Students at The University of Tennessee may soon see tighter restrictions on the use of file-sharing software, according to Robert Ridenour, Information Technology Security Group team leader.

As federal regulations on music and movie downloading begin to come under more scrutiny, students using the university network for downloading purposes could begin to lose their Internet privileges.

The university currently employs a three-tiered method for dealing with students who violate copyright and piracy laws, Ridenour said.

On the first offense, the student is simply contacted and warned by the Office of Information Technology, but on subsequent offenses, the penalties become more severe.

“On the second offense the student’s network connection is disconnected and the student is required to take the system to Aconda Court to prove the material is no longer on their system,” Ridenour said.

“On a third offense, the network connection is disabled and the incident is referred to Student Judicial Affairs,” he said.

Personnel at the office of Student Judicial Affairs were unable to be reached for comment on the number of users that have been referred to them in the past semester, but Ridenour assures that much of the traffic on the system comes from illegal file sharing.

“The ResNet Network (student residence hall network) Internet access stays at 100 percent capacity at all times the dorms are full. Peer-to-peer file sharing is a majority of that traffic,” he explained.

Though there are some legitimate uses for file sharing networks, Ridenour said most materials that are exchanged are copyrighted, and according to United States law, it is illegal to download or upload copyrighted files to personal computers.

“Just because there is no copyright notice doesn’t mean that the work isn’t copyrighted,” Ridenour said. “In fact, it is safe to say that almost every song that is recorded is copyrighted.”

Music files, however, are not the only materials protected under copyright. Movies, music videos, books, paintings and photographs also share this protection.

The Recording Industry Association of America, an organization designed to protect artists and the copyrights on their creative works, announced in late January that more than 500 Internet users would be prosecuted for illegal file sharing.

A total of four lawsuits were filed, together encompassing the 532 individuals being prosecuted, according to Jonathan Lamy, spokesperson for RIAA.

“We will be filing additional lawsuits in the next few weeks,” Lamy said.

He also stated that RIAA will continue to file suits against individuals until this is no longer a problem.

The only difficulty that is encountered in the prosecution process, Lamy said, is that users’ actual identities are unknown at the time of violation. The RIAA must file a “John Doe” lawsuit against an IP (Internet protocol) address.

Once the IP address is known the company can contact the Internet Service Provider to obtain the individual’s name and information.

“Once we know the person’s identity, we can file a lawsuit against the person under the appropriate jurisdiction,” Lamy explained.

The RIAA does allow the accused to settle out of court, however, which Lamy said a majority of those charged actually do.

“The average settlement is around $3,000,” Lamy said.

He also added that of the total 914 individuals targeted under copyright infringement since prosecution began in 2003, a significant number were university students.

“Some college students are a little less sensitive to the need for artists, songwriters and companies to get paid for their work,” he said.

Lamy also said that the availability of university network lines make downloading illegal files much more efficient, and is the primary reason that college students download more than any other demographic.

Though paying to download music seems like an unattractive alternative when it can be obtained for free on networks like Kazaa, the RIAA Web site asserts that this is the best option for everyone involved.

Programs like iTunes charge a small fee per each song that is downloaded. Though some feel that this is unfair to Internet users, Lamy said that it is decidedly more attractive than being indicted by the federal government for copyright infringement.

“A lot of people think they can get away with it,” Lamy said, “but no one is immune.”