The Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against 261 people Monday for file sharing.
According to an RIAA press release sent Monday, these lawsuits are some of the first of possibly thousands to come.
While no lawsuits issued today have been settled yet, past lawsuits have settled for anywhere between $3,000 and $17,000. The RIAA had initially sued for up to $150,000 per file.
Those facing the lawsuits shared an average of approximately 1,000 songs each, according to RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy.
Additionally, officials from the RIAA said they will grant amnesty to file sharers who confess their crime to the RIAA before the association finds them, according to the press release. Those who confess must also sign a contract agreeing to terminate sharing in order to free themselves from a possible lawsuit.
However, the RIAA did not target people who only download music, Lamy said.
\These are not people who are downloading. These are people who are uploading or distributing music for anyone to come and copy it,"" he said.
Lamy said the RIAA has no immediate plans to sue downloaders but warned such actions are no more legal than partaking in file sharing.
""Downloading music, a copyrighted music file, without the permission of the creator, is just as illegal so no one should take comfort that they are doing anything that is lawful,"" he said.
Officials from the RIAA announced they will specifically look for file sharing on university and college campuses because file sharing is relatively prevalent there.
At UW-Madison, officials from the Division of Information Technology must report names of file sharing participants to the RIAA if subpoenaed to do so. DoIT provides service for all students in university housing as well as some faculty and staff computers on campus, according to Brian Rust, spokesperson for DoIT.
""For students that are off campus, it depends on who their local ISP is, like Charter or TDS,"" he added.
Once the internet service provider gives the names of file sharers, the local court has the power to sue the individuals, Rust said.
Individuals who receive lawsuits are accused of breaking copyright laws, according to Gordon Baldwin, law professor at UW-Madison.
""The music makers have a copyright which restricts the use of people who do not pay the copy holder,"" he said. ""Those who steal [files] ... may be liable, particularly if they steal in concert with others.\
