The American music industry has fired off another fusillade of lawsuits against alleged music downloaders, this time snaring 532 people.

Included are 89 John Doe suits, intended to winkle out the names of people using networks at 21 US universities. The University of Michigan is the only institution named in the suits.

The move on students marks a new line of attack for
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its crusade to destroy unauthorised music swapping over the Internet. It has targeted students before, but serious uploaders only. The John Does in this round of lawsuits are accused merely of swapping music. ®