8A - Thursday, April 12, 2007
RIAA
From page 1A
which represents most major
record labels, announced it would
target college campuses in an effort
to stem the growth in online file
sharing.
The RIAA said it plans to issue
at least 400 pre-litigation settle-
ment letters to students across the
county per month. It sent 400 in
February, 405 in March and 413
yesterday.
Last month, the University
received over a dozen notices of
alleged infringement - warn-
ings to copyright-infringing IP
addresses that the RIAA intended
to issue a pre-settlement letter to
them.
"We got a flood of notices," Jack
Bernard, University assistant gen-
eral counsel, said.
The notices identify Univer-
sity IP addresses, whose users the
RIAA intends to sue on behalf of
the companies it represents.
Federal copyright infringe-
ment penalties range from $750 to
$150,000 per item.
However, these costs apply to
any copyrighted item, like movies
and books, not just music.
Paul Howell, Chief Informa-
tion Technology Security Officer,
said in an e-mail sent to University
staff last month that prior student
settlements with the RIAA have
averaged between $4,000 and
$4,500.
Bernard said yesterday morning
he sent e-mails to students who had
been identified by the RIAA earlier
this year. He said yesterday after-
noon that he intended to notify as
many students as possible by the
end of the day if their IP addresses
had been issued pre-litigation let-
ters.
Letters received in the morning
were still being matched with IP
Wr
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
KATRINA CONVERSATION
addresses by a technicianyesterday
afternoon. Bernard said he didn't
know if all the previously identified
students received letters because
the RIAA used different incident
numbers than before.
"They've actually made a lot of
work for us," Bernard said. "Incon-
veniencing us is no big deal to
them."
Bernard said he does not know
the terms of pre-litigation settle-
ments, even though he has asked
the RIAA for them.
Pre-litigation letters give stu-
dents 20 days to contact the RIAA
and begin the settlement process.
Letter recipients do not have to
settle, though.
"Just because the students are
being offered the opportunity to
settle doesn't mean they have to
settle," Bernard said.
The University will not release
students' names to the RIAA
until the organization issues the
University a valid subpoena for
an IP address's identity, Bernard
said.
Universities have the option of
withholding pre-litigation letters
from students, but Bernard said
the University of Michigan believes
students should be informed as
soon as possible.
Bernard said most students who
had received notices were unaware
that they were file-sharing illegally.
One student who received a notice,
Bernard said, bought an online
music downloading service that
turned out tobe a sham.
"It's just awful for the student
who had no intention of doing any-
thing unlawful and who is caught,"
he said.
Bernard is encouraging students
to speak with an attorney and their
parents about legal action. Student
Legal Services has an attorney who
deals with the RIAA lawsuits, and
Bernard said he also refers students
to a local attorney.
DUKE
From page IA
were the result of a tragic rush to
accuse and a failure to verify serious
allegations," Cooper said at a news
conference.
"We have no credible evidence
that an attack occurred," he added.
Cooper said he had considered
but ultimately rejected bringing
criminal charges against the accus-
er, who continues to insist she was
attacked at a team party on March
13, 2006, and asked him to go for-
ward with the case.
Cooper said his investigators
had told him that the woman "may
actually believe the many different
stories that she has been telling."
He said his decision not to charge
her with making false accusa-
tions was also based on a review
of sealed court files, which include
records of the woman's mental
health history.
Cooper reserved his harshest
criticism for the Durham County
district attorney, Michael B. Nifong,
at one point even depicting him as a
"rogue prosecutor."
"In this case, with the weight of
the state behind him, the Durham
district attorney pushed forward
unchecked," said Cooper, who took
over the case in January. "There
were many points in the case
where caution would have served
justice better than bravado. And in
the rush to condemn, a community
and a state lost the ability to see
clearly."
Nevertheless, Cooper said that
for now he would leave any official
sanctions to the North Carolina
State Bar, which has already taken
the extraordinary step of formally
accusing Nifong of numerous ethical
violations, including withholding
exculpatory evidence and mislead-
ing the judge who presided over the
case. Cooper said he would instead
seek new legislation to give the state
Supreme Court greater power to
remove prosecutors.
"We need to learn from this and
keep it from happening again," he
said.
At an emotional news confer-
ence of their own yesterday, the
three former teammates, flanked
by defense lawyers and families,
spoke of relief and vindication, but
also of their lingering anger toward
Nifong and many in the news media
for what they described as a rush to
believe the worst about them.
"This entire experience has
opened my eyes up to a tragic world
of injustice I never knew existed,"
one of the players, Reade W. Selig-
mann, said.
Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells,
N.J.; David F. Evans, 24, of Annapo-
lis, Md.; and Collin Finnerty, 20,
of Garden City, N.Y., were initially
charged with rape, sexual offense
and kidnapping - crimes that could
have put them in prison for three
decades. From the start, all three
repeatedly proclaimed their inno-
cence. "These allegations are lies,"
Evans insisted on the day of his
indictment.
Yesterday, Evans looked across a
roomful of reporters and said, "We
are just as innocent today as we
were back then."
Nifong could not be reached for
comment yesterday. Candy Clark,
his administrative assistant, said
she had called him to describe
what the attorney general had
said and ask what he wanted to
say to the news media. "What he
told me to tell everyone was that
he was unavailable today, but that
he would be returning to the office
tomorrow," Clark said late yester-
day.
Nifong has denied violating
any ethics rules, although he has
acknowledged mishandling some
evidence and making intemper-
ate and unjustified remarks about
the Duke lacrosse team. In the
first weeks of his investigation, for
example, Nifong told reporters he
was certain that a rape had occurred
and called the lacrosse players "hoo-
ligans" who were hiding behind a
"wall of silence."
In fact, three co-captains, includ-
ing Evans, had cooperated fully
with the police. Other team mem-
bers canceled interviews on the
advice of lawyers. "There was never
a blue wall of silence," Evans said
yesterday.
If the ethics charges against him
are upheld, Nifong faces a range of
possible penalties, including disbar-
ment. A preliminary hearingtomor-
row will decide Nifong's motion to
dismiss the most serious charges.
Some parents of the players,
meanwhile, have suggested that
they might sue Nifong and Dur-
ham County. "All options are on the
table," Joseph B. Cheshire, a lawyer
for Evans, said Wednesday when
asked about possible legal action
against Nifong.
The players' accuser could not be
reached for comment.
Duke's . president, Richard H.
Brodhead, the target of harsh criti-
cism throughout the case, particu-
larly from supporters of the three
players, issued a statement welcom-
ing the exonerations and praising
the players.
Withits overtones ofracesex and
privilege, the Duke case instantly
drew national news media atten-
tion. The accuser was a poor, black,
local single mother working at an
escort service while enrolled at the
predominately black North Carolina
Central University in Durham; the
Duke students were relatively well-
off, white out-of-staters - mem-
bers of a storied lacrosse team at
one of the nation's most prestigious
universities. The accuser's vivid
account of racist and misogynistic
taunts fueled a simmering debate
about the off-field behavior of elite
athletes and the proper role of big-
time sports on America's college
campuses.
State Rep. Alma Smith (D-Ypsilanti) speaks during an event yesterday on Hurricane
Katrina at the Trotter House sponsored by the University's chapter of the Roosevelt
Institution.
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BIG THREE
From page IA
try was the most sought-after des-
tination for graduating seniors,
Olson said. He said this interest has
declined over the last few years, but
it is slowly coming back.
The industry is actively recruit-
ing on campus, but it is having
a difficult time getting students
interested in jobs there of its wide-
ly-publicized financial problems,
he said.
Olson said students who are nor-
mally encouraged to go into the auto
industry because of family tradition
are now being encouraged to con-
sider other opportunities.
Melvyn Stewart, a GM recruiter,
said that the auto industry is in the
middle of its recruitingseasonright
now.
He said GM needs to do more to
show students that the auto indus-
try is still stable despite the negative
publicity surrounding the company
by talking about its various career
paths and opportunities for growth
within the industry.
"I think the automotive industry
is constantly changing, but there will
always be opportunities," he said.
Assanis said the auto industry
is cyclical, and that right now it is
going through structural as well
as cyclical changes, but that the
industry has always found a way to
rebound.
"We'll continue to see this indus-
try struggle," he said, adding that
he remains optimistic.
Some students share Assanis's
optimism.
Engineering junior Billy Gug-
lielmo said he has an engineer-
ing co-op with Toyota right now,
meaning he works for the company
while he's taking classes and gets
University credit. He hopes to work
in the auto industry after he gets his
master's degree.
"I think any industry goes
through changes," he said. "There
will still be jobs there."
He said he is using his experi-
ence with Toyota to see if the auto
industry is a good fit for him. So far,
he said, it is.
"I haven't considered anything
else - at least not seriously," he
said.
But Engineering senior Dan Hil-
gart chose to go into the aerospace
industry instead of automotives.
"I wasn't really interested
in getting a job with a compa-
ny that's laying off people," he
said.
He said that in the auto indus-
try there is too much pressure to
keep your job and work your way
up quickly so that you're not at the
bottom of the pile when layoffs are
made.
University alum Nader Iskandar
went to work at GM after his gradu-
ation in 2000.
Iskandar said that while he still
works for the company, he is not
sure if it will be a lifetime commit-
ment.
"I definitely would not recom-
mend working for the auto indus-
try," he said.
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