For today’s edition of the NPR News program “Day to Day,” I filed a report on a new anti-piracy offensive from the Recording Industry Association of America that targets college students.
The RIAA recently sent out 400 “pre-litigation settlement letters” to students accused of illegal downloading at 13 universities, and launched p2plawsuits.com, where the accused are invited to avoid lawsuits by turning themselves in and paying fines online.
In the report, you’ll hear from RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol, from University of Southern California law professor Jennifer Urban (USC is one of the 13 schools targeted in this campaign), and from Gizmodo.com co-editor Adam Frucci.
Gizmodo is organizing a month-long RIAA boycott that kicks off today. They’ve published this manifesto, and they’re encouraging people to contact lawmakers, write protest letters to the RIAA, and purchase indie MP3s instead of copy-protected songs from RIAA member labels.
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LISTEN:
Link to archived audio (Real/Win) and transcript. Or, listen to this report as an MP3 in the “Xeni Tech” podcast, and you can subscribe via iTunes here.
Archive of previous NPR “Xeni Tech” features, with narrated image slideshows and transcripts, here. (Special thanks to NPR News producer Nihar Patel!)
Also in today’s show, host Alex Chadwick talks with University of Southern California students Nicole Williams and Richard Masland about the RIAA campaign, and filesharing culture on college campuses: Link to archived audio for that interview.