Fourteen unnamed UA students are being sued for copyright infringement by the recording industry's trade association, which accuses the students of illegally downloading or sharing music files over the Internet.

The initial complaint was filed on Feb. 21 in U.S. District Court, and on Tuesday, attorneys for the Recording Industry Association of America asked a federal judge to subpoena the University of Arizona to provide the names and contact information for the students now identified only by computer IP addresses.

The complaint accuses the 14 students of copyright infringement on nearly 7,000 songs, ranging from 131 to 1,466 songs per defendant. The files were downloaded or shared via peer-to-peer file-trading services such as Gnutella and represent a wide array of artists, including Kanye West, Styx, U2, Jessica Simpson, Green Day, Michael Jackson and the Spice Girls.

The lawsuit follows 14 pre-litigation settlement letters that the RIAA sent to the UA on Dec. 6 as part of a nationwide wave of 396 letters to 22 universities. The industry trade group began the strategy of targeting college students two years ago and typically issues hundreds of pre-litigation settlement letters a month.

For their part, UA officials have decided on a policy of not forwarding pre-litigation settlement offers from the RIAA to students, although it does force students to remove the alleged illegal content from their computers.

"We don't support illegal downloading. We do hold students accountable for illegal file sharing, and that's done through the Dean of Students Office," said Melissa Vito, vice president of student affairs. "We try to get students educated, but we aren't assuming that extra role of acting as an agent for the RIAA. We're more neutral about this."

The RIAA describes the letters as an opportunity for students to resolve copyright-infringement claims against them at a "discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed." The settlements typically are in the range of $3,000 to $4,000. The Phoenix attorneys representing the RIAA in the UA student lawsuits referred comments to the trade group, but the RIAA did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

"I can see their fear, but I don't think prosecuting students is going to change anything," said Karl Goranowski, a senior studying history. "Illegal downloading has been a fact since the year 2000. The recording industry can do what it will, but it's not going to stop anyone."

Goranowski, who is also general manager of KAMP Student Radio, said a good portion of what students listen to isn't even available in record stores. The Internet makes it easier to contact people, and sites such as MySpace.com make it easier to learn about new bands.

"People aren't looking to get rich off it. People are happy to make music," he said. "I think eventually the recording industry isn't going to be a factor anymore. Independent distribution and do-it-yourself music is increasing in popularity. They're only pushing this hard because the business model isn't sustainable, and they've hit the crest."

Susan Ferrell, an attorney who advises students in the UA's legal services office, said she has talked to three students who have been named in copyright-infringement lawsuits over the last six years. Those were the result of RIAA litigation involving people using commercial Internet providers.

"I really expected to talk to a lot more, and it has been a bigger issue at some other campus legal services offices," said Ferrell, who can only give advice and cannot represent students.

"There is a risk if you illegally download or share music files," Ferrell said. "If they sue you, your choices are pretty stark. You either decide to fight them, and there are resources available, but you have to be pretty smart or pretty devoted. Either that, or you settle with them. If you ignore it, they're going to get a judgment against you by default, and you don't want to start your professional life with a big judgment hanging over your head."

Two students decided that they wanted to settle and they did, for less than $3,000 each. The third student said he hadn't illegally downloaded any music and refused to settle. He offered to let the RIAA examine his hard drive, but the association never did, instead dropping the lawsuit without bothering to tell the student, Ferrell said.

"They think it's over the top, that it's unwarranted and that it's not going to stop people from downloading and sharing music," Ferrell said. "But it's something they have to take very seriously, despite the fact they may think it's something very foolish. (The RIAA) is a powerful organization with very good legal representation. But I think the industry has to figure out a different way to deal with this and that filing these lawsuits is probably ultimately futile."

A UA committee that studied the issue — including the dean of libraries, the copyright librarian, the chief information officer, legal counsel, faculty members and students — elected not to force the university into the role of an intermediary, partially out of a concern that assuming such a duty could put the university at legal risk somewhere down the line, Vito said.

Upon receipt of an RIAA letter by the university's designated Digital Millennium Copyright Act agent, the accused students are identified, and the allegations are forwarded to the Dean of Students Office for investigation.

Complaints of illegal file sharing are handled just like any other complaint about potential violations of the code of conduct or university policies, Associate Dean of Students Veda Kowalski said. Students in violation of the code of conduct are subject to disciplinary procedures. With illegal file sharing or downloading, students must remove the files from their computers, and repeat violators could be banned from the campus network, Kowalski said.

"We have been treating it as an educational piece," she said. "I need them to understand what the RIAA is, so they research that and they review the university's Internet use and computer policies. It's an opportunity for them to understand what they've done in file sharing."

The RIAA has pushed universities on several fronts before moving forward with suing students, said Steve Gilmore, assistant director of residence life.

"Early on, they were telling us that we were responsible for making this stop. Our position was, 'They are your copyrights, not ours, and you need to take the steps to enforce your own copyright,' " said Gilmore, who directed residence life computing for several years. "We didn't cow to paying for music services. We didn't cow to demands to put software up and identify people before it happens."

Colleges and universities deal with the RIAA's pre-litigation letters in different ways, but they have broadly opposed efforts to create federal laws that would require at least some campuses to adopt anti-piracy technology. In November, the Association of American Universities, of which the UA is a member, lobbied against a RIAA-backed proposal to force universities to stem on-campus piracy or lose federal aid.

• Fourteen UA students are accused of copyright infringement involving nearly 7,000 songs, ranging from 131 to 1,466 per defendant.

• The files were downloaded or shared via peer-to-peer file-trading services. The songs represent artists including Kanye West, Styx, U2, Jessica Simpson, Green Day, Michael Jackson and the Spice Girls.

• The Recording Industry Association of America sent pre-litigation letters to the UA, giving the students the opportunity to settle. Settlements typically range from $3,000 to $4,000. However, the UA has decided not to forward such letters to students. It does require them to delete the songs.

It wasn't so long ago that student access to a computer was much more limited. In 1984, it was estimated that only a few hundred of the University of Arizona's 30,000 students had their own computers. To help students and faculty members buy computers, the university had seven machines on display to allow people to try them out. The UA did not handle the actual purchase.

In 1992, for every computer available on campus, there were 180 students.

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