It's about time a university stood up to the RIAA. From Slashdot:
"The University of Oregon has filed a motion to quash the RIAA's subpoena for information on student identities in what is believed to be the first such motion made by a university with support from the state Attorney General. The motion (pdf) explains that it is impossible to identify the alleged infringers from the information the RIAA has presented. . . ."
Maybe now some other universities will finally put their students first.
more on oregon and the riaa
More detail on this at Ars Technica.
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Charlie | cyberdash
Response
What an interesting response from Oregon!
Does Oregon's action reflect a prioritizing of its students' interests, or does the university have an interest of its own that's being prioritized here?
I'm curious what everyone thinks.
Interesting question, but
Interesting question, but I think we are left with pure speculation with any attempts to answer this without some background information volunteered by someone in the know from OSU. Perhaps it is motivated by a climate of progressive thinking about copyright at OSU. I have no idea what kind of impact they have on the entire university there, but OSL is at OSU.
Yet, the end result of the action is that it does benefit students. I'll cross my fingers and hope it continues, whatever the reason :-)
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Charlie | cyberdash
UofO, not OSU!
That kinda mistake could get you killed in Oregon! Never, ever confuse a Beaver (OSU) with a Duck (UofO). Uh-uh. :-)
But I have to wonder too. Is it Oregon's general liberal perspective standing up against a bully corporate types? They are the filming site of Animal House after all. They have a tradition to uphold. Still, I'm curious to know if the RIAA has gone after Stanford students, even though Lessig has stepped away from this particular type of fight.
bradley || bleckblog.org
(who self-identifies as a Washington Husky, which is an even worse thing to be in the state of Oregon)
re: UofO, not OSU!
LOL. I should know better, too. People do that all the time confusing FSU and U of F. To us FSU alumni, there is a serious difference between the two!
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Charlie | cyberdash
No T-Shirt Darn
Okay...So I wanted a RIAA t-shirt and did a google product search. Here's what I found.
Uh, and where may I ask are the PRO-riaa shirts? I guess those must have sold out already. I went to the RIAA's website, but someone seems to have spoofed it (or, maybe that's the actual website. Who knows.) Doesn't anybody love these guys?
At the very least we need RIAA toilet paper.
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Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.