Finding Nemo” and “Caddyshack” are just two of the approximately 50 films that Alex has on his computer.

The senior, who did not wish to have his last name used, has been using the software program KaZaA to download movies from the Internet since his freshman year.

Despite a recent announcement by the Motion Picture Association of America that it will start cracking down harder on those who illegally share copyrighted films online, Alex does not plan to stop.

On Nov. 4, Dan Glickman, the new president of the MPAA, announced at a press conference that the movie industry will begin filing lawsuits later this month against individuals who put pirated movies on file-sharing networks. Once they are available on these networks, movies can be downloaded for free.

Ed Fuller, director of Information Technology Services, said he does not foresee any specific policy changes at the college as a result of this announcement. When the music or movie industries detect illegal file sharing at the college, a representative contacts Apogee, the campus Internet service provider. Apogee then contacts the violator through e-mail, tells him or her to stop, and responds back to the copyright holder. Fuller said the college will then decide whether to take judicial action depending on the severity of the violation.

However, college students can now be individually sued. The MPAA will be able to issue a subpoena to Apogee, requesting the person’s name. This is the same procedure that is already being followed by the Recording Industry Association of America, and Fuller said he does not see the need for any extra steps or new policies when dealing with the MPAA. He said as far as he knows, the college has never been issued a subpoena from either industry.

Alex said that although he downloads movies off the Internet, he rarely shares them. He said that most programs like KaZaA have the option to shut off the sharing feature, which he has opted to do. Today, most of his sharing involves burning the movie on to a CD to give to a friend.

He also said that he does not think this MPAA crackdown will have a large effect. Alex said that he doesn’t believe he is costing the industry money because he would not have purchased some of the movies that he downloads from stores. But he also said he has bought some films, including “Rounders” and “Fight Club,” after downloading them and liking them.

“I think they’re fighting technology rather than embracing it,” he said of the movie industry’s crackdown. “They can use sharing to increase the visibility of their movies.”

Eli Kaufman, a University of California at Los Angeles student filmmaker, said to college students in a national teleconference following the MPAA announcement that filmmakers work very hard to do their work and they need to be respected. He said that he thinks ripping movies off takes away from the filmmakers’ ability to create, which they usually do knowing they will be getting respect and compensation.