Colleges Bust File-Sharing

The first day of school means more than new courses and new professors for college students. This school year, it will also be about a new law, as universities and colleges across the country crack down on illegal file-sharing.

“When you’re paying for tuition and books and everything else, and you have to pay for a subscription for music, it’s no wonder everyone does it,” said UTEP student Christina Juarez.

The requirement is part of the 2008 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which took effect July 1.

“It’s so easy to get Limewire, just Google it, Limewire, boom, you got your music,” said UTEP student Jonel Garcia.

Some of the most popular services include Kazaa and Limewire and a big reason for their popularity is because they come at no cost to the user.

“On my iPod, I have over a thousand songs,” Garcia said. “So yeah, it’s only 99 cents per song, but i mean a thousand songs, that’s a thousand dollars.”

UTEP officials insist this is not a problem at the school, in large part because only a small percentage of students live on campus. While officials admit an illegally downloaded song might slip by their radar, other larger files won’t.

“If you downloaded all of your library to me, we’d notice that. Or if you downloaded a book you had bought from amazon-dot-com, we’d notice that,” said Dr. Steve Riter. “That’s a lot of bits.”

At UTEP, first time offenders get away with a warning. If it happens again, students risk getting cut off from UTEP’s network. Still, some students said these punishments will do little to keep these students from illegally plugging in.

“There’s so many different blog sites and web sites,” Garcia said. “You can’t monitor all of them.”