We in Information Technology believe that, unfortunately, there is.
It’s only a matter of time before Cal State Fullerton gets a subpoena involving one of our faculty, staff or students. The potential penalties are enormous, especially in terms of negative publicity and the time and energy required to deal with the situation.

For one thing, the association asserts that the law allows a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for online copyright violations. Civil liability can be actual damages or a statutory $150,000 per song that has been shared illegally.

We don’t know of many people who could absorb that kind of financial loss. We don’t have any idea how much it would cost to hire a lawyer to fight a claim by the RIAA, but we expect it would be a lot of money and an experience that most of us would not enjoy.

The same technology that makes peer-to-peer file sharing so convenient also makes it easy to locate the computer that is sharing the files. Every computer has a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address, which can be traced. Does your computer have a program named: AudioGnome, Bearshare, Blubster, Buddyshare, CuteMX, eDonkey, Gnucleus, Gnutella, Grokster, iMesh, KaZaA, Konspire, Limewire, Morpheus, Napshare, Napster, Qtella, SongSpy, Swapnut, TodeNode, WinMX, Yoink or XoloX? If it does, chances are that you’re “sharing,” even if you don’t mean to. This isn’t a complete list – there are lots more.

If the subpoena comes for a state-owned computer, the university might be asked to turn over the computer as evidence. Already universities are receiving subpoenas and being named in the news. Imagine the image that gives a university.
For the affected individual, they would have to explain to their supervisor, dean, vice president and others why they were using state property for an illegal activity. They would be without a computer for at least a certain time and perhaps not allowed to use a state computer. Addition- ally, strangers will have the legal right to delve into all files on the computer. Then there are those nasty penalties.