POINT OF VIEW
Student Downloading and
File-Sharing: Problems
and Responses for College
Housing
Deborah J. Taub
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO
Heather K. Webb
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Richard E. Clark
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS
Michael Fanucce
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
Today's college students are the most technolo-
gy-sawy, computer-oriented generation of col-
lege students in history: Twenty percent have
been using computers since the primary grades;
more than 70% check their e-mail at least doily;
and most (85%) own their own computers (Jones,
and individuol violators may face both imprison-
ment and fines.
In 2003, the Pew Internet and American Life
Project (Madden& Lenhari, 2003) reported thot
35 million adults had downloaded music files.
Among Internet users 18-29, 51% had down-
loaded music files and 1 3% were downloading
on a typical day. College students were the most
likely of all Internet users to downlood music files
(56% of full-time students and 40% of part-time
students who used the Internet). Furthermore, the
study found that college students were the least
concerned of ony group of downloaders with the
copyright implications: Four out of five described
themselves as "unconcerned." In addition, 42%
(obout 26 million) of those who download files
also share files (Madden & Lenhart, 2003). As
with downloading, college students were the
most likely users to shore files, 35% of students
shared files; ond os with downloading, students
were the most unconcerned group about the
copyright implications of file-sharing.
To combat the rising tide of music down-
loading and file-sharing, in 2003 the Recording
Industry Associotion of America (RIAA) began
suing individuals who downloaded and shared
music files. Many of these suits have been of the
"John Doe" variety, where universities are asked
to identify students who use networks based on
their IP addresses. Following these well-publi-
cized suits. Pew reported initial dramatic drops in
downloading, from about 25 million users to
about 18 million, and a corresponding decrease2002). One recent study found that 94% of cam-
pus residents had access to computers in their
residence hall rooms (Knerr & Woosley, 2004).
College students expect that they will have near-
ubiquitous, high-speed computer access wherev-
er they are on campus (Barratt, 2003). To the
coveted title of "most wired campus" we now
must add "most unwired compus," which recog-
nizes the migration to wireless Internet service
(http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/centrino/
unwired_colleges-04.pdf).
Although easy access to computers and
high-speed networks may contribute positively to
students' academic experiences in significont
ways, this technology also has had adverse
impocts on campus (Barratt, 2003). One area
that hos received considerable media attention in
the past few years is downloading and file-shar-
ing of copyrighted material, such as music ond
movies. Under the No Electronic Theft Law (NET
Act), these activities are a violation of copyright.
from 28% to 20% of users using common file-
sharing software such as Kazaa, BeorShore, and
Grokster (Roinie & Modden, 2004). More recent
Pew reports (Modden & Rainie, 2005; Roinie &
Modden, 2004) showed an increase in music
downloading and file-sharing, olthough not back
to the levels seen before the RIAA suits.
Meanwhile, college ond university officials
reported that "college students appear[ed] to be
downlooding ¡ust as much music illegally os they
did a year ago [prior to the suits]" (Read, 2004a,
p. A25).
Increasingly, the RIAA is focusing on college
and university network users. In March 2004, the
RIAA sued 529 more people, including 89 "John
Doe" complaints against individuals using uni-
versity computer networks in 10 states. According
to the Associated Press, this wos "the first time the
trade group has targeted computer users swap-
ping music files over university networks." In
December 2004, 754 more such suits were filed
JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING
