The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest music labels, does a scan of the network and identifies the person(s) committing copyright infringement.

It then sends out letters to the university asking that it stops students from downloading illegally on its network or legal action will be taken.

According to a report on CNN.com, Purdue University, one of the top-five offenders in the country, received 1,068 complaints so far this year. The RIAA still looks at lesser offenders such as NIU.

“This semester, they’ve been particularly aggressive,” said James Fatz, director of Enterprise Systems Support and Information Technology Security. “We have had about 150 letters since the beginning of the semester.”

The letter from the RIAA includes information on the user, such as the IP address, the software used, the songs that were downloaded and the time and date the infringement took place.

When ITS receives the letter, it contacts the student and asks that the student come in and sign an acknowledgement letter. If the student can’t be contacted soon enough, the network is disabled.

“They just call with the problem and we have them sign,” Fatz said. “Then we respond back [to the RIAA] and say they stopped the activity.”

Downloading music illegally is against NIU’s acceptable use policy. The policy states that “using the resources for any purpose which violates federal or state laws” is unacceptable use. If the student is a repeat offender, then further action will be taken.

“If they do it again, we refer them to the student judicial office,” Fatz said.

Repeat offenses would lead the RIAA to take legal action; not only against the student, but against the university as well. Penalties issued from NIU include a fine, probation, suspension or expulsion from the university.

“They send us a letter telling us to ‘cease and desist’,” said Larry Bolles, director of Judicial Affairs. “We catch you downloading on university property, and especially using our software, you can get suspended from the university.”

Students who use programs such as Gnutella, KaZaa and Album Base do not seem to know the situation is as serious as it is. They feel it is harmless to download only one or two songs.

“I don’t think it’s a problem,” said freshman accountancy major Kevin Mitchell. “If you get a whole album, it’s a problem.”

Freshman business management major Steve Henry said he knows of many students who download music. He also adds that he only downloads when he feels it’s really necessary.

“If you really like the band, you buy the whole CD,” Henry said. “I just get a couple of songs that I hear and like, but I don’t want to buy the entire CD.”

While it is not as big an issue at NIU as it is at other schools, university officials still work toward protecting students and keeping the recording industry happy.

“Some schools have blocked downloading software completely, but NIU has not taken that approach yet,” Fatz said. “Right now, we don’t need to do that because we get the letters and we take care of it.”