Re: RIAA timestamps off

[Rick Coloccia <coloccia () GENESEO EDU>]

We got 14 these past two weeks.  Very frustrating, since we use a packet
shaper and an Audible Magic box to minimize this kind of traffic.  (All
14 were for encrypted protocols...) In every single case, the student
admits, "Yes I use limewire/ares/etc" and "Yes I have that song" so
while the timestamps may well be off we don't think that's a significant
issue with regard to these takedown notices.  Our students admit to the
file sharing (but most claim they don't know that the same program that
lets them get the song re-shares it to the world), they get their stern
warning, and life goes on.  I realize that there are technical
differences between "making available" and someone "actually
downloading" the song via a p2p program, but with my students the
difference isn't truly significant.  We bring students in, teach them
the highlights of the dmca, insist they uninstall any p2p software,
explain how the takedown notice affects them as a Geneseo student (If we
receive a second takedown notice on their behalf, they'll meet the Dean
of Students who will likely start a process that can only end in
suspension or expulsion) and send them on their way.  It works for us.

I'm not taking the side of the riaa, just sharing my experiences having
done this for years now, since the very first one...

-Rick

Valdis Kletnieks wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:50:42 EDT, David Taylor said:
>
> > I'm wondering if they are just going by the name of the file without even
> > verifying the contents of the file.
>
> One has to wonder if this isn't a Beavis-and-Butthead routine, where one
> group hired by the RIAA to seed file sharing networks with bogus and corrupt
> versions of files has managed to plonk a suspiciously named file onto
> somebody's hard drive, and then the *other* group hired by the RIAA to find
> violators has found said file...
>
> It would fit in with the level of forensic rigor we've seen in the past...

--
Rick Coloccia, Jr.
Network Manager, SUNY Geneseo
119 South Hall, 1 College Circle
Geneseo, NY 14454
v: 585-245-5577
f: 585-245-5579