Policy and Law: Federal and P2P File Sharing

On August 21, at 1:00 p.m. U.S. eastern time, EDUCAUSE will host an hour-long webcast featuring Terry Hartle from ACE discussing the P2P provisions in the recently passed Higher Education Reauthorization Act. For details and connection instructions, visit the EDUCAUSE Connect P2P File Sharing resource page—select the "HEA Webcast" tab under Featured Content.

This webcast is open to the public at no charge, and no registration is required. Afterward, it will be archived and freely accessible.

Leaders of the House Committee on Education and Labor have just introduced legislation to control illegal file sharing in higher education as part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007. The higher education community opposes a provision that requires campuses to develop new institutional plans for addressing infringement activities on their networks.

Please call (do not write or email) the offices of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Time is short. Markup is this coming Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 9:00 AM.

For specific details please see our talking points.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Coordinate your response to this challenge with your institutional executives and federal relations officers.

2. Call, do not write or email, as many of the Committee Members as possible, and express your strong opposition to this proposal. You can find a list of all the Committee members and their phone numbers.

Republican members of the House Committee on Education and Labor have just introduced legislation to control illegal file sharing in higher education that uses essentially the same language as the recent Reid amendment in the Senate. This bill, called the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2007, includes language that:

• Makes the Secretary of Education an agent of the entertainment industry.
• Gives schools no right to contest or appeal industry provided-statistics on copyright violations that can result in severe penalties.
• Requires use of unproven and very expensive technological controls.
• Could result in the loss of financial aid to all students of schools that do not comply.
• Singles out institutions of higher education and ignores commercial ISPs.

EDUCAUSE members are encouraged to contact their representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives immediately to oppose these measures. Access information on the relevant legislative language, talking points, and a template response to use.