Georgetown, George Washington University and the University of Virginia have set up special Web sites to advise students of the law and their responsibilities online. Johns Hopkins won't let students onto its network until they agree to a written policy banning illegal downloading.
The hallowed freshman orientation has also been pressed into the service of the copyright wars at many schools. In addition to running incoming students through the usual gantlet of campus tours and mixers, this year "we read them the file-sharing riot act," said Carl Whitman, executive director of e-operation at American University.
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To bolster its orientation offering, Catholic University has commissioned a video that General Counsel Craig Parker said would be an "MTV-ish" admonition against file swapping. Parker said Catholic plans to make the video available to other schools once it's completed.
Maryland has gone a step further and arranged for its student welcoming committee to put on a cautionary skit about file swapping for newcomers. In the performance -- repeated for several different groups of incoming freshmen -- Lisa, a virtuous dorm dweller, hectors her ne'er-do-well peers, Chris and Kelaine, to leave off their file-swapping ways.
"Oh, that is just fantastic. You know you guys could get in serious trouble for this. You're downloading who knows what and hosting a black market," she says after discovering her friends' digital treachery. "What do you think this network is? Your own playground?"
Alas, Chris and Kelaine are implacable in their lawlessness. The skit ends with Chris and Kelaine about to be cuffed and hauled off by campus authorities.
Lindsey, another Denton Hall newbie, said it's hard for her to tell how many people actually get caught for file swapping so the skit didn't really scare her. She conceded, however, that it "kinda puts the idea in your head." Lindsey, Jason and the other students named in this story asked that they not be identified by last name.
Sherman said that jibes with the recording industry's take on such efforts. "Education alone, while important, is not effective in changing behavior," he said.
More Than a Slap on the Wrist
For students who don't get the message burned into their retinas by a series of letters, Web sites and one-act plays, many schools have begun to formalize punishments for downloading songs illegally over their networks.
The most common way that students are discovered trading files at Maryland is when the school receives a "takedown" notice from an entertainment company. A 1998 federal law allowed copyright owners to demand that network operators remove any infringing material they may be unwittingly hosting. Universities must comply with the takedown notices or risk running afoul of the law themselves.
