RIAA lists top 25 universities handing out piracy notices

The "good guys" have tried to tempt college kids with free legal music for far too long to no avail, and after continuous failed attempts at gaining traction here in the US, it's no surprise that the RIAA would devote precious man-hours to concocting a most-wanted list of pirating schools. It should be noted that the top 25 is based on the amount of warnings sent out from the university to its students, and some schools may be omitted simply due to a lack of response on the administration's end. Nevertheless, it's reported that over three times as many infringement notices have been sent out during the 2006 - 2007 school year versus the year prior, but the RIAA did attribute some of that boost to its heightened awareness and tracking capabilities. Interestingly enough, the top spot holder doesn't seem to be overly concerned about its position, as Purdue feels the "service provider" shouldn't be the one lashing out at "criminals," essentially brushing that RIAA grief right off its shoulder. Still, we all know what you're here for, and that's to see if your alma mater made the dubious cut (full list after the jump), and while some here at Engadget can proudly proclaim to be in the top ten (ahem), drop us a comment and let us know where you stand.

[Via TWW]

Copyright infringement notices handed out during 2006 - 2007 academic year:

1. Ohio University - 1,287
2. Purdue University - 1,068
3. University of Nebraska at Lincoln - 1,002
4. University of Tennessee at Knoxville - 959
5. University of South Carolina - 914
6. University of Massachusetts at Amherst - 897
7. Michigan State University - 753
8. Howard University - 572
9. North Carolina State University - 550
10. University of Wisconsin at Madison - 513
11. University of South Florida - 490
12. Syracuse University - 488
13. Northern Illinois University - 487
14. University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire - 473
15. Boston University - 470
16. Northern Michigan University - 457
17. Kent State University - 424
18. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - 400
19. University of Texas at Austin - 371
20. North Dakota State University - 360
21. Indiana University - 353
22. Western Kentucky University - 353
23. Seton Hall University - 338
24. Arizona State University - 336
25. Marshall University - 331

[coryellkelsey @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:02PM]

Yeah MSU! Dropped from #1 to number 7. I am so proud of my school

[kevin_msu @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:18AM]

fight fight rah team fight

vic-tory for M-S-U

[lyl545646 @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:06PM]

#9 - North Carolina State University - 550

Yeah! Go WolfPack!!

Proud of it!

[Juaquin @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:06PM]

My friend just got busted here at UCLA (I told him so, idiot didn't listen). Interesting to see that almost none of them are out here in the West. Maybe this is a list of dumbest 25 schools - anyone halfway intelligent should know that the RIAA is watching campuses like a hawk.

[MaX PL and the 360 r4pe Tr4iN @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:14PM]

if anyone of those schools doesnt at least share 60TBs, it shouldnt be on there.

[Jason Kopolow @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:18PM]

Go Syracuse.
Seriously, I didn't realize we had so many notices handed out. Thats 1/20 of the university population. I better turn of my bittorrent client!

[John Doe @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:21PM]

As always may the members of the RIAA all burn in Hell.

[Ryan0rZ @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:28PM]

Haha, the majority of those schools are in the midwest. We must like our stolen music (and beer).

[John @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:31PM]

Univ of Miami dodges the bullet - no pun intended!

Kids here aren't smart enough to steal music :(

[granny down east @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:37PM]

@ John
Awesome to see U Miami comment so soon in thread. Gotta luv 'em 'Canes- best ball teams $$ can buy.
Granny's an alumna (class of 69) and proud of it.

[lyl545646 @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:39PM]

Next time when you download stuff with BitTorrent, make sure also start your PeerGuardian! Just a peace of mind.

[AndrewNeo @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:47PM]

SafePeer, the first plugin I install for Azureus!

[McDougal @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:41PM]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you should put the content of this site under a creative commons license if you're so into this anti-IP-protection thing.

[Andy @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:49PM]

MIT isn't on there for a reason- The students are smart enough not to get caught.....

[WTO605 @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:07AM]

And there are so few undergrads and graduate students very rarely live on campus.

[Beelzebub @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:29AM]

HAHA...I was having that exact same thought.

[Brandon @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:49PM]

Totally unrelated to the topic, but that picture is from Coover Hall at Iowa State University - my home building. Just thought it was cool that one of our labs got pictured on Engadget :)

[Brandon Bohlen @ Feb 23rd 2007 7:20AM]

That is pretty rad, just do a google image search for college computer lab and set the filter to large images and there you get a pic of 1212 Coover at ISU, sadly though, I don't see myself in there nor recognize any of my peeps. Engadget (never afraid to just steal some pic from the internets) RULES!!

[Dave Long @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:26PM]

Holla atcha boyyyyyyyyy-eeeeee!

[Wokkus @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:49PM]

so someone explain to me.. what happens to people that get caught.. do they just get a notice that says stop? like a warning... or do they have the internet taken away for a year.. do they have a fine.. what happens? one of my friends said it might happen to him. does anyone have knowledge on this topic? what happened to your friends

[Ignacio @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:51PM]

Go Boilermakers! From 37 to 1,068 in just one year!

[journey-anytime @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:51PM]

University of Nebraska - Lincoln #3, this story was front page news in the Lincoln city newspaper today. It is VERY rare that a student is contacted and I've never heard of anyone getting in serious trouble for pirating anything.

