The Triangle

Originally posted by

Dont Let Our Campus Be Abused

The RIAA's use of "John Doe" legislation has come under attack as it is illegal. The request to "settle" is a bullying tactic that should be outlawed since they have very little legal ground to stand on to prove that an individual was the infringing party, even if the network connection is for their computer.

I hope to hear about what Drexel is doing to combat the RIAA's attacks against its students and would like it to speak out against them and not give in as other universities are starting to do.

This is more than just bullying, RIAA's new strategy of pre-litigation letters qualifies as extortion and racketeering. This new strategy they employ of sending pre-litigation letters threating a lawsuit and asking to settle is used because it avoids the cost of a lawsuit. And they target students, who usually have little money, and cannot afford to spend money on fighting a lawsuit.

Your point about speaking out against these practices is very true. Harvard and its law professors has been one of, if not the only, most outspoken critics of RIAA's strategy, and Harvard has not been added to RIAA's hit list of Universities.