The RIAA is now experiencing resistance from another university, part of a quickly-unfolding reaction to a stepped-up college enforcement campaign.
The latest complications involve the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which was unable to identify a large number of targeted students due to technical issues. The Nebraska network dynamically assigns IP addresses to students, and frequently switches the numerical identifiers. Furthermore, the university disposes records after one month, making it difficult to adequately match addresses with actual student identities. Out of a total crop of 23 targeted students, IT administrators at Nebraska were only able to identify 9, a result that frustrated the trade group. “One would think universities would understand the need to retain these records,” said RIAA representative Jenni Engebretsen in recent comments to the Omaha World-Herald.
The dynamic IP assignment snag is just one component in a contentious relationship. According to Nebraska officials, each RIAA request for student identification requires administrative costs to process, and the school has actually requested reimbursements for its efforts. That was flatly refused, though the development indicates a highly uncooperative stance. “It is neither practical nor appropriate for us to entertain a reimbursement request,” Engebretson said. The standoff follows a refusal by administrators at the University of Wisconsin to forward RIAA pre-litigation letters to students, a development that first bubbled this week. Whether an early-stage snowball is forming remains to be seen, though schools appear mostly uninterested in joining the policing efforts. Meanwhile, the RIAA recently sent an additional 405 pre-litigation settlement letters to students and 23 universities, part of a serious enforcement push this year.