Recently, two current RPI students were sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for running a search engine that scanned and indexed the RPI network (more specifically, Windows File Sharing or Samba) for shared files.

While I may not agree with the RIAA’s stances on copy protection, the court system does. However, those rulings cover the sharing of copyrighted files, not the cataloging, indexing, and searching of files on a network. A subtle difference for sure, but one with far more insidious implications.

Think of it as suing Google because you can find copyrighted works or other illegal content by entering certain keywords into their search engine. Should Google be legally responsible for the content published and shared by others?  Surely, that is a near impossible task and one that would undermine the power and usefulness of their search engine. Yet this is the implication of the RIAA’s lawsuit.

Similarly, the students who run campus network search engines can not possibly control the nature of the files that other people shared.

As an alumnus, I support the students who were sued—you know who you are—and I encourage you, their peers, to do the same. Let us all hope that the RIAA is unsuccessful in further limiting our rights as consumers and computer users.