AfterDawn: News

Oregon Attorney General takes on RIAA over subpoena

Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers is getting the state's Department of Justice involved in the RIAA's campaign to identify file sharers on college campuses. The RIAA has issued a subpoena to learn the identities of 17 people allegedly sharing files illegally from the University of Oregon campus.

A motion filed by Myers claims that because the RIAA is providing nothing more than IP addresses, it's impossible to positively identify the person sitting at the computer. Myers argues that complying with the RIAA subpoena would require the University to conduct an extensive investigation to determine who was actually using each computer at the time the alleged copyright violations took place.



Stephanie Soden, a spokeswoman at the Department of Justice in Oregon, said "It really is quite burdensome. [The RIAA is] using a broader and blunter tool than necessary and the university feels it doesn't want to spend the resources needed to comply."

An RIAA spokesman said "This is not the first attempt to quash a subpoena, nor do we expect it to be the last. In the handful of instances where this has occurred, the courts have overwhelmingly ruled in favor of the record companies."

Source: Computerworld

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 6 Nov 2007 14:51

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• 17 comments

• 7thsinger

  Quote:Stephanie Soden, a spokeswoman at the Department of Justice in Oregon, said "It really is quite burdensome. [The RIAA is] using a broader and blunter tool than necessary and the university feels it doesn't want to spend the resources needed to comply." Well...no kidding. Positively identifying an IP adress does not narrow it down to someone specific on a college campus. There's just no way that's gonna float. Way too many variables.

  6.11.2007 15:17 #1

• furchtlos

  Quote:Quote:Stephanie Soden, a spokeswoman at the Department of Justice in Oregon, said "It really is quite burdensome. [The RIAA is] using a broader and blunter tool than necessary and the university feels it doesn't want to spend the resources needed to comply." Well...no kidding. Positively identifying an IP adress does not narrow it down to someone specific on a college campus. There's just no way that's gonna float. Way too many variables.I agree, wow they can figure out which pc was used to file share, but that doesn't really prove anything against anyone

  6.11.2007 15:53 #2

• jetyi83

  if i was a terrorist i would suicide bomb the riaa, and mpaa

  6.11.2007 16:03 #3

• 7thsinger

  Originally posted by jetyi83: if i was a terrorist i would suicide bomb the riaa, and mpaaLol!
  
  Just once i'd like to whiz in the cheerios of those guys.
  

  And Shepards we shall be...

  6.11.2007 16:22 #4

• DVDdoug

  Quote:Well...no kidding. Positively identifying an IP adress does not narrow it down to someone specific on a college campus. There's just no way that's gonna float. Way too many variables. I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  
  If I'm right, they will have a log of who was logged-on to the particular IP at a given time. Myers didn't say he couldn't get the data. He said it would take an "extensive investigation", and it would not "positively identify" the person.
  
  Of course, that doesn't prove who was sitting at the keyboard, but the RIAA did win their case against Jammie Thomas... And, you do not have to prove "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" in a civil case. (That's only true in criminal law).
  
  P.S.
  24,000 students
  1,600 faculty
  ???? additional staff
  
  ...and only 17 file-sharers! Freekin' amazing! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

  6.11.2007 18:39 #5

• oofRome

  Quote: I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  THat might not be the case at a public university. I know my school library computers don't require a log-in.
  Then again, the library computers don't really allow you to install torrent trackers or p2p programs...

  6.11.2007 18:52 #6

• amf0802

  When I was staying on campus, you only had to enter in any kind of ID information the first time you logged in net from the ethernet jack. This was just to confirm that it was indeed a student using their network. So for wired computers it would be very easy for someone to use another computer that wasn't theirs to fileshare.
  
  For the wireless, you had to log in each time you restarted the computer, but then there is a new IP assigned each time, once again not leading toward the actual person at the keyboard.

  6.11.2007 19:48 #7

• DXR88

  Heh. they need to hit up wanna those rich kids with the multi million dollar father.

  6.11.2007 22:02 #8

• wabashman

  Quote:Quote:Well...no kidding. Positively identifying an IP adress does not narrow it down to someone specific on a college campus. There's just no way that's gonna float. Way too many variables. I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  
  If I'm right, they will have a log of who was logged-on to the particular IP at a given time.
  
  at my college, you only have to sign on when your using a lab computer or such. but when your in the dorms or other housing facilities on your personal computer you can connect directly to the schools network by just plugging the cable into your laptop or desktop, no need for logging in at all.

