UNH students sued over illegal downloads

On Thursday, Oct. 18, 30 UNH students received notice that the Recording Industry Association of America plans to file legal action against them because they illegally shared copyrighted material over peer-to-peer networks.

The 30 students are among 411 from 19 higher education institutions nationwide that were targeted in the newest wave of the RIAA’s campaign against online music theft. The campaign specifically targets college campuses, which the organization considers to host the worst offenders of copyright infringement.

The pre-litigation letter notifies the recipients before charges are filed in order to give the accused an opportunity to “settle these claims as early as possible.” The recipients are given 20 calendar days to resolve the claim by paying a fee of $3,000, thus avoiding federal court, where the minimum fine is $750 for each copyright recording infringement. The recipients can call a phone number or go to www.p2plawsuit.com, where they can pay the fee over the Internet. The RIAA accepts all major credit cards.

The fee may seem steep, but it’s cheap compared to other punitive measures. Earlier this month, a jury ordered Minnesota resident Jamie Thomas to pay $220,000 in damages to the RIAA for illegally sharing 24 files. Instead of paying 99 cents on iTunes, Thomas was ordered to pay $9,250 for each song.

“Regardless of your philosophical beliefs on the subject, the reality is people are getting nailed,” said Doug Green, manager of network services and security at UNH.

Because he is in charge of the university’s network, Green receives what are called DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) letters from organizations like the RIAA. These letters inform the Internet service provider that one IP address on the network is illegally sharing copyrighted material that belongs to one of the artists represented by RIAA.

According to the RIAA’s Web site, www.riaa.com, the organization represent approximately 90 percent of all “legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States.”

“This is not a new issue,” said Senior assistant vice president Anne Lawing.

Lawing said she has been receiving complaints about illegally shared material for over two years, but the volume of letters has recently gone up. Last fall and spring, the university received 295 and 264 DMCA complaints, respectively. This fall, 436

DMCA complaints have already come in.

SCAN TV to showcase student short films

This December, UNH seniors and film enthusiasts Nate Lord and Matt Lubicky will be presenting their “Turbo Film Festival” on the big screen—and your movie can be a part of it.

The SCAN TV-24 members have created this new film festival in hopes that any students who have ever dreamed of producing their own films, with professional digital cameras and computer editing, will have that chance.

The “Turbo Film Festival” will be showing “shorts”—films no longer than two minutes. There is a practical reason for showing shorts, besides the fact that Lubicky “really likes the word ‘Turbo.’” The short length of the entry is meant to encourage new filmmakers. A shorter film requires less commitment and can be less daunting for those who may have never even picked up a camera.

Lord and Lubicky encourage anyone interested to stop by SCAN TV’s office in MUB room 132.

“Just do it,” Lord says. “Don’t spend all four years in college just talking about how you want to make a movie.” For those who feel unsure of whether they are up to the task, Lord says, “You don’t need to go to film school to make a film, and SCAN TV is a ridiculous resource.”

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 19, and the only requirements are that entries be less than two minutes, refrain from extreme lewdness and be in .MOV format.

Even if you are uninterested in making a film, you can attend the screening on Dec. 3 to check out what your fellow students are making. You could be seeing the early work of our generation’s Spielberg.

UNH observatory shoots for the stars

In a remote section of university property, surrounded by field grass and the faint smell of cows, lies the UNH Observatory, shrouded in darkness from most of the campus. However, once the short trek is made from the graveled parking lot off Spinney Lane into the small observatory dome, other worlds are accessible through the lens of a telescope.

“I like seeing Saturn to see the rings, and on a clear night, you can see the divide between them,” said UNH alum Chelsea Kingsbury.

The metal dome, which functions as a roof, has an approximately 15 degree portion that is able to recede and rotate, allowing the telescope to peer into the sky. A computer, various switches and the telescope centered in the room visibly comprise the electrical equipment. Posters of moon topography and cosmology, plus a guestbook illuminated by a faint light bulb, serve as quaint but homey decorations in the heatless space. Classical music lightly hums in the background.
Viewers are recommended to bundle up, because the observatory is quite exposed to the elements. During the colder months, it can be chilly.

“Winter months are best for viewing, because the atmosphere is much drier,” said George Clark, a junior physics major.
Students taking Physics 406 and astrophysics classes are required to visit the observatory to complete academic credits, but the facility is open to the public. On selected weekend nights, “public sessions” are held from 8 to 10 p.m. Usually, about 15 to 40 people trickle into the dome to view constellations, globular and packed star clusters, the moon and sometimes planets, according to George Clark, an observatory employee.

After hearing about the observatory through a friend’s recommendation, student Gina Puorro, an employee of the Elliott Alumni Center, has visited the dome repeatedly.

“It interests me because I can’t comprehend how far these things are,” she said.

The Mast Road shuttle can take students to the observatory.