AfterDawn: News

COAA bill puts Universities in front line against piracy

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, which has been unanimously passed by the House Education and Labor Committee, includes provisions that plunge Universities into the front lines of the war on file sharing. The provisions force the educational facilities to adopt strict anti-piracy policies and even offer an alternative to illegal downloading, like a deal with Napster.

On Wednesday, the bill went through a mark-up sesison, but Section 494, which includes the copyright-related provisions, was not addressed despite pressure from higher education groups like the American Council on Education. As part of the financial aid process, the shcools would have to inform students about their official policies about copyright infringement and explain civil and crimional penalties.



They would also be required to, "develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." The press release about COAA issued by the House Education and Labor Committee interestingly completely leaves the copyright-related provisions out.

Source:
Ars Technica

Written by: James Delahunty @ 16 Nov 2007 16:29

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• 4 comments

• ZippyDSM

  mmm either the media mafia gives out free stuff or or at 96% discount or they will never make any money here.

  18.11.2007 00:48 #1

• borhan9

  In the long run this is not going to work. The mpaa and the riaa will still get the students some other way.

  11.12.2007 16:58 #2

• phobet

  It's interesting to note that nothing was said about where the funding will come from to support the enforcement of these anti-piracy policies. The recording industry must have learned how to do this from the credit card industry, where both the merchant and the credit card holder pay for the convenience of using credit cards. One can only assume that the cost of this initiative will be passed on to the students.

  3.5.2008 14:02 #3

• iluvendo

  Colleges are producing our future. Some of our brightest are there. You don'tsuppose someone at a college campus is not going to figure a way around this. All software can be hacked. Give our students credit. They are smart and they will find a work around any technology lawmakers can come up with.

  6.5.2008 02:51 #4