Student's PC seized after record industry complaint 
By Cecily Barnes
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
September 15, 2000, 10:05 a.m. PT
URL: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2783386.html 

update Campus police confiscated an Oklahoma State University student's
computer after the Recording Industry Association of
America notified the school that a person on campus was allegedly
distributing copyrighted material. 

The 19-year-old's computer system--including monitor, keyboard, two CD
burners, scanner and printer--was removed earlier this
month from his dorm room after campus police determined he was operating an
FTP server site that allowed visitors to download
MP3 music files and even several full-length movies. 

A representative for the RIAA confirmed that a letter was sent to university
officials notifying them that a student appeared to be
distributing copyrighted songs. The RIAA, which is embroiled in a
high-profile copyright infringement case against the popular
music-swapping site Napster, constantly prowls the Internet for repositories
of music files. 

"We send out notices like this constantly," said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss.
"All we're asking for is that the material is taken
down. We leave it up to the universities to determine what to do or how to
enforce this." 

OSU officials refused to disclose the student's name or other details about
the case. 

"He was advocating other people to download the music and upload music he
didn't have," said James Alexander, an OSU assistant
director. "He'd been advertising in chat rooms and we decided to notify the
police." 

OSU's decision to confiscate this student's computer equipment does not mean
that all OSU students who trade music files are at
risk. Alexander said the school does not block access to Napster and
monitors the content of student Web sites only when
objectionable material is brought to its attention. 

The seized computer gear included 105 gigabytes of hard drive space, of
which about 40GB were made available to visitors.
Assuming the average music file occupies about 4MB, the student could have
had approximately 10,000 songs available for
download. 

Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU, said the department obtained a
search warrant from the Payne County District Court in
Oklahoma and seized the student's computer equipment. 

"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is
there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will
evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing." 

College campuses, which often provide high-speed Internet connections to
students, have become a focal point in the record
industry's effort to eradicate the distribution of copyrighted material. 

Several schools, including Indiana University, the University of Southern
California and Yale University, blocked access to Napster
after being named as defendants in a lawsuit by rock group Metallica. 

Last week, the attorney representing Metallica and rap star Dr. Dre sent
letters to other top universities urging them to do the same. 



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