Attorney General in Oregon State has blocked attempts of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to spy on university students. The RIAA issued subpoenas claiming against 17 students in University of Oregon, that they had downloaded music from the internet and violated the copyright.

Documents filed in the US District Court in Eugene by the Attorney General described the subpoenas as “overbroad and burdensome”. “We do not think the university can be compelled to produce investigative work for the recording industry,” Deputy State Attorney General Pete Shepherd told the Associated Press.

Court documents issued by the Attorney General’s office said: “The university’s efforts thus far have been met by accusations that it is obstructing the process and even conspiring with law breakers. Those accusations are not warranted.

The RIAA had deployed a strategy of tracking illegal downloads to university campus networks and asking for offenders to be identified. The tenth wave of this initiative was started on 15 November when the RIAA sent 417 pre-litigation settlement letters to 16 universities, including Columbia, Princeton and Yale.

The RIAA encourages offenders to resolve the copyright infringement claims on its dedicated P2P Lawsuits website “at a discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed”. Oregon’s move is a big blow for the RIAA.

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