from www.jconline.com – Purdue University must turn over the name, address, telephone number and email for a student accused of illegally downloading a pornographic film from his West Lafayette dorm room, a federal magistrate has ruled.

The 19-year-old student — identified only as Doe No. 26 in court documents — is one of 2,010 unnamed defendants being sued for copyright infringement by Third Degree Films Inc., a California-based adult entertainment company. The complaint, filed in December 2010 in California, identified each defendant by a unique computer address.

Purdue is listed as the student’s Internet service provider. Third Degree Films sent a letter and subpoena to Purdue on June 1, asking for the student’s information.

An attorney for the student fired back in July with a motion to quash that subpoena on grounds of protecting “reputational interests” and privacy, among other claims.

U.S. Magistrate Andrew P. Rodovich disagreed. He denied the student’s motion in a recently filed, lengthy order.

“Doe 26’s motion does not make it clear on what grounds he asserts the information is privileged, although he repeatedly mentions that he has a privacy interest … and that the risk to his reputation outweighs Third Degree’s need for the information,” Rodovich wrote.

“By providing Purdue with his identification and contact information for the purpose of accessing the Internet, Doe 26 relinquished any privacy interest he may have held in the information.”

The student’s Houston-based attorney, Tracie Renfroe, did not immediately return a message left Monday afternoon, seeking comment.

Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said Monday that the university will comply with the court’s order. She did not know whether Purdue had yet supplied Third Degree Films with the student’s name.

As of Oct. 6, no names had been provided to Third Degree Films, according to Rodovich’s order.

The student’s plight gained national attention in July when the website TheSmokingGun.com wrote about the case.

The student further claimed that other people in his residence hall had access to his router and WiFi connection.

Cases of alleged copyright violations at Purdue are not new.

In 2007, Purdue received several complaints from the Recording Industry Association of America regarding illegally downloaded music. Purdue complied with a court order and provided more than a dozen names.

In 2010, the university received alerts of 1,666 possible copyright violations involving 933 unique computer addresses.