I'm a huge fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers having lived and grown up in Nebraska the past 20 years. College football is without a doubt the biggest sport here. We have zero professional sports franchises here so we eat, breathe, live Cornhusker football in Nebraska. So today, I was interested to see that UNL (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) has the #3 ranking from the RIAA when it comes to illegal music downloads.

Having been in the online music scene since 1996 or so when I first discovered *cough* mIRC *cough* the RIAA just doesn't seem to give up. Every year they report how CD sales have plumitted and blamed it on piracy. Tom Keating writes about Legal vs. Illegal Downloads: What's the Difference and that illegal downloads have less than 1% affect on CD sales. I agree and he provides a nice report in his story explaining it in greater detail.

So here it is 2007 and it seems the RIAA is attempting to flex its muscles again by cracking down on university students who illegally download over campus networks. They've already sent out complaints this year to top universities pressuring schools to be more aggressive against these activities. Students are facing punishments that include email warnings, semester-long suspensions and having to watch an eight-minute anti-piracy DVD produced by the RIAA. (Not sure I could handle an 8 minute video from the RIAA)

"It's something we feel we have to do," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. "We have to let people know that if they engage in this activity, they are not anonymous."

Well I'm proud to announce the RIAA's top 5: Ohio, Purdue, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Tennessee and the University of South Carolina. Now if only this were true for the up coming college football season I'd be even happier. Just know I'll be cheering for you UNL let's take over that #1 spot from Ohio.

I in no way encourage illegal downloads nor do I provide legal advice, however you should cheer for the Cornhuskers.