On January 22, 2008, the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA) admitted to making a mistake in a study, which stated that 44%
of their industry’s domestic losses came from the illegal downloading of movies
by college students- that is almost half.

The actual figure was about 15%.

This was a study from 2005, which was my first year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a student, I
recall being furious when our administration sent mass e-mails, basically telling
us that they were going to begin to heavily enforce and monitor our internet
activities. Although I don’t support illegal downloading, the university’s
actions were threatening, and it labeled the student body as a group of guilty
criminals.

There were many cases in which students lost their internet
accesses. I have a friend who actually got sued by a large record company
because the school reported his activity. As a fellow student, I sympathized,
not knowing what I would do if I needed to hire a lawyer and go into court in
the middle of midterm exams and papers. I’m sure many other students in all
colleges faced similar situations.

Although 15% is still a great amount to lose, the major
issue lies in the actions of the academic institutions, which were pressured by
the MPAA to enforce and monitor student internet activity. This raises the
question: Would colleges and universities have been so enforcing and harsh if
the figures were correct to begin with? Again, I don’t support piracy, but
sometimes it’s hard to necessarily draw lines to where you stand on the issue.
For the university to monitor our activities is a great violation of privacy.

For More Information: 

http://www.freepress.net/mediaminutes

http://www.freepress.net/news/29840

http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/lek%20college%20student%20data_f.pdf