The MPAA piracy dishonor role

Oh yes they did. The MPAA now has their own list of the most drug piracy-ridden schools in higher education: the MPAA's "dishonor role." In addition to receiving a top-25 ranking, each institution above is labeled with the number of students identified as making unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. Some schools like Ohio University, Purdue, and eight others have the dubious distinction of being on both the MPAA's and RIAA's lists with Purdue achieving the highest combined ranking -- #5 MPAA, #2 RIAA. Feel that, son? That's school pride welling within. Enjoy it while you can as we wait to see if the MPAA will take legal action.

[Rohit Kapur @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:52AM]

lol... You know what, I'm most probably going to be going to Purdue U this fall. This just sweetens the deal!

[David @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:22AM]

nice to see USF on there, but where'd UCF go? my friend got busted for having a "licensed" anime once... they made him write a report about it... which was one of the more sarcastic things ever written by him. good clean fun there.

[TexRob @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:24AM]

That's impressive that UT Austin is not on there, as the largest school in the nation (it still is, right?)

[fustanella @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:43AM]

/s/role/roll

[Josh @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:07AM]

Boiler up!

[darkstar @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:11AM]

isnt this the same list of the top wired school in usa??? hahah. i see my school is on it! awesome!

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:15AM]

I guess MITers just know how to keep things on the DL. (That's down-low, not download).

[Eric Chiu @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:26AM]

go bust the western evil soul

[ScooterDe @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:35AM]

while the MPAA is there, would it mind busting all the copyright infringers to be found hogging the photocopiers?

C'mon, universities have been bastions of piracy every since anybody published something on paper. Why should video or audio publishers be surprised?

[mtt @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:52AM]

Where are the Gators? How can they be so dominating at sports AND robotics, and not even make the top 25 on this list?

[K.R @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:18AM]

wow, am I glad that I'm in Canada.... I bet we'd beat all of these universities hands down, wahoo for lax internet copyright laws.

[August @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:01PM]

No, you probably would not.

[Ryan Spray @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:30AM]

At Purdue, the RIAA has already began handing out letters to students about copyright infringement to students. The cost? $3,000 for settlement, and $750/song if they lose at trial. A girl was interviewed in the student newspaper for being busted for sharing 451 songs.
I've been using AllofMp3 for years, so I'm not particularly worried until June/July when the Russian government is supposed to start helping shut them down.

[Michael @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:33AM]

What about Carnegie Melon?With all the robots and super computers, surely they must have a piracy department somewhere?

[steve @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:28PM]

Engineers don't get caught :)

[mithras @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:49AM]

I would think that Columbia and UCLA are probably the generators of many new "content creators" -- musicians, screenwriters, and directors that will generate the next wave of hits for the MPAA & RIAA. So really, the industry associations should be figuring out how to embrace this generational shift, rather than alienating the very folks who will one day be their lifeblood.

[g4scott @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:50AM]

"That's impressive that UT Austin is not on there, as the largest school in the nation (it still is, right?)"

UT Austin is currently the second (or maybe third) largest school in the nation. I'm as surprised as you are to see this list and not see UT, but maybe it's because we're smarter than these other schools ;-)

[August @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:00PM]

'|''|

[Nik @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:04AM]

I've never been so proud to be a Columbia graduate.

[Nubaeus @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:17AM]

Yeah #8

RIT pride!

[RVin @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:37AM]

Go Bobcats!

[Telanis @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:58AM]

Too bad they don't include Canadian universities on there. I go to the University of Waterloo, and I can NAME almost a thousand people who download copyright infringing stuff. That's the beauty of living in Canada though - it's not illegal AFAIK.

[rvc8 @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:15AM]

ROAR LIONS ROAR

[Trent @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:38AM]

Come on MPAA. Don't be the hypocrites that the RIAA is. You know that son's and daughters of MPAA employees are going to these schools and DOING EXACTLY WHAT COLLEGE KIDS DO which is break the rules while out from under their parents proverbial thumbs.

The difference now however is that the MPAA is going to ruin these kids lives with law suits and extortion. Don't you think the MPAA would be better served going after real pirates instead of our future lawmakers and Presidents? What if you sued in to oblivion the kid who was to cure cancer?

This is just kids being kids. Why make this in to a crime? I did a ton of stupid stuff in college, (drugs, partying, mayhem, even breaking and entering once!) however I'm a well adjusted citizen of Amerika now with a fine job and kids of my own.

