Editorial |Stand up to the RIAA

After five years and hundreds of frivolous lawsuits, the Recording Industry Association of America's "war" on illegal downloading has moved out of its legal phase.

This could not have happened soon enough. The random pursuit of a handful of those who regularly file share was an exercise in futility that highlighted the group's dismaying refusal to adapt to a changing technological landscape. The overwhelming ease and popularity of file sharing, as well as the RIAA's unequivocally rigid stance on prosecution of violaters - a 12-year-old was subpoenaed when she used Kazaa- guaranteed the plan's demise.

Still, while the RIAA should still be allowed to punish those blatantly violating copyright, the recently announced policy still possesses worrisome issues that must be addressed.

For instance, under the new "graduated response" program, violators will receive three warnings from their ISP provider before having their Internet shut down, if their ISP provider agrees to it.

The loss of Internet is a massive inconvenience for most people, but for college students it is especially magnified. The removal of AirPennNet from student laptops wouldn't just mean having to schlep to computer labs and the libraries to do research; it would impede any group project and most communication from professor to student. It would seriously impede learning for everyone at Penn.

While Penn's current method of fining students for RIAA violations often seems unfair and disproportionately punitive, it is far fairer than severing a student's lifeline. The RIAA's proposed method is an unnecessary impediment. In the coming months, the RIAA will pressure the University to hamstring students' Internet privileges, but Penn shouldn't waver and should stick to the current method.

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