Congress moves to stop illegal file-sharing on campuses
by Rob Tricchinelli | U-Wire DC Bureau
Issue date: 5/9/07 Section: News
(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress has joined the fray in combating illegal file-sharing on campus.
Members of the House last week sent a letter to various colleges and universities asking for cooperation in combating illegal file-sharing on campuses.
The letter, sent May 1 to 19 different institutes of higher learning, requested information about each college's acceptable use policy, anti-piracy policy, technical methodology for preventing illegal file-sharing and whether each college promotes legal alternatives to obtain copyrighted material.
The list of schools, which includes Duke University, Michigan State University, the University of California at Los Angeles and Columbia and Tennessee universities, was culled from a list of schools most frequently receiving copyright infringement notices in the recent past.
A school's inclusion on such a list, as written in one of the letters, is "a troubling indication that authorized users of your university computer networks routinely utilize your facilities to engage in the theft of copyrighted works."
The letter was authored and signed by Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, George Miller, D-Calif., Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C.
It requested a reply by May 31. "Your full and complete responses to the enclosed survey will assist us in determining what 'best practices' need to be instituted," the letter said.
"If we do not receive acceptable answers," Smith said in a statement, "Congress will be forced to act."
"Universities have a moral and legal obligation to ensure students do not use campus computers for illegal downloading," he added. "These schools do not give away their intellectual property for free, and they should not expect musicians to do so."
The Recording Industry Association of America praised the congressional efforts. In a May 2 statement, RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said "illegal file-trafficking is a shared problem for the entertainment industry and universities alike."
Members of the House last week sent a letter to various colleges and universities asking for cooperation in combating illegal file-sharing on campuses.
The letter, sent May 1 to 19 different institutes of higher learning, requested information about each college's acceptable use policy, anti-piracy policy, technical methodology for preventing illegal file-sharing and whether each college promotes legal alternatives to obtain copyrighted material.
The list of schools, which includes Duke University, Michigan State University, the University of California at Los Angeles and Columbia and Tennessee universities, was culled from a list of schools most frequently receiving copyright infringement notices in the recent past.
A school's inclusion on such a list, as written in one of the letters, is "a troubling indication that authorized users of your university computer networks routinely utilize your facilities to engage in the theft of copyrighted works."
The letter was authored and signed by Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, George Miller, D-Calif., Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C.
It requested a reply by May 31. "Your full and complete responses to the enclosed survey will assist us in determining what 'best practices' need to be instituted," the letter said.
"If we do not receive acceptable answers," Smith said in a statement, "Congress will be forced to act."
"Universities have a moral and legal obligation to ensure students do not use campus computers for illegal downloading," he added. "These schools do not give away their intellectual property for free, and they should not expect musicians to do so."
The Recording Industry Association of America praised the congressional efforts. In a May 2 statement, RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said "illegal file-trafficking is a shared problem for the entertainment industry and universities alike."
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