protocol address.

The Recording Industry Association of America and MPAA can trace user identities by seeking information about certain IP addresses through internet providers, or in this case, through a university.

When a Lehigh student is caught, an infringement notification is sent to Bernhardt, who then notifies the student and immediately blocks their network access.

"We lock the port instantly because we have to," Bernhardt said. "It's the law to block access to the infringing materials, and it keeps the university from being liable for anything."

Bernhardt said the university receives anywhere from 200 to 300 of these letters per year. But recent years have seen a noticeable increase, he said, with 500 coming in last semester. This semester, he has already received about 100 notices, he said.

Most of the letters to students are warnings requiring them to remove the material from their computers before network access is restored.

Alan Diamond, '10, received one such letter.

"After getting caught, I would say that people probably shouldn't download," Diamond said. "They can get caught and it would be a pain if they had to go through what I did. It could be a lot worse than them just taking your Internet."

The RIAA has previously sued thousands of copyright infringers, often seeking settlements of a few thousand dollars.

Bernhardt said Lehigh has had cases in which students were sued.

"It's just not worth the grief," Bernhardt said. "If they decide they want to sue you, it's some major bucks, so it's really not worth it for a handful of songs. When you used to have to go out and buy a CD, it was one thing. But now you can go and download it for a buck from any of a half a dozen places. It's really not worth it."

Despite the possible consequences, some students said they were not worried enough to stop downloading illegally.

Bernhardt said the easiest way not to get caught is not to do it at all.

"If you're getting something for nothing, you're probably doing something illegal," he said, and added that obtaining files from peer-to-peer programs in most instances is usually illegal.

Bernhardt said the concept of intellectual property is taken seriously at Lehigh.

"Anything you develop while you're a student, or even afterwards, you don't really want someone else effectively stealing that and distributing it without your approval," he said.

As the school year continues, Bernhardt will most likely receive hundreds of infringement letters from the RIAA and MPAA.

Bernhardt said his job is less about helping the RIAA and more about keeping students out of trouble.