The recording industry unleashed a new round of legal threats this month against college students who illegally downloaded copyrighted material on file-sharing networks. The Recording Industry Association of America sent prelitigation letters to 13 universities targeting 400 anonymous students for illegal activity, 15 of whom attend Brandeis. This isn't the first time the RIAA has taken aim at Brandeis students. Among the 91 college students the RIAA sued in May 2005, eight were from Brandeis.

The letters sent to Brandeis earlier this month came in the fourth wave of about 400 letters the RIAA sends to universities across the nation each month in hopes of deterring illegal downloading, a practice prevalent on college campuses.

The RIAA identified the anonymous students by their Internet protocol addresses on the Brandeis network. RIAA investigators go on peer-to-peer networks, search for copyrighted material, identify the IP addresses of illegal users and trace them to university networks, a spokesperson for the RIAA said May 10.

The prelitigation letter, a new initiative since last month, "gives students the opportunity to resolve copyright infringement claims against them before a formal suit is ever filed," RIAA President Cary Sherman said recently.

In an online news conference for university students, Sherman said individuals can be sued for between $750 and $150,000 per work infringed.

Students have been given 20 days to settle the case outside of court at a "discounted rate," the RIAA spokesperson said. If students proceed outside of court, the charge won't appear on the student's record, she said.

Out-of-court settlements reached in early May 2005 ranged from $12,000 to $17,000, though many previous cases were settled for about $3,000.

One Brandeis student who received a letter urging her to settle outside of court on May 5 from Brandeis' General Council, the University's representative legal body, said it included a forwarded message from the RIAA's attorneys.

She said she was shocked because she hadn't received any prior warnings from the University about illegal activity.

Members of the General Council declined to comment.

"Apparently there's an option on the [peer-to-peer] networks that says you don't want to file share [in addition to downloading others' files]. I would have taken the extra precaution if I was aware of this," she said.

The student said she disconnected herself from the downloading networks, but she is unsure whether she will settle outside of court.

If the user does not respond to the settlement, the RIAA can issue a subpoena to the college requesting the name of the user.

The Justice granted the student anonymity for her legal protection.

"With record companies embracing digital distribution models of every kind, there is more legal music available now than ever before," said Steven Marks, the executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA, in a statement this month. "Yet for one reason or another, theft on college campuses continues at disproportionately high levels."

The RIAA has maintained that university officials are responsible for monitoring network activities and can block access on P2P networks. Universities should also promote free and legal downloading services to students and not hesitate to take disciplinary action against illegal users, RIAA officials assert.

Perry Hanson, vice president for Library and Technology Services said though LTS administrators could keep track of how individuals on the University network use P2P networks, they choose not to do so.

"We're agnostic in terms of what goes on, in terms of traffic," Hanson said. "The one thing we care about is anyone who abuses the network . It's one of our computer use issues, but someone who uses a lot of bandwidth, we ask them not to do that. We've been doing that for years."

Brandeis network use policy prohibits sharing copyrighted files, but enforcement of that policy is not common. LTS often takes action against users who use an abnormally high amount of bandwidth, which is almost always being used for file-sharing programs, Hanson told the Justice in September 2005.

Rick Sawyer, dean of student life, said LTS could file a judicial action against a network user.

"Using Brandeis facilities and equipment to commit a crime is a violation of University policy," he explained in an e-mail to the Justice. "There are legal means to download music and films. Those should be exercised."

A survey by Student Monitor, a market research group on college students, reported in spring 2006 that over half of college students illegally download music and movies.

The RIAA also sent 23 letters to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 15 to Tufts University and 20 to Syracuse University, among others.