"Students must know that if they pirate copyrighted works they are subject to legal liability," the trade groups wrote. "It is no different from walking into the campus bookstore and in a clandestine manner walking out with a textbook without paying for it." This time around, the movie and recording trade groups have weighty allies in their approach to the universities. In preparation for the new campaign, they recently met with a group of university presidents and education trade group officials to make their concerns known. A coalition of six higher education trade groups is now sending its own letter to universities, asking them to take the copyright holders' concerns seriously, although it stops short of advocating specific policies. "Given our responsibility as educators to help students make ethical and lawful choices, we encourage you to make efforts to educate students, faculty and staff about appropriate and inappropriate uses of (copyrighted) materials," the education trade groups' letter said. "While this is a vexing issue with no simple solutions, we hope you will join us in addressing the inappropriate use of campus facilities to disseminate (copyrighted) materials." Groups signing the letter included the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Previously, many universities received cease-and-desist letters from the MPAA and smaller copyright holders warning them that students are violating copyrights. University responses have varied widely, with some implementing bandwidth management tools that block or restrict file swapping, and some taking a hands-off approach to students' online activities.
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