Higher Education Act 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.

Congress recently passed H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, a massive piece of legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act that the President will soon sign into law.

This legislation imposes an array of new federal regulatory and reporting requirements for colleges and universities. Two of these provisions are designed to reduce illegal uploading and downloading ofcopyrighted works through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing on campus networks. These and many other provisions of the Act go into effect when the President signs the bill. Institutions must take their bligations under the Act seriously and make a good faith effort to comply--as they would with any new federal law. But the law is unclear in certain respects, and ambiguities will need to be clarified through the regulatory process.

EDUCAUSE, along with ACE, AAU, and NASULGC, has prepared a memo summarizing what the law will require, what happens next, and what institutions can do now. The memo also includes the relevant portions of the act, as well as the report language that accompanies and clarifies the law.

EDUCAUSE has joined other organizations in signing a letter from the American Council on Education to U.S. congressional leaders about requirements in the House and Senate joint committee report of the final version of the Higher Education Act (HEA) Reauthorization. The letter applauds certain provisions of the HEA but cites the drawback of “an extraordinary number of new reporting and regulatory federal requirements,” including those addressing peer-to-peer file sharing.

EDUCAUSE just learned that the House of Representatives approved the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization this afternoon. Passing overwhelmingly by a vote of 380-49, the legislation is expected to receive Senate consideration later today.

For EDUCAUSE analysis on the peer-to-peer file sharing component of the bill, please click here.

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.

Colleagues,

The following call to action has been sent to all EDUCAUSE Primary Reps on behalf of ACE, AAU, NASULGC, and EDUCAUSE. Please help us with IMMEDIATE CALLS or EMAILS, there is no time to waste!

Best regards,

Mark Luker

Vice President

EDUCAUSE

____________________________________________

TO: Institutional Primary Reps

RE: EDUCAUSE Urgent Request

URGENT, ACT TODAY: AMENDMENT HARMFUL TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to ask your help in a matter of urgency to higher education in general and the IT community in particular: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) intends to offer a very harmful amendment, involving illegal file sharing, to the Higher Education Reauthorization Act when the Senate turns to this issue on July 22-23. The amendment can be found at <http://tinyurl.com/2x45d2>. The amendment:

*  Makes the Secretary of Education an agent of the entertainment industry;

*  Requires the Secretary to take action using data given to her by the entertainment industry that is terribly inaccurate;