The University handed over information about two users of a computer network registered to Brown shortly after the Recording Industry Association of America sued the two users for copyright infringement last April.
Court records show that the case against one of the individuals was dismissed on June 25. The identities of the defendants are currently sealed. Beverly Ledbetter, vice president and general counsel for the University, would not disclose the nature of the information released by Brown.
The two IP addresses were among 477 "John Doe" defendants accused of illegal file-sharing by the RIAA but identified only by their IP addresses and the names of the songs they were allegedly sharing.
The University was served with a subpoena, granted by the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island, which sought information that could identify the users behind the IP addresses, Ledbetter said. The University responded without hesitation and complied with the subpoena, producing "any identifying information we had," Ledbetter said.
It is unlikely that the defendants are Brown students; The Herald reported in May that the IP addresses named in the lawsuits are not among those allocated to University residence halls. Brown was likely named in the subpoena because the defendants' IP addresses are registered to the University. But the addresses may be shared across the Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network, which is used by all colleges and universities in Rhode Island, meaning the users of the addresses may be at another institution.
"It is possible that one institution may have more addresses and allow another institution to use those IP addresses," Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter would not confirm whether the users behind the IP addresses were Brown users but said that if the users had been affiliated with institutions other than Brown, the University would have provided the name of the institution or institutions in question, which would then be contacted.
"We have an obligation not to allow our Internet service to be used for illegal purposes," Ledbetter said.
Herald staff writer Justin Elliott '07 can be reached at jelliott@browndailyherald.com.
