Live From Ohio: Rock Stars and the RIAA

by E Wayne Ross on October 31, 2007

Inside Higher Ed: Live From Ohio: Rock Stars and the RIAA

Ohio University played host on Tuesday to a panel that hit close to home as music experts, critics of and sympathizers to illegal downloading, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer discussed the finer points of peer-to-peer file sharing.

The debate is hardly theoretical at a campus that has received 100 pre-litigation letters this year from the Recording Industry Association of America as part of the group’s controversial tactic of forcing college administrators into a reluctant enforcer role against illegal downloading. Partially as a result, Ohio University announced an unusually strict policy of blocking all peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic earlier this year. To provide a legal alternative, the institution has since joined Ruckus, a subscription-based music service that is currently free to students.