Bus trip to DC to protest? On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 3:47 AM, Elizabeth Stark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Should we talk more about what can be done with this now that it's expected > to be signed into law? > > From Ars Technica: > College funding bill passed with anti-P2P provisions > intact<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080801-college-funding-bill-passed-with-anti-p2p-provisions-intact.html> > > By Ryan Paul <http://arstechnica.com/authors.ars/segphault> | Published: > August 01, 2008 - 06:15AM CT > > The Senate and House have voted to reauthorize the Higher Education Act and > approved controversial new provisions that will require universities to > provide students with access to commercial music downloading services and > implement traffic filtering technologies in order to deter peer-to-peer > filesharing. The bill now goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign it > into law. > > These provisions have strong support from the content industry, but have > been targeted with widespread criticism from the academic community and > advocacy groups such as Educause. The push for mandatory filtering at > universities began in 2007 when the RIAA published a list of top piracy > schools <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070222-8900.html> and the > MPAA claimed that piracy on university campuses accounts for 44 percent of > the movie industry's annual losses to piracy. The group later retracted this > claim when it was discovered that the numbers were grossly > inflated<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080122-oops-mpaa-admits-college-piracy-numbers-grossly-inflated.html>. > The RIAA followed up its top piracy school list with a litigation and > propaganda > campaign<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070301-8953.html>which > included the development of a web site to handle automated > settlements, but soon faced serious > setbacks<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070715-judge-deals-another-blow-to-riaas-war-against-on-campus-filesharing.html>in > court. > > The MPAA also developed an Ubuntu-based software toolkit for detecting > file-sharing on university networks, but was forced to discontinue > distribution of the software when they were hit with a Digital Millenium > Copyright Act takedown notice. The MPAA had violated copyright > law<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071204-mpaas-university-toolkit-hit-with-dmca-takedown-notice-after-gpl-violation.html>by > failing to adhere to the General Public License under which Ubuntu is > distributed. > > The MPAA's high-tech anti-piracy solution > > The RIAA and MPAA have vigorously lobbied for a legislative solution at > both the > state<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080511-big-content-fighting-campus-p2p-by-lobbying-for-state-laws.html>and > federal<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080320-mpaa-to-congress-filtering-is-in-colleges-best-interests.html>levels. > Pressure from the content industry compelled Congress to begin investigating > the > issue<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070503-congress-to-universities-curb-piracy-or-we-will-be-forced-to-act.html>. > > > The lobbying efforts eventually resulted in the addition of anti-piracy > provisions in the College Opportunity and Affordability Act in the House, > which > passed<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-controversial-college-funding-bill-passedp2p-proviso-intact.html>by > a wide margin in February. The Senate version of this bill passed today > with bipartisan support. > > A statement issued by the joint House and Senate committees responsible for > harmonizing the two versions of the bill explains that universities will > have to begin authoring formal piracy deterrence plans. The statement also > recommends several commercial anti-P2P technologies including Audible > Magic's CopySense Network Appliance and Red Lambda's Integrity filtering > tool. > > "[The amendment includes] language requiring institutions to make available > the development of plans to detect and prevent unauthorized distribution of > copyrighted material on the institution of higher education's information > technology system," the statement says. "The Conferees have combined > elements from both bills to require institutions to advise students about > this issue and to certify that all institutions have plans to combat and > reduce illegal peer to peer file sharing." > > The MPAA hailed the bill's passage. "We work closely with leaders in the > higher education community because we both have a stake in ensuring that > intellectual property continues to be a strong, vibrant part of our nation's > economy," said MPAA president Dan Glickman. "By including these important > provisions in the Higher Education Act, Congress is sending a strong message > that intellectual property is worth protecting." > > The MPAA will shortly begin sending out what it describes as "campus > briefing books" that contain information on the anti-piracy provisions of > the new law and what schools need to do in order to be in compliance. The > books will also offer hints on how to clamp down on P2P traffic and detect > infringement. > > There are presently no penalties for failing to comply with the > requirement, but Educause and many in the academic community fear that the > new provisions are a trojan horse that will open the door for Congress to > add penalties in future iterations. If this happens, universities could > potentially be denied funding if they don't agree to play copyright cop. > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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