As is well known, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is committed to stopping the illegal downloads of music by college students.   In targeting 17 students at the University of Oregon, the RIAA sent subpoenas to the University in order to secure evidence from the University’s computer system.   The University, whose long time President Dave Frohnmayer is the former Attorney General of Oregon, responded by Attorney General Hardy Myers' office going to federal court and moving to block the subpoenas by asserting that they were “overbroad and burdensome.”  

In documents filed in the court and signed by Deputy Attorney General Peter Shepard, the state asserted that “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 record in this case suggests that the larger issue may not be whether students are sharing copyrighting music, but whether investigative and litigation strategies are appropriate.” 

In an interview, Shepard told the Associated Press that “we do not think the university can be compelled to produce investigative work for the recording industry.”

Speaking from my personal experience of this week, it isn’t easy to get to Park City, Utah and back in a day.  The flight to Salt Lake was easy enough, but the van ride through the mountains to the ski resort where the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG)  was holding its annual meeting was far from pleasant.  Creeping along Interstate 80 in a snowstorm, it was unsettling to see all those cars off the road and ambulances sliding sideways in the slush.  I was Park City to discuss the future of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School (http://www/stateag.org) and then take a red eye back to New York so that I could teach.  

After I left, the new U.S.Attorney General Michael Mukasey made the same trek – although presumably in a more commodious fashion – to make his first public policy statement during which he encouraged more states to add information to their data bases in order to assure that mentally ill people will not be able to purchase guns. 

More important than these remarks, which could have been delivered anywhere, is the fact that General Mukasey made such an effort to meet with the country’s chief law enforcement officers.  The symbolism of his travel was not lost on state attorneys general who over the last three years have felt seriously estranged from then-Attorney General Gonzales.  By simply showing up – and without mentioning his predecessor – our new Attorney General made it clear that he and the state attorneys general are on the same side.

And that is a very good thing.