University: ‘Pirating’ Students Being Deliberately Targeted

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Why would outfits like Rightscorp deliberately target students? Is it because they lack the resources to put up a fight? Easier to scare into paying? Why do you think students make better targets for these guys?

Data published by Central Michigan University has revealed a worrying trend in copyright complaints. Out of 1,912 received so far in 2015, more than 80% were from Rightscorp, a company that demands cash to settle. The university's chief information officer believes that campuses like his are being deliberately targeted.
 
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I think it might be the other way around...because they have the $ resources ( Mom & Dad's bank accounts ) It would be interesting to see if a higher percentage are targeted at Upscale Private Colleges .
 
I suppose it's just a new business model. Lowering the costs to a level that people won't take on a potentially disastrous legal fight.

"Pay me now, or pay me more later".
 
Interesting that the university enforces penalties against students that receive infringement notices. Since RightsCorp has been known to be wrong, and quite often, I wonder what their justification is for taking further action against a student for merely being a target of what is essentially a copyright bully.
Does the university further punish other potential victims of bullying on their campus, I wonder?
 
I would think the University is simply taking the path of least risk. The student can challenge the University's decision but the student is far less likely to be able to do great damage in civil court with a law suite, if in fact the University has an agreement from the student on terms of use regarding his connection.
 
nation loves eating its seed corn in its worship of greedsus.
 
nation loves eating its seed corn in its worship of greedsus.

Because we should all look up to thieves, and the pirate hosting sites aren't doing it for the Benjamens :rolleyes:

Want to try making a turd smell like a rose again?
 
I think it might be the other way around...because they have the $ resources ( Mom & Dad's bank accounts ) It would be interesting to see if a higher percentage are targeted at Upscale Private Colleges .

And access to student loans.
 
and yet no one said a word to my professor about sharing 4 copyrighted books on the first day. He told the whole class to come up and get a copy on their USB drive. He has been doing this for years.
 
Because modern college students grew up on the internet and are completely at ease with the massive volumes of personal information they publish about themselves online. Privacy just isn't a concern for so many of these kids (or young adults), it makes it easier to collect evidence and it makes the perpetrators very easy to find as well. Plus they are probably targeted more because they download more (that's a guess, of course).
 
I'm still waiting and secretly hoping that the copyright trolls that go on these little crusades against old ladies, college kids, etc... one day there will be a person who snaps, and walks into their offices and starts blowing them all away.

I wouldn't shed a tear.


if you are running a mass duplication business and selling the shit on ebay, yeah fine bust them.

As a former college kid who was the first on his campus to share 1 entire TB of goodies... I'll say this, if there's something I want software or movie wise, I have NO problem forking over the cash for it, my steam library is proof enough of that. Your average pirate has no qualms about paying for something... it just has to be the right price and worth it. A company expecting someone to pay for every copy of every format of a movie they enjoy? fuck you.
 
Because we should all look up to thieves, and the pirate hosting sites aren't doing it for the Benjamens :rolleyes:

Want to try making a turd smell like a rose again?

I'm sure catching a college kid sharing an mp3 is doing your god's work.
 
I'm sure catching a college kid sharing an mp3 is doing your god's work.

Why bring religion into it? He said nothing of the sort, neither did he allude to it.
Pull the shtick outta your ass.
 
I'm still waiting and secretly hoping that the copyright trolls that go on these little crusades against old ladies, college kids, etc... one day there will be a person who snaps, and walks into their offices and starts blowing them all away.

I wouldn't shed a tear.


if you are running a mass duplication business and selling the shit on ebay, yeah fine bust them.

As a former college kid who was the first on his campus to share 1 entire TB of goodies... I'll say this, if there's something I want software or movie wise, I have NO problem forking over the cash for it, my steam library is proof enough of that. Your average pirate has no qualms about paying for something... it just has to be the right price and worth it. A company expecting someone to pay for every copy of every format of a movie they enjoy? fuck you.

Let me give you a word of advice.

In the eyes of Law Enforcement, this part of your statement, "and secretly hoping", is an admission that you would like to see someone die over this issue. From that point, they consider that you are a potential risk, that your desire to see violence done to these people might grow into a willingness to take action yourself.

This is why when people say I wish this and that against the president they are frequently visited by the Secret Service as they will investigate any potential threat to his person. This is why that Joe Lipati guy was arrested and charged for exactly this kind of thing.

I'm just saying that although most of us wouldn't take your comment seriously it only takes one decide it's better to be safe then sorry. With the number of people out there shooting up others for all kinds of reasons, it's hard to blame them.

You throws the dice and takes your chances, is all I am saying. Just be aware what you are risking ;)
 
I'm sure catching a college kid sharing an mp3 is doing your god's work.

I said nothing about catching anyone. But don't try and turn this around. Pirating copyrighted material is thievery period. You can try to justify it any way you like it won't change that simple truth.

But I never defended anything in this thread. I only pointed out that people making an argument that the government can't force the University to take action against someone whoo hasn't been proven guilty of a crime is a fallacious argument related to this article. The University has a TOS against specific online activity and that is sort of clear cut. They do this because they don't want to be sued just like Cox was just sued. The University doesn't need that shit and therefor certain online activity is prohibited on their networks, students that violate that set themselves up for problems. One way to deal with it is to cut the student off, but that seriously inhibits there schooling because so much is done online. Another option is to fine them which is what they are doing.

