The Financial Aid 'Stick' Against Illegal Downloading
Information Today, Vol. 25, No. 9, p. 17, October 2008
3 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2010
Date Written: October 2008
Abstract
Traffic has been terrible on my commute lately as 28,000 students are returning to the University of Pittsburgh campus. The same story is certainly true at thousands of other colleges and universities. Students will settle in to a cornucopia of high speed Internet options, such as broadband ports in dorm rooms, computer labs in many campus buildings, and ubiquitous wireless networking virtually everywhere. While Internet access is intended, and often used, to facilitate the learning process, a number of students will take advantage of the access to break out Limewire or another peer-to-peer network and enhance their MP3 or movie collections by illegally exchanging copyrighted materials.
While there are disputes about the impact of illegal downloading on the entertainment industry (various studies have ranged from a 0% impact on sales to a 44% impact. One study that identified a 44% impact was later found to contain “errors” reducing the impact to about 15%.), illegal downloading continues to be a challenge for both copyright owners and universities. One report indicated the college students accounted for 1.6 billion illegal music downloads in 2006, and a similar report showed that half of all college students illegally downloaded music or movies. The entertainment industry’s response to this challenge has been a mixture of carrots and sticks.
Keywords: information industry, copyright law, lawsuits, illegal downloading, file sharing, technology, entertainment industry, market effect, college students, music, movies
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