Tackling Campus Piracy with FUD
Written by Ben Jones on October 05, 2008Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) is one of the oldest, and perhaps most effective anti-piracy strategies. MPAA’s “You can click, but you can’t hide” campaign is perhaps one of the best known examples. Today, we take a peek at how FUD is used by universities to counter campus piracy.
The intent of FUD is to make people afraid (Fear) confuse issues and facts (Uncertainty) and make people change their attitudes to what they’ve done (Doubt). In many ways it’s the cheapest and easiest anti-piracy method. It doesn’t rely on facts, but on careful releases of information, and calculated small acts.
A small act could be starting a rumor or giving an interview to a student newspaper. Such tactics are cheap and often have much better returns than costly (and ultimately useless) technology-based methods. They also have the added advantage that if they don’t work, it doesn’t tend to count against you. That is, unless you’re caught at it.
FUD is used everywhere. At Elon University, a small university just east of Greensboro, in North Carolina for example. In a file-sharing piece last week in the student newspaper, the strategy of intimidation was plain to see. If you are unaware of the law regarding copyright infringement, however, you might be taken in.
The article starts with talk of rumors, concerning all manner of things designed to instill fear; RIAA reps roaming the campus, being able to backtrack to things that happened years ago. Rumors that lead to uncertainty (how far back? Will that include something I did?) as well as doubt (anything I can do about it?).
Throughout the article, Assistant Vice President for Technology Chris Fulkerson makes it clear that students should be very careful. However, he’s not afraid to tweak the facts a little, or tell outright lies, for that matter. At one point he states that the fine is “$250,000 per infraction” which is a complete lie. As regular readers and followers of US copyright infringement cases know, the maximum damages that can be awarded per infraction is $150,000 not $250,000 (USC Title 17, § 504 (c)(2)). The most they have managed to get in these cases is $9,250, but even that turned out to be too much.
Of greatest worry was his position on the details of students. Fulkerson has said that when/if the RIAA asks for names and details that correspond to an IP, the university will hand them over if the person can be identified. As the RIAA’s strategy is to file many lawsuits, and try and force a settlement (by making it cheaper to settle than to contest), handing over details is in the worst possible interests of the students, and may be illegal. Regardless of its legality, or how true the statement is in practice, the impact of the statement is chilling to many students.
Fulkerson also makes some other comments designed to disquiet the students. He says that the RIAA has no need to visit Elon, they can just jump on the net and track people down, and that the university ‘must comply’ with the RIAA. Again, this is not even close to the truth. The RIAA is a lobby group, not a government or law enforcement agency, and there is no requirement to comply with them. On the contrary, RIAA’s “tracking company” MediaSentry is not listed as holding a private investigators license by the state, nor are investigators from their home state of Maryland allowed to practice in North Carolina.
Elon is not alone though. In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Lehigh University also has a similar belief. Speaking to their student paper, University security officer Blair Bernhardt said that when they receive a notification of alleged infringement, the target’s Internet access is immediately cut off. “We lock the port instantly because we have to,” he said. “It’s the law to block access to the infringing materials, and it keeps the university from being liable for anything.” What law requires this action is currently unknown.
Unlike the MPAA and RIAA’s campaigns, these FUD methods tend to work, because the universities have student’s personal details. Worse, the person that should be the student’s supporter, is the student’s enemy. Mr Fulkerson did not respond to requests to comment.
More on tackling campus piracy
Part 1 – The P2P Quiz
Part 2 - The Technological Approach
Previously: Hollywood Illegally Demands Money From Kindergartens
Next: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
42 Responses
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f the MPAA and RIAA’!!!
wat a bunch of idiots god what a odd society we live in today
This university charges $25,000 for tuition and then treats its students like this?!?
the last link
“Part 2 - The Technological Approach”
goes to
http://torrentfreak.com/tackling-college-piracy-the-technological-approach-080817/http:/
with extra /http:/ after it
-> malformed link, doesn’t work
mistake: it’s actually *only* $24,000 for tuition…
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/FinancialAid/tuition.xhtml
I sincerely doubt that God has something to do with it, but I agree, will. I am actually quite amazed that I still get amazed by the stupidity all around us. I wonder how much idiocy will pour out before people wake up and smell the roses.
Wierd, I live in Greensboro, NC and I haven’t heard anything about this from Elon. I have some friends who go there.
These universities are a microcosm of how things work in mainstream America. How often have we seen major newspapers and other media outlets in the US parrot the same type of RIAA/MPAA propaganda and fear? Not to mention the US gov’ts regular scare tactics (give up your rights or the terra-ists are gunna git ya.) (Give up your tax-dollars or there’s going to be another great depression and you’ll lose your savings.)
Fear mongering, blatant distortions and outright lying are the hallmarks of the US fascist society. It takes an especially stupid population for these things to work as well as they do in the US.
It should be no surprise that the Universities are now staffed by authoritarian kooks who feel that any little bit of petty authority they are given is an excuse to flex their might to show everyone how truly bad-ass they are.
I bet that peon IT admin that is talking tough in that student newspaper really got a rush off that. I guess that’ll show everyone that even though he’s got a small dick and no muscles he’s still BMOC.
LOL @ amerikka
I’m glad I didn’t decide to go to Leigh University…
Bastards like these should be hung by their willies, instead of looking out for and defending their students their instead spread sh!t like this.
Bastardly sellouts and corporate stooges.Sick to my stomach reading this.
