This bill has very broad implications as Fred points out. -- David
-- David Solomonoff, President Internet Society of New York [EMAIL PROTECTED] isoc-ny.org
--- Begin Message ---Free Culture @ NYU, It's not often that we have *urgent* news in the Free Culture world, but today we do. Some of you have probably already heard (via news.com<http://www.news.com/Democrats-Colleges-must-police-copyright%2C-or-else/2100-1028_3-6217943.html?tag=nefd.pop>/ boingboing <http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/11/corrupt-congressmen.html> / slashdot <http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/11/0342213>) about the so-called "p2p" bill that House Democrats are trying to push. This bill contains wording that, if passed into law, would jeopardize federal aid for universities if they refused to filter their student's internet access. In other words, the bill is designed to force universities to police their student's internet connections in a way that no other ISPs in the world do. Besides encouraging a violation of network neutrality on campuses, this bill demands universities to do something that is technically impossible -- how is NYU's router supposed to be able to tell the difference between a Creative Commons licensed video podcast that you're downloading via Miro <http://www.getmiro.com/> and an "illegal" file your roommate is getting off of a file sharing network? The point is they can't -- no technology has been invented that can properly discover whether a file is "legal" or not (consider how difficult it is for a judge to decide whether a use is fair <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Use>, and then think of trying to create a chip that would do it) and no technology will ever be invented to do this. The dubiously titled "College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007<http://edlabor.house.gov/bills/HEAReauthorizationText.pdf>" (coming in at a staggering 747 pages, the relevant part is from pg. 411-413) is a bad deal and we need to let our representatives know it before they vote on it on Wednesday at 9am. This is an opportunity for Free Culture activists to get involved and let our government know that this bill is a mistake. Read on for a forward from our man at Educause who is helping organize the fight against it. I'll also be organizing a "Call-A-thon" in the next 24 hours (probably tomorrow 10am, at Kimmel) for those of you with a laptop and skype... so please let me know if you're interested (frederick [ at ] nyu.edu) and I'll keep you updated about our next steps. Please forward this to whom ever you think would be interested in helping. Thanks, Fred Benenson President, Free Culture @ NYU ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Steve Worona <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Nov 12, 2007 11:09 AM Subject: Details for phone calls on P2P mandates in HEA OK, folks, thanks again for offering to help. Here's the word. The House Education and Labor Committee (http://edlabor.house.gov/) will be marking up (ie, considering amendments to) "The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007" this Wednesday, 11/14, at 9am ( http://edlabor.house.gov/committee/schedule.shtml). As you know, that bill includes provisions requiring campuses to develop plans for filtering their networks for P2P content considered inappropriate by Congress. See < http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6217943.html> for press report (headline: "Colleges Must Police Copyright Or Else"). The full text, nearly 750 pages, is at <http://edlabor.house.gov/bills/HEAReauthorizationText.pdf>. It's worth noticing that neither the sponsors' press release ( http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel110907.html) nor the official summary of the bill ( http://edlabor.house.gov/publications/20071109COAASummary.pdf) say a word about these provisions, which you'll find on p. 411-413, "Campus-Based Digital Theft Prevention". Between now and 9am Wednesday, it's important for all members of the Committee to hear from as many voters as possible indicating how ill-advised and inappropriate they think these mandates would be, and asking that the relevant sections be deleted from the bill during markup. EDUCAUSE has developed talking points for our own membership (the folks who manage the networks on your campuses), available at < http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/word/CSD5172.doc>. In those talking points, you'll find the details of the exact provision of the bill that you should ask be eliminated (part (2) of section 494 (A)). The ideal means of communication is telephone. At < http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/phone.pdf> you'll find a full list of Committee members and their phone numbers. Note that many staff offices will be closed today due to the holiday, but go ahead and call anyway. Leave a message if necessary. Otherwise, ask to speak to the staff member in charge of higher education and let that person know your opinion. Feel free to engage in a dialog if invited, but note that you're not trying to change the staffer's mind. You primarily want to let him/her know that you care about this issue and would like the Representative to take your opinions and arguments into account on Wednesday morning. EDUCAUSE is maintaining a resource page at <http://www.educause.edu/p2pfs> where you may find additional helpful information. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and thanks again! Best wishes, and good luck. Steve -- Steven L. Worona Director of Policy and Networking Programs EDUCAUSE / 1150 18th St. NW suite 1010 / Washington, DC 20036 202-872-4200 x 5358 / 202-872-4318 fax / [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to free-culture as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.isoc-ny.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
