p2pnet.net news:- Presidents at American colleges are being ordered to answer a Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG-initiated survey demanding explanations of the schools’ positions on file sharing, or piracy, as the Big 4 organise music cartel calls it.

Following a a massive and ongoing multi-million-dollar campaign in the mainstream media, it’s now almost a given that the priority at US universities, not to mention other schools, isn’t teaching: it’s to act as corporate copyright cops, putting education second.

American students, with the Big 4’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) breathing down their necks, already have more than enough to worry about. But things just got worse. They now have a US political group adding to the pressure.

Last month the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, led by Hollywood Howard Berman (right), gave universities “with high volumes of student piracy violations” 30 days to return a survey on so-called Net piracy and network practices, and the committee is slated to resume its meetings Tuesday in Washington, says TechNewsWorld.

“The entertainment industries have been leading contributors to Berman since 1993, topping up his coffers with amounts totalling close to $1,000,000,” p2pnet posted recently.

And yet, “Unfortunately, many schools have turned a blind eye to piracy,” Berman felt able to declare unashamedly.

TechNewsWorld quotes a letter sent to Purdue University president Martin C. Jischke. It says, “The fact that copyright piracy is not unique to college and university campuses is not an excuse for higher education officials to fail to take reasonable steps neither to eliminate such activity nor to appropriately sanction such conduct when discovered.”

But, “The real problem lies with leveraging the students through their schools,” the story has lawyer Donald David saying. “We are dealing with 17- and 18-year-olds. You go to the college and accuse them of a crime and say [they] owe us money. I have a problem with that,.”

He’s not the only one.

Ohio University had the misfortune to be singled out as the most attacked US University. But it decided caving in to the RIAA was the better part of valour and in effect put p2p file sharing off limits.

“Students on campuses throughout the United States, many of whom are experiencing their first year as members of university communities, are facing unprecedented legal intimidation at the hands of the recording industry,” said Joe Hazelbaker. “It appears that many institutions are simply prepared to wash their hands, refusing even to question the tactics of the industry, let alone providing meaningful legal assistance to their students,” he told p2pnet.

Now, “There’s a good chance that the Congressional inquiry could result in a legal backlash and misdirected new laws,” says David in TechNewsWorld.

“They are trying to make 17- and 18-year-olds afraid. That bothers me. This is the equivalent of going to your boss and saying you want the employer to send the employees a letter. We need some kind of change in the criminal law because nobody will ever be prosecuted,” said David.

Ultimately, the inquisition could backfire on the RIAA with a class action suit alleging a violation of state laws, invasion of privacy and possibly the fair debt collection act, according to David.

“As of Monday, federal legislators have not yet determined how many university presidents failed to reply by the May 31 deadline,” says the story, adding:

“While the letter encouraged the school officials to respond in their best interests, it did not threaten penalties to those who did not cooperate, said Jean Smith, spokesperson for Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property.

“We may require penalties, but we won’t know how many replied until we study the results,” she told TechNewsWorld. “We presume the universities respect the laws involving Internet piracy.”

Berman is also among US politicians listed by The Consumerist as having received payments from the RIAA.

Slashdot it!

Also See:
TechNewsWorld - Big Pirate on Campus, June 5, 2007
p2pnet - Howard Berman attacks US schools, March 11, 2007
declare unashamedly - Lawmakers Bash Colleges Over Campus Piracy, March 9, 2007
Joe Hazelbaker - Ohio U failing students in RIAA attacks, May 25, 2007
payments from the RIAA - Money talks, June 3, 2007

If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 8:19 am and is filed under RIAA News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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