4 Tuesday May 27, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu EMMARIE HUETTEMAN GARY GRACA KATE TRUESDELL EDITOR IN CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect theofficial position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrationsrepresent solely the views of their authors. FROM T HE DAILY Spring tweaking 'U' privileges policy needs fine-tuning The holiday weekend may be over, but for student not enrolled in spring and summer classes, access to certain University services will remain on per- manent vacation. While the University tries to balance the needs of all its students, this policy should be tweaked so that students are entitled to services year-round. No one feels that we are anywhere near the end of the humanitarian relief period." - United Nations Development Pro- gramme director for crisis prevention Kathleen Cravero, on the ongoing aide crisis in Myanmar following a cyclone that devastated the area in early May. ARIELA STEIF E-MAIL STEIF AT ASTEIF@UMICH.EDU 'sri - 7v yS RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA { .E For the record Come summer, students not registered full-time at the Uni- versity lose access to these resources like work out facilities and University Health Service, even those already registered for fall classes. The University maintains that students still have options. Dur- ing the regular academic year, students automatically pay a fee which grants them access UHS; During the summer, students not paying full tuition can gain access by separately paying a compara- bly fee. The purported aim is to help those students who expectto need services that would exceed this premium, while excusing both summer residents without extensive medical needs and those home for the summer from extra financial burden. But these costs are far from pocket change - UHS access for the spring and summer, for instance, costs $201 and access to the CCRB costs $80 for the duration of the warmer months. For students flipping burgers for minimum wage or sacrificing salary for career experience in an unpaid position, that's a hefty price tag. It's commendable that the Uni- versity is trying to create a com- promise that is fair for all parities but its policy, which ensures that the student body as a whole isn't affected by these costs at the expensive of some students, could use a bit of an adjustment. The University should con- sider alternate models, like that of the University of Minnesota. Under such a plan, the fee col- lected from students during the normal academic year is adjusted to cover similar services during the summer. Students might argue that they shouldn't be held responsible for services they can't take advan- tage of, a point the University has used as justification for the bal- ance it has struck, arguing that Minnesota, a largely commuter campus, boasts more year-round student residents who can take advantage of such services. But students should be looked out for, even if they've temporar- ily traded textbooks and tuition for resumes and hourly wages. The University admits that pro- portionally few students stay in the city compared to Minneso- ta's campus, which means that though less people have access to services, the cost is also cor- respondingly smaller. And if the entire student body paid into this expense, it seems likely that the additional cost would be nomi- nal. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. A recent editorial (Ripped off, 05/05/2008) imparts misleading conclusions, justifying a response. The Recording Industry Associa- tion of America always welcomes constructive criticism of its cam- paign against illegal file-sharers, but must clarify residual confusion caused by these inaccuracies. First, our college campaign is an ongoing initiative and consists of sending pre-litigation letters on a rolling basis. It should be clear that we send letters only when we detect theft. We settle these cases for far less than what the law allows and far less than the amount of damage to the music community caused by this theft. When we detect theft, we do not know specifics about who that person is. We don't know the socioeconomic status of that per- son, their zip code, what classes they have that day, what they had for breakfast, etc. What we have is a unique identifier of an indi- vidual's Internet account, linking them to the illegal activity. We target theft. Period. Our litigation campaign is not financially profitable, but we do it in order to allow all those who help bring music to the public - from the artist and label to the so, nd engineer to the truck driver at the CD manufacturing plant -to get fairly compensated for their hard work. We also want to help the legal marketplace reach its full potential while communicating that illegal behavior can and does have consequences. As the editorial accurately noted, what we know for sure is that all the information out there - cited by notable and reliable research organizations - regret- tably points to the fact that far too many college students steal music online, at a rate even higher than that of the rest of the population. This theft translates into real loss- es: thousands of layoffs within the music community, dozens of artists dropped from rosters, and count- less others unable tobe signed. Litigation came as a last resort and is not a step we took lightly, nor is it intended to be a silver-bul- let solution to the problem. But the fact remains that we will continue to take appropriate legal action againstthosestealingmusic online as long as individuals ignore the wide array of legal options, like free downloads, social network- ing and streaming services, and products like podcasts, ringbacks, ringtunes and more. Finally, rules against illegal file-sharing on sites like Limewire - against whom we have a pend- ing lawsuit - are clear: It is ille- gal, and if you choose to use these sites to get free music, you risk a lawsuit, being disciplined by your university and serious computer damage. The question we have is: Is it really worth it? Cara Duckworth is the director of communications for the RIAA. She is writing on behalf of the association, ELAINE MORTON T E-MAIL MORTON AT EMORT@UMICH.EDU l ove JetiA, r.,r & e"ioiri N- eao 4 I Editorial Board Members: Anindya Bhadra, Harun Buljina, Robert Soave