Welcome to sleep on my futon. Kevin
-- Kevin Donovan Georgetown '11: SFS www.blurringborders.com On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 11:46 AM, Fred Benenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > 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 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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