Illegal file sharing on the university computer network has produced 360 instances of copyright infringement since January, Jan Fox, vice president for Information Technology/CIO, said.
In an interview with The Parthenon, Fox said the music-sharing issue has been so time-consuming for her and her staff, she fears many employees can't focus on the real issues that need to be confronted.
The Recording Industry Association of America has identified Marshall University students as being among the leading violators in copyright infringement cases. Fox said the relationship is taking a heavy toll.
"It takes so many hours between the tracking, logs and write-ups to research these infringement issues," Fox said. "We receive between four and five different types of notices, all of which have the RIAA's name on them. I would much rather my time and my staff's time be spent bettering the school.
"We need to know who is doing what on the network, and this is distracting us from our real jobs. I worry that a major issue on campus will slip through while we spend our efforts dealing with the RIAA's requests."
Fox has received at least 25 pre-litigation letters from the RIAA in 2007..
"All chief information officers from the 25 universities that received the most piracy notices for the 2006-2007 academic year have been on conference calls trying to find a way to protect and inform our students," Fox said. "We have to protect our institutions as well as our students, but we have yet to find a solution."
Major institutions with law schools have a less-likely chance of being attacked, Fox said.
Harvard and WVU have never had network users sued for copyright violations, she said.
Harvard has even gone so far as to take a stance that if the university had students accused of violating the RIAA's interpretation of the copyright law, that Harvard would attack the case and believe it can win, she said.
A groundbreaking RIAA case went to trial Tuesday in Duluth, Minn., that questions the validity of the RIAA's copyright protection methods.
Lawyers have said the case could set a precedent.
"The student that wins an RIAA case will give great hope to this whole situation," Fox said. "Regardless of winning or losing, these cases involve a serious amount of money being on the table. It is a huge financial issue on all sides. It has been very painful to send the letters out to the students and absolutely heart wrenching for the family and kids to call me about these situations."
Fox said neither students nor parents understand the situation.
"They do not feel like it is stealing," Fox said. "There is another type of educating that needs to be done. I have spoken with parents who didn't feel as though the kids have done anything wrong."
During the spring 2007 semester, more than 10 students received pre-litigation letters.
"There is a great disagreement in higher education on how to handle this situation," Steve Hensley, dean of student affairs, told The Parthenon reporting staff this week. "The institution doesn't get in trouble, but it hurts the students if we do not make them aware of the situation as quickly as possible.
Hensley said RIAA lawyers have said that if the university doesn't release the students' names, that they will not have the opportunity to settle before going to court.
"This time, I am taking action," Hensley said. "Students know it is illegal now."
Hensley said students will receive, at minimum, a formal warning for the first offense and will be subject to harsher punishment for other offenses.
Brandon Ambrose can be contacted at Brandon.ambrose@marshall.edu.
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