Seattle campus of University of Washington's decision to side with RIAA

Find the actual article at: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/96215.html

As my fellow authors of this blog have also been exploring file sharing, I have recently come across an article from a newspaper in Tacoma, Washington called "The News Tribune" that I can personally relate to, and believe many others will be able to as well. The article, authored by Melissa Santos in June 2007, pertains to the University of Washington's decision to "not shield students from lawsuits from the recording industry" and if in fact any students are caught engaging in illegal file sharing, UW has promised to personally help the recording industry that is involved in catching the illegal sharer. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have stated that if any one student is caught file sharing illegally, they are to then pay between $3,000-$5,000 within twenty days or are then summoned to court.
Eric Godfrey is also a voice in the article as he explains that there are some students at the University of Washington Seattle campus who have letters from the RIAA already on route to them. Tyler Dockins, "incoming student body president", states that the email that UW received from the RIAA is extremely unclear and does not offer much information of what is expected from the University of Washington and its students. Dockins also reports that many students, who have a history of engaging in illegal file sharing on the campus internet connection, are simply downloading nonchalantly, and often times do not engage in this type of activity on a regular basis.
The spokesperson from the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington, Mike Wark, states that they were not originally involved in the negotiations between the RIAA and the Seattle campus, but that now he is looking into whether or not their is a comparable and related policy intact at the Tacoma campus. Mike Wark claims that the Seattle campus of the University of Washington’s dealings with the RIAA is the first time that this subject has been brought to his attention.
I felt that I could personally relate to this article being that I am a college student attending a university that has a campus-wide internet connection and dormitories wherein students can access the university’s internet whenever they please. I do like that the University of Washington forewarned their students of the new policy that was taken into effect, rather than just forwarding the Recording Industry Association of America’s letter to the illegal file sharing offender. I recently did a few other article summaries, and one of them contained subject matter that was particularly pertinent to this article. It was about other college students who had found themselves in a bit of trouble because of file sharing illegally through a campus-wide internet connection. The link to the article and my summary on it is accessible through: http://rosemary.umw.edu/~raz/cpsc104/sec2/team1/index.php/Main/WhoShouldReallyBeHeldLiable?