Music labels call on colleges to stop downloading

In an move to try and curtail illegal downloading of film and music on colleges campuses, the movie and record industries sent letters to 40 universities, asking them to take immediate action to stop piracy of film and music on campus networks, reports Tech Web.

Most of the piracy is done through peer-to-peer networks, but increasingly copyrighted material is downloaded on campus LANs, the industry groups said.

"We cannot ignore the growing misuse of campus LAN systems or the toll this means of theft is taking on our industry," the groups said in a joint statement released this week.

The film and music industry is hoping to pressure college administrators to stop the practice of illegal downloading of copyrighted material by using blocking and filtering devices. In the past, the RIAA and the MPAA have threatened lawsuits against some universities who fail to discourage students from illegal file sharing. College and universities are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they promote their wide bandwidth and wireless access and on the other, their need to make students aware when they are violating copyright laws.

In 2003, the RIAA sued students in three schools for operating private campus networks that illegally shared music. The suits led to shutting down of dozens of LAN servers on campuses.