I hope these SOBs get mugged on their way home.
http://www.ezee.se
I like LSE’s approach best. They state clearly “don’t steal copyrighted stuff” but don’t impede P2P transfers (only traffic management during peak hours, and even then, you get speeds between 100KB-1MB per second). Their tone is effectively “we don’t care what you do, you’re legally responsible for yourself”. And you have an insanely fast 100Mbps connection!
Of course, it helps not being in the US. :P
Please tell me where I can download Child Pr0n!
–
I NEED CP NOW
I am a first-year university student. I download media regularly at good speeds through Usenet and plan to rent a small seedbox so that I may continue torrenting–all from my university residence.
My University has made it clear that filesharing copyrighted material is against IT policy and that it will take action if it receives nasty **AA letters or the such–despite their notorious inaccuracies and exploits; this includes taking out the student’s computer access, which is essential for some courses.
The girlfriend of one of my roommates complained that she has to deal with very large charges against her due to “illegal” filesharing at her residence. She is taking the case to court and has even hired a lawyer, IIRC. I believe she was using Limewire, which would explain why she was caught. I, personally, would recommend a US college/university resident to abstain from torrenting directly on campus, even with free/public-domain material–let alone using something as risky as Gnutella to share copyrighted material. I have indeed heard of other students getting scary copyright infringement emails sent to their student mailboxes, though I have heard that at least some students simply ignore the emails without anything ever done to them.
Fortunately, the University also stated that it will not restrict nor watch students’ Internet access. Traffic is capped at 1MB/s. The IT department head recently said that the University, under law, *must* take action to deter students from “illegal” filesharing, though this simply seems to be in the form of exposing students to “legal alternatives.”
I am posting this through tor.
I am a first-year university student. I download media regularly at good speeds through Usenet and plan to rent a small seedbox so that I may continue torrenting–all from my university residence.
My University has made it clear that filesharing copyrighted material is against IT policy and that it will take action if it receives nasty **AA letters or the such–despite their notorious inaccuracies and exploits; this includes taking out the student’s computer access, which is essential for some courses.
The girlfriend of one of my roommates complained that she has to deal with very large charges against her due to “illegal” filesharing at her residence. She is taking the case to court and has even hired a lawyer, IIRC. I believe she was using Limewire, which would explain why she was caught. I, personally, would recommend a US college/university resident to abstain from torrenting directly on campus, even with free/public-domain material–let alone using something as risky as Gnutella to share copyrighted material. I have indeed heard of other students getting scary copyright infringement emails sent to their student mailboxes, though I have heard that at least some students simply ignore the emails without anything ever done to them.
Fortunately, the University also stated that it will not restrict nor watch students’ Internet access. Traffic is capped at 1MB/s. The IT department head recently said that the University, under law, *must* take action to deter students from “illegal” filesharing, though this simply seems to be in the form of exposing students to “legal alternatives.”
@ 12 , The RIAA board members have a large collection of Child Pr0n I heard. You should get to know them a bit more, they might share some with you.
@25
Err, I’m wrong. Some dick decided to be cute and spam my message by adding emoticons and the such in place of my tor message, possibly using the tor network for abuse. Great. -_-
Obviously the RIAA is using the lack of knowledge to their advantage. There is too much propaganda on the RIAA side, to little on our side.
Roze
http://www.28chan.org/fs/
@26
child pr0n is on piratebay
im going to download illegal copies of pirated movies on piratebay and then say to police that torrentfreak encourged me to do that
At my university, the policy on filesharing is that the first time you get caught, you get a warning, and the second time, they cut off your internet and you lose campus-wide network privileges. Since I’m not willing to take that chance, I got a rapidshare account and get all my music/movies/tv that way. I also figured out that, since I live in a rather large town, there are a lot of businesses and restaurants around that have free wireless that I can use. Sitting in the library, I can get 3-4 wireless networks from stores across the street.
@28
I heard the MPAA/RIAA have been trying to upload Childpr0n to TPB for ages. Have you seen that too?
I wonder where the RIAA get all that childpr0n from in the first place?
A man, his wife, their pony, dog and chicken all go into the University Technology Manager’s office. The man says to him, “Sir, have we got an act for you, you’ll just love it!”
Fulkerson asks him what it is and the man replies. “Well you see, first off my wife comes in and starts blowin’ me, don’t wory, sir the crowds, they LOVE IT! THEN I trot out the pony here cause he hung like the ladies like and my wife does HIM TOO! But sir, I tell ya what she does to that chicken ain’t Christian, strictly speakin’, but I ain’t had a dry eye in the house. Well that’s when I go bareback, so to speak and my wife spots me, like a weightlifter, mmm? Just when you think the poor pony can’t bear up one more time, BAM my wife has got him by the balls and is makin’ him giddyap, if you catch my drift. By this time the chicken’s in on it and you can’t tell arm from wing, hoof from tail. Feathers, fur, froth– it’s all flying until we just explode into an exhausted heap. Old Yeller here, he’s here to clean up.”
The manager thought for a moment and said, “Well that’s all pretty extreme and I’m not sure it’s what were looking for. what did you say your name was?”
“The MPAA!”
Everyone, feel free to leave him a friendly little note on the “contact the author” of this little student news paper.
The power of TF… the flood will be grand!
Am i the only one that read the article? As far as i understand it doesn’t say they threaten the students, THEY JUST LIE TO THEM, to make them stop. That will only stop stupid students and the students that dont know anything about the law.
On the other hand if i read it wrong or didnt understand it right and they do believe what the MAFIAA says and threaten students, they should be hang by their balls.
out-fucking-rageous
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