BANGOR (AP) – A recording industry trade group is warning the University of Maine System that it is cracking down on students illegally downloading music files on the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America has notified UMS officials that it has identified 26 people at five of the state’s seven universities who were caught downloading or sharing music files illegally on the UMS network of computers.

The University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Maine at Augusta campuses were not involved in the accusation, according to UMS spokesman John Diamond. The University of Southern Maine was, but Diamond didn’t know whether anyone at the Lewiston-Auburn College campus was allegedly involved.

The RIAA has sent 405 “prelitigation settlement letters” to students at 23 colleges and universities nationwide, including Boston University, Columbia, Dartmouth, UCLA, Purdue, Nebraska and Vanderbilt.

Diamond said university officials haven’t decided what course of action to take. The university system’s policy handbook prohibits students from downloading copyrighted material from the Internet without permission, he said.

“What we decide to do now is something that will be discussed in the next few days,” he said.

The RIAA said it will allow people accused of stealing music to resolve copyright infringement claims at a discounted rate before lawsuits are filed. The people who have been contacted have 20 days to get back in touch before a lawsuit is filed, said Jenni Engebretsen, spokeswoman for the RIAA.

“Individuals who do take advantage of this prelitigation settlement offer will pay a substantially discounted sum,” Engebretsen said.

Downloading, or file sharing, is the practice of making files available for other users over the Internet without permission. Engebretsen said the letters are part of a crackdown campaign launched Feb. 28 by the recording industry.

In the first round of mailings, 400 letters were sent to 14 colleges and universities.

“We have reached settlements with 116 individuals and are finalizing details with a number of others,” Engebretsen said.

Andrew Catalina, 21, a junior at the University of Maine in Orono who is not one of the targets of the letters, said he believes the RIAA is wrongheaded in its tactics.

“Unfortunately, because of lack of proper exposure, file sharers are dubbed evil parasites when in fact they are normal people,” Catalina said. “Until somebody has the resources to fight in court, the RIAA will continue using tactics such as these unchecked.”

Staff writer Lindsay Tice contributed to this story.