Copyright Issues

I felt I learned so much from today's lecture in class. I learned that a subpoena is given to a student who has performed illegal downloading which results in that student getting sued for a copyright infringement. I also learned that a take-down notice is given to a student for doing the same thing, but is a warning and that student doesn't get sued. I learned from Mrs. Graves that the getting of a subpoena or getting a take-down notice is random, and that she has nothing to do with deciding which thing a student gets for committing a copyright infringement. I feel that this presents an issue to the students receiving these subpoenas and take-down notices.

Only four students here at trinity have ever gotten a subpoena. I'm guessing they had to have been mad because everyone else got warnings without getting sued. A settlement for a copyright infringement averages between $13,000 and $17,000 which is alot of money! The ones doing the suing feel that it is right since the students shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. I feel like it is really unfair to get a subpoena without getting a take-down notice first. If I were to get a subpoena without getting a take down notice, I would be extremely mad. I think that everyone should get the chance to at least get one take down notice first, so that they can be aware that sooner or later a much larger penalty is about to occur. I am very glad that I got the chance to learn all of this new information because I feel much more informed about the consequences of copyright infringements.

Now knowing the concequences, I'm not going to even think about illegal downloading. Going to school here is expensive enough, and adding on another $13,000 will only leave me even more broke when I get out of college!

Zack Garcia