The IP addresses of 20 students or employees of Ithaca College were reported to Apogee yesterday by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegal file sharing, according to Dave Maley, associate director of media relations.

Apogee, the college’s Internet provider, received prelitigation letters notifying the company of pending copyright infringement suits against its network users, Maley said. The letters asked college administrators to forward the letters to the individual associated with each address and also offered users an opportunity to settle infringement claims at a discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed.

Maley said the college itself did not receive any letters and does not know the identities associated with the IP addresses.

“We are currently discussing with Apogee a proper way to respond to those letters that meets our obligation to our students, our contract with Apogee and copyright law,” he said.

 The college is one of 23 campuses targeted in the second round of the RIAA’s new copyright deterrence and education initiative, which aims to curb media trafficking on college campuses. In this round, the association identified and notified 400 students of infringement violations.

In a press release, Cary Sherman, president of RIAA, said music and media theft on campuses is a problem for both the media industry and colleges and universities.

“The more that universities impart the right message to their students and protect the integrity of their computer networks, the less likely their students will be caught and sued for copyright theft,” he said.

The college’s All College Computer and Network Use Policy prohibits the use of campus computers or programs to share copyrighted material, including peer-to-peer applications like Kazaa. David Weil, director of Web, Systems and Departmental Services, said he could not provide any additional information about the letters.

In an Ithacan article last September, Mike Leary, assistant director of judicial affairs, said his office had sent letters to more than 250 students who Apogee identified for illegally sharing files on the Internet since 2003. Leary could not be reached to release the number of students warned since then.