CS 492/CS 692 W08 Role-Playing Exercise 2

University Policing of Downloading of copyrighted material

Team A

Representatives of the recording industry, upset about the widescale illegal downloading without payment of copyrighted music by university students, are trying to force universities to take measures to prevent this downloading by their students that are using their campus computing facilities. The means of applying this force is the threat and the actuality of legal action against the university. The recording industry feels that illegal downloading of music deprives the industry of profits and deprives artists of rightful income for their works of art.

Team B

A group of concerned university officials and a group of concerned university students, while sympathetic to the plight of artists whose works are downloaded illegally without payment, feel that it is not the university's job to police the behavior of its students. Moreover, the legal action is being taken not against the parties committing the illegality, but against a party that is convenient to take action against, because it has deeper pockets than the parties committing the illegality.


Last updated 10 January 2008