Almost all of you are probably familiar with the practice of file-sharing over the Internet, using software that allows users to share music, photos, videos, and/or computer programs. Perhaps many of you have done or are still doing that yourself. If so, you should also know that when the material being shared is copyrighted, it is considered an illegal activity.

You might also be aware that to crack down on and discourage this practice, the music recording industry has sued thousands of people, most of whom are college students, for sharing files over the Internet. In response, students being sued are using a new strategy to try to recover the damages they had to pay -- suing the software companies that provided the means for them to share the files.

In particular, as the Boston Globe reports, 42 UMass Amherst students are suing another UMass Amherst student, Wayne Chang, alleging that Mr. Chang and his i2hub file sharing software tricked and misled them into thinking that file sharing was legal:

Chang said he had no idea students would use his system for illegal activity. But the UMass-Amherst students say i2hub’s advertising misled them into believing that the file swapping was legal. They want Chang’s defunct service to pay the damages. . . .

Even though Napster [a company Chang used to work for] and other file-swapping services have mainly been used for illegal exchanges of copyrighted software, movies, and music, Chang insisted that i2hub was created just to help students communicate with one another. “Our website didn’t even have the words music or movies on there,” he said. . . .

[An attorney representing the 42 students] said that i2hub should pay the settlement due to its “contributory infringement” of the companies’ copyrights, as well as its “unfair or deceptive practices.” Chang’s attorney, Charles Baker, scoffs at [that] argument. “How can a user turn around and sue for this?” said Baker. “They’re the ones who decided to commit copyright infringement.”

The article mentions that last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that operators of file-swapping services can be sued if there is evidence that they encourage users to commit illegal acts. On the one hand, as a former employee of Napster, I find it hard to believe that Mr. Chang is genuine when he claims that in developing his i2hub software that he had no idea users would use it to illegally share copyrighted material.

On the other hand, I also find it hard to believe that the 42 students suing Mr. Chang also did not know that sharing copyrighted songs was illegal, especially after the publicity that these lawsuits that the recording industry were bringing became more well-known. Could this be another example of the current generation of students shying away from accountability and responsibility over their own actions?

In other words, I think both sides are at to some degree at fault here -- Mr. Chang for developing the software that he should have known (if he did not know already given his experience with Napster) was going to put himself at risk for legal action, although I believe that he did not directly encourage users to illegally trade copyrighted files.

But most of all, I think the students are largely to blame for committing the illegal acts in the first place. It’s one thing to believe that sharing MP3s should be legal and that it doesn’t really hurt anybody. But it’s something else to realizing (or should have realized) that the recording industry is very serious about suing students who do exactly what they were caught doing.

It’s like that old adage -- if you’re gonna commit the crime, you’d better be prepared to do the time. That’s a point of personal accountability and responsibility that everybody should understand, regardless of what generation they are or what technologies they grew up with.