So take your words out of my mouth please, they are not what I have said nor do they represent my statements.
 
I said nothing about catching anyone. But don't try and turn this around. Pirating copyrighted material is thievery period. You can try to justify it any way you like it won't change that simple truth.

But I never defended anything in this thread. I only pointed out that people making an argument that the government can't force the University to take action against someone whoo hasn't been proven guilty of a crime is a fallacious argument related to this article. The University has a TOS against specific online activity and that is sort of clear cut. They do this because they don't want to be sued just like Cox was just sued. The University doesn't need that shit and therefor certain online activity is prohibited on their networks, students that violate that set themselves up for problems. One way to deal with it is to cut the student off, but that seriously inhibits there schooling because so much is done online. Another option is to fine them which is what they are doing.

So take your words out of my mouth please, they are not what I have said nor do they represent my statements.

You're patently incorrect. Pirating copyrighted content is not theft, it's copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is not a criminal matter, but a civil matter. The government isn't even involved, this is about a private organization suing students over infringing on the rights of its clients. For someone with such strong views about copyright protection you don't seem to have a very good understanding of copyright law.
 
while ISPs might say 'fuck off' fairly often, universities tend to comply with this stuff.

i was cut off from university internet a number of times for suspected pirating, told i had to take classes on copyrights/other stuff, etc.

in the end, i just kept changing my mac address to circumvent it all.
 
I know the college that I went to sent out monthly notices that if you were caught pirating through the campus network, that you would get discharged from the school. I think the colleges are getting pressured by the big businesses because a lot of the pirating happens to come from that age group. Most colleges monitor their campus internet pretty well, so it is pretty easy to track bandwidth usage and then make a logical connection from there. IDK, I think the hay day of getting everything free on the Internet is coming to a screeching halt. Just my 2c.
 
It's actually a pretty common practice, intentionally or otherwise, in the court systems to target fees at those less capable of defending themselves financially. The fact that it is an effective way to raise funds is guaranteed to ensure its use as a model for other groups.
 
You're patently incorrect. Pirating copyrighted content is not theft, it's copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is not a criminal matter, but a civil matter. The government isn't even involved, this is about a private organization suing students over infringing on the rights of its clients. For someone with such strong views about copyright protection you don't seem to have a very good understanding of copyright law.

OK, you are correct that this is a civil matter, yet I was correcting the poster whom I had quoted in the same vein. I also asserted that this is not a criminal court action.

Or did you miss that part of my posts as you focused on my error ?
 
while ISPs might say 'fuck off' fairly often, universities tend to comply with this stuff.

i was cut off from university internet a number of times for suspected pirating, told i had to take classes on copyrights/other stuff, etc.

in the end, i just kept changing my mac address to circumvent it all.

How is it you changed your Machine Address?
 
Hmm, interesting, I wasn't aware it was so easy to do. Even old dogs can learn new tricks, Thank You.
 
It's actually a pretty common practice, intentionally or otherwise, in the court systems to target fees at those less capable of defending themselves financially. The fact that it is an effective way to raise funds is guaranteed to ensure its use as a model for other groups.

I have a question though.

Although sometimes rich people still do things to avoid fees and fines, sometimes they are actually the worst offenders. But maybe for the most part, people who can afford to not do things are less likely too where as those who are on tighter budgets may tend to take greater risks. Is this possibly a reason that statistics would make it appear like these people are targeted as opposed to these people subject themselves to risk?
 
Why bring religion into it? He said nothing of the sort, neither did he allude to it.
Pull the shtick outta your ass.

Maybe follow the conversation closer to understand context of folks debating something?

Anyway, this is about blackmail outlets going after poor college kids to extract easy money, not some bigger picture of chasing bootleggers and torrent sites, it's sad that laws have been perverted to such an extent that chasing teens for a quick buck doesn't rile people up the way it did in the "tape swapping" 80s.

Old geezer hypocrites.
 
How about you stop stealing shit you don't actually need? Netflix and Hulu are cheap enough, and have enough content to keep anyone busy.
 
just google 'mac spoofing' - real easy for win7 (and probably others)

That isn't the same thing as changing your MAC. It may "effectively have the same result", but it's not actually changing your MAC.

Still, I looked, and changing your actual MAC address is pretty easy. Not any harder then changing a static IP.
 
I know the college that I went to sent out monthly notices that if you were caught pirating through the campus network, that you would get discharged from the school. I think the colleges are getting pressured by the big businesses because a lot of the pirating happens to come from that age group. Most colleges monitor their campus internet pretty well, so it is pretty easy to track bandwidth usage and then make a logical connection from there. IDK, I think the hay day of getting everything free on the Internet is coming to a screeching halt. Just my 2c.

The Colleges are being pressure by the Federal Government who says they will withhold funding if a school doesn't take action against offenders.
 
That isn't the same thing as changing your MAC. It may "effectively have the same result", but it's not actually changing your MAC.

Still, I looked, and changing your actual MAC address is pretty easy. Not any harder then changing a static IP.

right, youre telling the OS you have a different MAC address which gets passed along to the network, so the network thinks its a new/different PC.

the only way to truly change your MAC address is to use a different NIC (as far as i know)
 
Right, but I didn't know I could change it in the OS so my incorrect assumption was you could only "spoof" it in software by modifying the packets prior to transmission. That's why I asked and was surprised to learn I had never heard of this.
 
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