RIAA Pre-Litigation Letters Convince Some College Students

Following last months delivery of 400 "pre-litigation" letters to college students at 13 universities, offering reduced settlements, the RIAA is reporting that it has reached settlement agreements with 116 of the prosepective defendants.

In addition, the industry has sent out their next batch of 405 letters to 23 universities across the U.S. for distribution to their offending students, who are identified by their I.P. address.

Since 2003, when the recording industry began filing suits to curb illegal downloading, approximately 18,000 individuals have been sued according to the Associated Press.  It was during the start of this trend that the Cyberlaw Clinical Program prepared an amicus brief for the case of Capitol Records v. Alaujan.

To educate users on the legality of file sharing, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also offers guidelines for avoiding liability as well as steps to take if a suit has been filed.