Colleges back students in piracy case - Politico.com
Colleges back students in piracy case
By: Erika Lovley
August 19, 2008 04:17 PM EST
Hollywood-backed legislation to curtail copyright infringement by college students could make music and movie piracy even worse, the education lobby says.
The landmark provision, part of an expansive higher education bill signed into law last week by President Bush, requires colleges to curb students’ illegal file sharing. But the anti-piracy plan has rankled the American Council on Education and other education groups, which warn universities could be turned into copyright police — on their own dimes.
File-sharing experts also say the legislation would probably exacerbate the growing divide between the entertainment industry and the education community, where more schools are beginning to protect their students from the legal pursuits of the recording industry.
Backed by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and powerful recording and movie industry constituents, the provision also urges schools to consider deterrents such as legal file-sharing programs such as Ruckus and Napster. Music piracy alone costs the recording industry up to $12.5 billion annually, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
The recording industry and the Motion Picture Association of America have tried unsuccessfully for years to tackle illegal activities of college students, who use powerful campus networks to download and distribute entire movies within minutes.
“We don’t want people in college to go to higher education institutions where they’re receiving an education that it’s OK to perform illegal activities online,” said Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross.
As chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Berman has pushed the piracy issue in hearings and elsewhere. And his provision was barely disputed in either the House or the Senate, perhaps in part because it was buried in the 1,158-page higher education bill that was seven years in the making.
By clarifying the student loan process and expanding the Pell Grant financial aid program, the new law would help cut students’ college costs. But it has been widely criticized by education experts for doing just the opposite. Dozens of other provisions require schools to collect data about alumni success rates, fire safety and textbook prices, many of which the education groups fought vehemently because of the new costs involved.
But only Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former U.S. education secretary, and a handful of Republicans opposed the bill because it contained too many regulations.
“This provision may lead to a Pandora’s box of impractical expectations. … Student privacy may be at great risk,” said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. He complained that the unfunded mandate would also “add significantly to colleges’ administrative costs, which is ironic given the pressure Congress is putting on colleges to control their expenses.”
The University of Maryland and Pennsylvania State University are among hundreds of schools that have already installed Napster, Ruckus and other legal file-sharing programs to curb Internet piracy. Most universities, too, fine repeat offenders or cut off their Internet access.
But the legal file-sharing programs are also experiencing backlash from students, who say a technological barrier is preventing them from transferring the legal music and movies onto Apple iPods, the world’s most popular portable music players.
“These programs don’t deliver the music format the students want,” said Terry Hartle, vice president of the American Council on Education. “Our belief is that if music can’t be downloaded properly, the students won’t use it.”
More compatible technology is on the horizon but will not be ready for campus use soon.
While many schools have partnered with the recording and motion picture industries to fight online piracy, many education groups view Congress’s recent legislation as a threat to student privacy.
Tufts University recently refused to identify students sought by the recording industry in a file-sharing case.
“This is heading more toward polarization than a working relationship between schools and the copyright industry,” said Marty Lafferty, chief executive officer of the Distributed Computing Industry Association. “It’s a concern. It’s like the recording industry wants to do everything but the obvious — work with people.”
Entertainment executives argue that the bill would provide relief for colleges, where networks can be clogged with illegal downloading traffic and students are even being sued by the industry.
“Congress has sent a clear message that illegal file-sharing and downloading on college networks is a real problem that must be addressed by universities,” said Dan Glickman, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association.
Under the copyright provision, schools won’t face penalties if they can’t stop illegal activity. But the rules for implementation of the new law would have to be drawn by U.S. Education Department, where education lobbyists hope to find a sympathetic ear.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has criticized the many regulatory measures in the higher education bill, and experts expect the data collection process will be a huge burden for the department.
“The 110th Congress left a huge present for the next secretary of education,” said Hartle of the American Council on Education. “These regulations will put a huge burden on a thinly staffed agency. They will certainly need to hire new staff.”
© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC
