Music pirates beware: Rough waters are ahead, especially for students illegally downloading music on college computer networks. Two Chicago-area colleges already have busted students for breaking copyright laws, and Northwestern officials said they would not hesitate to do the same.

Last week Loyola University and DePaul University confirmed that they received subpoenas from the Recording Industry Association of America in early July. To comply with the subpoenas, the universities gave the association the names of students suspected of using school networks to share illegal versions of copyrighted songs.

According to Tom Board, NU’s director of technology support services, the university is ready to join the hunt if necessary.

“We would comply with the law,” Board said. “If a subpoena was issued to NU, it would be reviewed and complied with.”

Subpoenas are the latest development in the recording industry’s war on music piracy. To prosecute individuals breaking copyright laws, the association issues subpoenas asking Internet service providers to reveal information about suspected lawbreakers. As the provider of Internet access to students living on campus, NU must reveal such information upon request.

After being caught by the association, students would head to court, where they could receive a maximum penalty of $150,000 for each illegally downloaded song. When their legal troubles are resolved, however, students still might face discipline from NU.

“If a student has violated a federal or state law, they would face whatever consequences outside of NU, but secondly a complaint might also be filed against them from within the university,” said Mary Desler, associate vice president for student affairs. “It could be as minimal as a letter of reprimand or as severe as dismissal from the university. That’s the continuum of disciplinary actions and that’s the case with any disciplinary matter.”

Desler said guilty students also would lose school-endorsed e-mail addresses and Internet privileges, so that university equipment and policies no longer could be abused.

Other universities across the United States also have been served with subpoenas, but not all of them are complying as Loyola and DePaul have. According to the Associated Press, Boston College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology refused to release student information when subpoenaed, saying the association did not provide adequate time to notify the students, as mandated by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

This spring a federal judge affirmed the constitutionality of a law allowing music companies to force Internet providers to release names of people who pirated music if the providers were served with a subpoena from any federal court clerk’s office. The decision came after a challenge from Verizon Communications, which is appealing the judge’s decision.

With revisions to NU Information Technology policies in June, Board said students should realize that the university is serious about curbing illegal file sharing on campus.

“There were policies that were augmented to make it clear that copyright is an important concern for everyone in the community and that people should become educated about that and stay within the law,” he said.

The amended policy states that students cannot “make copies of or make available on the network” any copyrighted material such as software programs, music and video files.

“I would say that file sharing among students is a problem in so far as it represents exposure for the student and some exposure for the university,” Board said. “It also represents a sizeable amount of traffic on the university network, but at this point in time we’re just monitoring how much traffic is involved and trying to stay ahead of it.”

Board would not comment on whether an NU student illegally sharing files could be caught, but he said the university’s computing policies speak for themselves.

“The policies make it clear that copyright issues are legal issues,” he said. “Within the university’s framework of expected behavior for the community, violations of copyright laws are serious problems that face disciplinary actions.”