[Eliot @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:14AM]

I never heard of it happening while I was there either. I don't see the point of publishing a list of "Go to these schools if you enjoy being harassed for your network use"

[sdean @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:02PM]

Hmm...i thought we were going to be higher then 15. I bet two years ago we were a little higher.

[Mike P @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:03PM]

#13 Northern Illinois University! Huskies do it doggy style!

[mikepernecky @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:03PM]

#13 Northern Illinois University...Huskies do it doggy style!

[Stoked x 10 @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:07PM]

MSU had the crown, and lost it. For shame.

[Bard @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:17PM]

Sonofa.... Arizona State near the bottom when it comes to debauchery and illegal acts??!!!??!! We STARTED the FIRST on campus porn movie, the 50 foot bong and pro-sports steroids at the collegate level. I thought they could pull better than the lower 20's on the top 25 list :(

First they make the whole campus dry, then this....Not the ASU I graduated from...

[Matthew @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:18PM]

UT Knox, also in paper today. Only idiots get caught. Talked to this sorority girl who had been issued citations twice. She brushes it off like its nothing. The second time she had to give her computer to OIT to erase all pirated data. She said the guy there "fixed it so she couldnt be caught again" LOL!

[ric @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:28PM]

We're number 2!!!!! BOILER UP!!! We're coming after you, Ohio U, so watch your backs.

[icingdeath88 @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:34PM]

Yay! I'm a statistic on Engadget!. Without me USF would be only 489... ah, to contribute to something greater...

[Firewall @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:35PM]

These numbers need to be normalized against the number of students in attendance at the respective school.

[DiedFamous @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:40PM]

Hell yea! Go Purdue! As a current student I must say even though we're number 2, we have to be the most pirate-friendly campus in existance. DCgate was a special protocol app that worked with DC++ to optimize file sharing just for Purdue campus. There has been a recent switch to a new program called dtella, a streamlined, de-centralized system that works independently of IRC servers and everything else that tied DCgate down. With all its speed and security we'll surely make it to the top next year. Which of course, is nothing to be proud of, its a terrible thing that deprives the poor starving artists of money that was rightfully theirs. Because the record companies, which fuel the RIAA, along with legal representation, management, production, and agent don't deprive them of cash thats rightfully theirs, no, never.

[Bob @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:45PM]

Hummm...No major tech schools on the list. Where are Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, CalTech, MIT etc.

Is it that these students are smarter than those after Liberal Arts Degrees, LONG LIVE THE ENGINEER...

GO HOKIES (VT)

[WTO605 @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:12AM]

Like other's have said... there are two reasons the tech schools aren't listed

1) They're smart enough not to
2) They tend to be small enough that they won't rack up as many notices as big state schools

[bungsana @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:30AM]

actually bob, alot of those schools listed ARE top tech/engineering schools. they're just located in the midwest. look it up.

[DMZ @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:50PM]

The headline and text is misleading: these aren't the top 25 handing out notices to students, they're the top 25 the RIAA is dunning with their notes.

See, for instance, Purdue, which isn't handing out notices to their students at all.

[Dev @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:53PM]

holler at UMass hahaha

[A.J. @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:02AM]

Rutgers University isn't on there but god bless them they do it right. They don't have anything in the dorm space visible to the outside. Using PAT all 16k students appear to be coming from the same exact OC-3 pipes they have as everything else university-wide.

[Cole @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:07AM]

#21 Indiana University! ONE OF THOSE 353 NOTICES WAS TO ME! HBO pinched me for downloading episodes of Rome!

[kyle gilbert @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:07AM]

Woohoo... #2

I've noticed that Purdue doesn't care. The only warnings I've ever seen anyone get are for download limit infractions.

[Emma @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:07AM]

I'll admit I found the title misleading too.

But hey, I'm at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, so, DAYUM.

I'm surprised that much of the student population can use a computer, much less download music.

[WTO605 @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:12AM]

EDIT: Smart enough not to get caught....

Sorry

[peshue @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:38AM]

And I'm sure this will have a huuuuge effect. Ay worst people will have to get copies of music from each other instead of downloading it.

[John @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:43AM]

It's all about keeping it on a private internal network, using DC++. Which is where the engineering schools are at. I've personally downloaded at speeds in excess of 3 MB/s, it's pretty sweet.

[Kyle @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:44AM]

i almost have my 500GB WD mybook filled thanks to the speedy connection at Indiana U. i never received a notice either. RIAA doesn't know what the fuck it's doing. what a joke.

[MaX PL and the 360 r4pe Tr4iN @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:44AM]

hey john, how big is your dc++ network? we actually get 12mb/s max, 10mb/s average at our school; as in how many TBs do you share?

but yeh, who torrents? these schools are full of idiots; use private networks and only the top shares on each network are the ones getting the media and hosting it on the hub.

[MaX PL and the 360 r4pe Tr4iN @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:47AM]

yeh these schools are stupid; use dc++.

12mb/s downloads are so nice to have. john, how big is the share on your hub?

[papajshmoove @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:48AM]

And where is UND that is all we do here

[akijikan @ Feb 23rd 2007 2:12AM]

We be from TENNESSEE

Go Vols!

This isn't the most pirating list, this is the most caught list! Seriously if you're gonna use BT, get some PG going on. Better yet, hook up the DC++ or invest in USENET subs.