  6.11.2007 23:06 #9

• ChiknLitl

  Quote:Quote:Well...no kidding. Positively identifying an IP adress does not narrow it down to someone specific on a college campus. There's just no way that's gonna float. Way too many variables. I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  
  If I'm right, they will have a log of who was logged-on to the particular IP at a given time. Myers didn't say he couldn't get the data. He said it would take an "extensive investigation", and it would not "positively identify" the person. Not always. I did quite a bit of research at the local medical university's library and was able to access all online library and internet content without so much as an I.D.. Furthermore I was able to run statistics programs from flash drives. The computers all had restoration software that reset their original configuration at the end of the night.

  6.11.2007 23:36 #10

• xhardc0re

  the logic behind these lawsuits seems to be: 1)it doesn't matter WHO did the file sharing, an IP is enough 2)threaten to sue, and they will settle 3)sue enough John Does, whether it was them, their friends, or their kids, and it will scare people away from P2P/Bittorrent in general 4)the courts will find in our favor if we can prove that any file sharing took place, and we can always invent false evidence *ex: WMDs in Iraq LOL 5)Repeat steps 2-3 often, avoid #4 at all costs. Bribe judges if necessary
  
  For every file sharer imprisoned, that's one hardcore criminal that might be let out on the street to cause serious problems to society. Ahhh but Capitalism outweighs logic 3:1
  
  Originally posted by jetyi83: if i was a terrorist i would suicide bomb the riaa, and mpaathe RIAA/MPAA (call them M.A.F.I.A.A. for short) [b]are[/] terrorists. Where you been the last 10 years?

  7.11.2007 02:11 #11

• themboots

  The RIAA (I sometimes refer to them as DiaRIAA!) are a bunch of twats... It's only a matter of weeks before all students catch on to private p2p file sharing, which is 100% legal and encrypts all exchanges, friend to friend, pc to pc... See www.gigatribe.com for an example of one such app.

  7.11.2007 07:18 #12

• emugamer

  What's to stop any student from plugging in their laptop at a random location with ethernet access and then taking off? Most universities give students laptops (as part of their tuition fees). Some kids have their own that they use.

  7.11.2007 12:01 #13

• wetsparks

  Originally posted by dvddoug: I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  
  If I'm right, they will have a log of who was logged-on to the particular IP at a given time. Myers didn't say he couldn't get the data. He said it would take an "extensive investigation", and it would not "positively identify" the person.
  
  Of course, that doesn't prove who was sitting at the keyboard, but the RIAA did win their case against Jammie Thomas... And, you do not have to prove "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" in a civil case. (That's only true in criminal law).
  
  P.S.
  24,000 students
  1,600 faculty
  ???? additional staff
  
  ...and only 17 file-sharers! Freekin' amazing! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!At the university in my town, anyone can walk into the library and sit down at a computer. No ID, no questions asked, just sit down, use computer and go.
  Originally posted by dxr88: Heh. they need to hit up wanna those rich kids with the multi million dollar father.There are some rich people that attend the University of Oregon (and they happen to have one of the richest people in the world as a booster, Phil Knight, owner of Nike). They better be careful with this or they might get more than they bargained for.
  Originally posted by emugamer: What's to stop any student from plugging in their laptop at a random location with ethernet access and then taking off? Most universities give students laptops (as part of their tuition fees). Some kids have their own that they use.From experience at the university I used to go to, you needed the IT guys to give you a program to install on your computer that allowed you to log into the wireless at the school. I think most universities have something similar to keep people from using up their bandwidth.

  9.11.2007 19:49 #14

• gfactor13

  well if they are gonna go after the university for that, then they should probably go after Starbucks and McDonalds next, and any other place that offers free wifi. who's to stop me from parking out front of those places and running a Torrent to get free stuff off the internet. it'll be tracked down to the ip address of the wifi not my laptop.
  I think we should sue them for discrimination, for not going after these places of business next time they go after some innocent house wife from Jersey.

  12.11.2007 21:58 #15

• agwild99

  Quote:Quote: I assume you need an account, user-name, & password to logon to the university network. ...I don't think a non-student can just walk into the library and logon without an account.
  THat might not be the case at a public university. I know my school library computers don't require a log-in.
  Then again, the library computers don't really allow you to install torrent trackers or p2p programs...It is possible the university libraries/dorms have DHCP controlled wireless hotspots available for students to use their own laptops. It never said that the files were shared from a university owned computer, it only said they were from on campus. If this is the case the IP addresses could have been used and then thrown back into the pool with no difinitive trace as to who used it. It would require extensive investigations to go over surveilence tapes and identify the students in the vacinity on their own computers, then check the computers, and so on and so forth. Not worth the hassle.
  
  In this case I think the RIAA should go to H&!!; actually not only in this case I think they should go to H&!! period.

  13.11.2007 07:25 #16

• borhan9

  All thia ia to gain political points. Nothing else.

  26.11.2007 17:08 #17