Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE, Campus or Subscription Music Services, and Presentations/Speeches

A steady stream of press releases from the MPAA and the RIAA about unauthorized peer-to-peer downloading suggests that college students are digital pirates and campus network officials are engaged in benign neglect. Yet ample evidence confirms that unauthorized P2P downloading is primarily a consumer market problem, not especially tied to college students on campus networks. Moreover, the media companies with strong ties to consumer broadband providers are themselves at least indirectly promoting unauthorized P2P activity. This is not new: Media companies have a long history of seeking remedy (and revenue) from Congressional action, rather than pursuing marketplace solutions.

This presentation will focus on how Big Music and Big Hollywood have targeted colleges and universities via press releases and Congressional lobbying initiatives while largely ignoring the much larger amount of unauthorized P2P file sharing taking place on commercial networks.

With P2P use continuing to grow even in the face of more than 11,000 RIAA and MPAA lawsuits—so far!—and with Internet2 making it even more tempting, the issue of music file sharing remains at the top of the IT policy charts. What does the Supreme Court's recent decision in the Grokster case mean for your campus? Who is Cecilia Gonzalez, and why should your students care? And what can you do to reduce the burdens file sharing imposes on your system and your time? This EDUCAUSE Live! session will give you the answers to these and other related questions.

In August 2004, Duke distributed 20GB Apple iPod devices to each first-year student. Titled the Duke First-Year Experience, the iPod initiative was intended to stimulate creative uses of digital technology in academic and campus life. Duke's Office of Information Technology, Center for Instructional Technology, Division of Student Affairs, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Executive Vice President, along with Apple Computer, Inc., all collaborated on this project. They now have two semesters of experience using iPods in the classroom and in student life. In this session, Tracy Futhey and Lynne O'Brien will discuss how iPods were used at Duke this past year, what they've learned so far, and how the project will be extended in the next academic year through the newly announced Duke Digital Initiative.

Yale and Penn State have both pioneered the use of legal services for distributing copyrighted media. In January 2004, both initiated commercial services that differ in many ways. This presentation will compare the services and experiences of these two institutions.