NIU students, like many college students across the country, are at risk for civil lawsuits and suspension because of crackdowns on a type of file sharing known as online music piracy.

In the computer usage policy for NIU’s computers on campus, it is made clear to students that piracy is unacceptable.

Larry Bolles, director of the University Judicial Office, said the university “won’t condone it, and our policies are clear that these things are illegal.”

Bolles said that there is a great deal of risk if students continue to pirate music on NIU’s server.

For students caught, their college career might be at risk and they are subject to any fines the law will issue them, said Bolles.

Some students don’t know downloading music from sites such as Kazaa or Morpheus is illegal.

Kristin Kolar, a sophomore undeclared business major, said she didn’t know it was illegal to download music, but thought that officials were contemplating whether or not to make file sharing illegal.

Kolar said she will “definitely think twice about doing it again.”

According to MTV News the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gathered and continues to gather personal information on Internet users sharing large amounts of copyrighted songs. Those caught can expect to receive civil lawsuits.

RIAA is a trade group that represents the country’s recording industries. Its members are the record companies themselves whose mission it is to stop the ongoing illegal file sharing.

In an MTV interview, RIAA president Cary Sherman stated that the students who are most at risk for being caught are those who have large amounts of music in their files. Sherman says they will continue to issue lawsuits until people stop breaking the law.

The law states that the online infringement of copyrighted music can be punished by up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to six years.

On the RIAA’s Web site, riaa.com, piracy is put into perspective by listing other music piracy types including pirate recordings, counterfeit recordings and bootleg recordings.

The site states that the recording industry loses about $4.2 billion a year to piracy worldwide, estimating millions of dollars of losses a day to all types of piracy.

The Web site also states that everyone loses in piracy, including pirates themselves, record companies, artists and music stores.

According to riaa.com, only 15 percent of recordings released generate enough revenue to cover the record company costs and keep operating their business.