"CD sales fell more than 5 percent in 2001 and dipped another 1 percent in the first half of this year, according to the RIAA."
I'm sure it couldn't possibly have anything to do with really bad new "music" and around $18 a CD.
Brand new albums in the 70's were around $3 to $4....
So, middies all have their own computers. That may explain all of the strange documents I've been coming across on KaZaA.
Here are two more articles I found on this event.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,56574,00.html
Pirates of the U.S. Naval Academy
By Noah Shachtman | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1
02:35 PM Nov. 25, 2002 PT
A warning to those training to fight for your country: Don't you dare download any MP3s.
The U.S. Naval Academy has confiscated the computers of about 100 midshipmen who allegedly have pirated music and movies on their hard drives. The Annapolis students could face punishment up to a court-martial if they are found to have the copyrighted material illegally, according to academy spokesman Commander Bill Spann.
To some, such a punishment definitely outweighs the crime.
"Their careers are in peril because they may have shared copyrighted works," said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It doesn't seem like a proportional response. And it doesn't help get artists paid, or give consumers what they want, either."
File sharing has been going on for years at the academy. But in the past, midshipmen caught swapping would get little more than a "slap on the wrist," according to a recent academy graduate posting to a Slashdot forum.
In October, the Recording Industry Association of America and three other entertainment groups sent a letter to 2,300 colleges and universities -- including the Naval Academy -- urging the schools to "impose effective remedies against violators" of copyright law.
File sharing "is no different from walking into the campus bookstore and in a clandestine manner walking out with a textbook without paying for it," the letter reads. "'Theft' is a harsh word, but that it is, pure and simple."
Last week, academy officials confiscated the student computers suspected of containing the unauthorized files while their owners were in class, Spann said.
The RIAA says it had nothing to do with the action in Annapolis.
"We appreciate institutions who take intellectual property theft seriously," wrote an RIAA spokeswoman in an e-mail. "However, we do not dictate what their enforcement policies should be, and, in this particular instance, we do not know the facts of the case."
But the seizure could be helpful to the trade group by showing other schools that "they have a right and responsibility to do the same thing," said Aram Sinnreich, an independent music analyst affiliated with the University of Southern California.
Schools have clamped down on file sharing. Earlier this year, officials at USC warned students that they could be kicked off the school's network if they were caught trading copyrighted materials online.
But, for the most part, universities have turned a blind eye to such swapping -- unless entertainment companies ask them to intervene.
"There's no university policy that restricts file sharing," said Brian Voss, associate vice president for telecommunications at Indiana University. "We try to provide as rich an IT environment as possible here. Because what's recreational today, tomorrow is pedagogical."
Oregon State University also makes no moves to keep students from sharing files on college-owned networks. But the school does receive a letter or two per month from antipiracy outfits like MediaForce, acting on behalf of the showbiz conglomerates, that tattle on individual students sharing copyrighted materials.
According to residential computing manager Chris White, Oregon State addresses such complaints by turning off the student's Internet connection, giving him or her a tongue lashing, removing the file from the network and plugging the student back in.
It's unlikely that Navy midshipmen, expected to adhere to a less forgiving code of conduct, will get off that easy.
And This one:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-971130.html
Navy cracks down on student pirates
By Lisa M. Bowman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 25, 2002, 8:53 AM PT
The U.S. Naval Academy has seized about 100 student computers that are suspected of containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.
The students were in class on Thursday when the raid occurred, according to an academy representative, who would not elaborate on other details of the investigation.
Each student gets a computer when they enter the academy. Illegal possession of copyrighted material could carry punishment including court-martial or a loss of leave, according to academy policy.
The seizure comes just a few weeks after movie and music industry trade groups sent a letter to more than 2,000 university and college presidents across the country, including officials at the Naval Academy, requesting help in cracking down on unauthorized file swapping.
In the October letter, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other industry groups warned university officials that some students were using school networks to illegally trade copyrighted materials.
"Students must know that if they pirate copyrighted works they are subject to legal liability," the trade groups wrote. "It is no different from walking into the campus bookstore and in a clandestine manner walking out with a textbook without paying for it."
Colleges have become a hotbed for file-trading in recent years, partly because so many offer speedy Internet connections and partly because students tend to be avid music fans.
As a result, the entertainment industry has issued several warnings to universities. Last year, the MPAA and smaller copyright holders sent cease-and-desist letters to schools warning them about violations using school networks. In Napster's heyday, several colleges were the target of lawsuits brought by Metallica and Dr. Dre, who claimed the schools allowed people to trade unauthorized copies of their music illegally.
Universities have dealt with the warnings in a wide variety of ways. Some have taken a hands-off approach to student activities. Others have adopted bandwidth management tools to block or restrict file swapping.
If the RIAA had any brains, they'd publicly make an exception for members of the military, and make free music a benefit of being in the service.