MPAA... Don't be evil.

[Elliott @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:28PM]

I highly agree...especially since when one or more of these future presidents or lawmakers gets out of college they'll already have a personal vendetta against the xxAA organizations.

I can't wait until my generation finally gets into office...a lot of the relentless iron fisted organizations are going down, not because of the complaints of the poor, scared college students just trying to mildly entertain themselves between final, mid-term, and daily quizes/tests, but because of the laws they use to turn their very own monetary fodder into vicious criminals.

That day's not far off...now knock it off MPAA/RIAA, you had a good run, but remember that old cliché saying: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

[paul34 @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:35PM]

I love the MPAA. Like a bunch of old, grumpy people. "Dern whippersnappers doin that dern downhoarding! We'll make a list so that they can feel so bad! zomg a list!"

Get with the program. The future of content distribution has changed and dominance greedy studios and record labels are over.

[dabomb @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:35PM]

Damn! I need to get my school (UMD) up in there

[mark @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:31PM]

WOHOO Number 2, I am one of those 934, and i'm proud of it!

[ASONNEK @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:39PM]

Interestingly most of the largest schools in the nation managed to stay off the list. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_United_States_universities_by_enrollment)

[Jonathon @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:56PM]

Go Vandy! You make an alum proud...wait, lets hope that list doesn't go back a couple years!

[Zach @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:16PM]

I have the honor of graduating from both Columbia and Iowa State!

I will say this. Columbia was incredibly aggressive in tracking down anyone pirating anything. The actively monitored how much was uploaded and if you exceeded a certain amount they would shut down your account and investigate.

It makes me wonder if this list really isn't just showing the schools who take a more aggressive stance in finding those pirating... How many people haven't been caught at Texas?

If this is the case, I would imagine that the schools on the list above might not have the same incentive to be as aggressive anymore... Another blunder by the MPAA?

[James @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:14PM]

Heh, I went to Virginia Tech (VPI on the list) a while back, and I'm only surprised we weren't higher on the list. Like an earlier commenter noted, this matches pretty well with the best high-tech schools in the country. Tech had an awesome network, and everybody in the dorms was all over P2P, even back around the beginning of the decade. And remember -- this probably only shows what's accessible from outside the school. If you're behind the firewall, just looking around the Windows File Sharing network usually got you a few hundred gigs of music, games, and porn (why isn't there an Adult Films Artists Association or similar?), and nobody from the outside network could know about it. Heh. I hope VT can raise their rank on this list.

[kevin @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:26PM]

damn. just shy of the top ten...

at least we beat usc.

[Juaquin @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:28PM]

And UCLA beats USC again!

Can we somehow work this into a sport?

[Jeff @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:33PM]

lame.

like somehow it's the university's problem. what a pathetic stunt. (what we're now accustom to from these greed driven jerkoffs.)

[kevink @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:49PM]

Go boilermakers! well DVD-R makers!

[JP @ Apr 3rd 2007 1:03AM]

This list is in need of some clarification. They have UMass on the list, but that is 4 schools (that I can come up with right now) in very different parts of the state. So it is really skewed. Also, a per-capita list would make much more sense in identifying problem schools.

[HitnRun @ Apr 3rd 2007 8:37AM]

Hail to Olde Purdue!
Boiler Up!

[kadajawi @ Apr 3rd 2007 8:50AM]

I sense an evil plan by the MPAA. They try to sue those away who would be their replacement in a few years, so they can keep their jobs forever. And make trades with future politicians like "if you will support our laws we won't sue you...".

[JoeBob @ Apr 3rd 2007 1:16PM]

Holy Wolfman Jack, Batman! That must be, what, a whopping 1/2 of 1% (or .005 for you Purdue engineering students) of all college students that are pirating music?

With that level of piracy going on, how will the RIAA members ever be able to afford their payola budgets???

[rphbx @ Apr 7th 2007 8:31AM]

CU BABY!!!

[:: smo :: @ Apr 27th 2007 1:28PM]

wow this is great! but rit is slipping and they aren't even on the RIAA list! maybe that's because most good bands aren't part of it. back when i was in school the FBI came in and seized computers from some people. i hope the MPAA realizes this is just going to cause competition among schools to hit number one. just like the figures of party schools and the like encourage kids too binge more often.