p2pnet - rss feed: US schools protest ‘anti-piracy’ HR4137
p2pnet news | Freedom:- The Los Angeles Times has picked up the strong concern coming from American colleges and universities over the College Opportunity and Affordability Act:H.R.4137.
“Educause has increased the level of its opposition to the entertainment cartel inspired College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 as it stands,” p2pnet posted in February.
“Educause continues to feel that the mandates contained in the House bill are expensive, ineffective, and inappropriate,” Steve Worona (right), director of policy and networking programs and founding director of the Educause/Cornell Institute for computer policy and law, told p2pnet.
A portion of the 800-page act has raised alarms in the higher-education community, says the LA Times, going on, “It would hold schools disproportionately responsible, education groups say, for activities that take place mostly off-campus.
More than 80% of students live off-campus and use commercial networks, the story has Worona saying.
Universities go well past the minimum legal requirements to dissuade piracy by requiring students to sign copyright-law notifications, Worona argued, yet the commercial networks, where the “vast majority” of illegal downloads occur “do nothing beyond it - and for some reason we’re the ones targeted”.
The main purpose of the legislation, approved 354-58, “is to make college more affordable to low- and middle-income families,” says the LA Times.
One of the main reasons the two-page anti-piracy section made it into the act in the first place was the immense pressure levelled by Hollywood’s MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) which in earlier congressional testimony, and via sensationalised mainstream media reports, used a seriously flawed 2005 study to claim 44% of industry losses came from students using college networks.
However, in January the MPAA reluctantly admitted the numbers were grossly inaccurate, trying to pass the mistake off as “human error,” and saying the number was more likely 15%.
However, “even that number is wrong, says Educause,” p2pnet reported.
“If anyone were to assign a number to Hollywood losses attributable to file sharing, it would probably be more like 3%, says the organisation, and other experts would argue even that is incorrect —- that far from detracting from Hollywood’s sales, file sharing is a form of viral advertising which mostly benefits, rather than harms, of the music industry.”
The LA Times has UCLA’s director of strategic policy for information technology, Kent Wada, agreeing with the 3% estimate.
“Research by USC’s John Heidemann, an Information Sciences Institute associate professor, bore out their estimates,” the story says, continuing, “After hearing the MPAA’s initial claim, he monitored file-sharing on USC’s network for 14 hours and found 3% to 13% of users using peer-to-peer technology. (USC was among only a few schools to conduct research and not rely solely on the MPAA’s numbers.)
Says the LA Times >>>
The Recording Industry Assn. of America, which also supports the bill, has subpoenaed numerous universities in recent years over piracy issues, asking schools to identify students who were illegally distributingsongs onto file-sharing networks.
But in the last few months, several universities have fought back.
In the most prominent case, the University of Oregon moved in November to have a subpoena dismissed. The school accused the industry of misleading the judge, violating students’ privacy rights and engaging in questionable investigative practices.
The latter charge involves MediaSentry, an Internet service used by the RIAA to obtain user information from file-sharing networks. Some states, including Oregon, require private investigators to have a license, which MediaSentry lacks.
The RIAA says MediaSentry isn’t a private investigator.
“The commercial alternatives simply don’t provide the services consumers want,” Educause’s Worona says in the story, adding:
“Universities still have hope based on the Senate version of the education bill:S.1642:, passed last summer. In response to vocal critics such as Educause, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew his amendment to require federally funded universities to use technological deterrents.”
Stay tuned.
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Also See:
Los Angeles Times - Piracy provision aims at universities, March 16, 2008
p2pnet - Educause against anti-college act, February 21, 2008
seriously flawed - Huge Hollywood mistake in student download stats, January 23, 2008
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March 17th, 2008 at 9:58 am
” and for some reason we’re the ones targeted ”
For SOME reason ?
The one and only reason .. college students can’t afford to fight back.
That’s obvious.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Will someone please think of the children?
March 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
It’s very frustrating what the RIAA/MPAA has been able to get away with. But until a significant number of people fight and/or stand up to these bullies lawmakers will continue to turn the other cheek. I imagine some are being compensated in come way or another. Why is everything so corrupt? I can’t wait for the day when the RIAA goes down and with it any corrupt company that helped them extort money and bend laws!
March 18th, 2008 at 6:39 am
I can’t help but think that the way the music and movie industries are acting like they’re the center of the world, getting laws passed to support their points of view, threatening people, etc, is scarily similar to what the church did during the middle ages.