Copyright Talk

American Universities are starting to get their legs under them in the student file sharing battle. In one corner we have big media groups - the MPAA, RIAA, and Hollywood in general. In another corner we have vast numbers of students who allegedly rob the American economy of millions of dollars each year by illegally downloading copyrighted music and movies - while they are in school and supposed to be studying, no less!

And right smack in the middle of the ring, being tossed about and spun this way and that, are the Universities.

But two recent developments indicate the Universities may be finally forming a coherent opinion on their role in the fight. First, we begin hearing that Universities - including U of Wisconsin, U of Washington, U of Kansas, and U of Nebraska, among others - will not assist the RIAA in legal action against their students by voluntarily passing on letters to users of their computer network - users the Universities themselves would have to identify. By getting the Universities to do the research and pass on letters voluntarily, the RIAA has saved legal fees for themselves by bypassing the usual subpoena process.

Then this week we heard about the withdrawal of a section of a proposed bill that would have required certain Universities to install software and actively seek out and stop illegal file downloading or lose federal funding. The story revealed that the sponsor of the measure substituted a much milder section that merely requires universities to provide material explaining the pitfall of illegal downloading and is not tied to federal funding at all. Although there were numerous problems with the original proposal (including the fact that the software the schools would have been required to use is not exactly ready for such a use), but a clear voice of objection from the Universities themselves was definitely instrumental in bringing about the change.

Universities should not be placed in a parental role over their adult students, any more than American workplaces should not be put in such a role over their employees. I’m glad Universities are finally objecting.