EDUCAUSE | RIAA

EDUCAUSE, the RIAA, and a Lot of Other People: What I Heard at the Department of Education Hearing in Washington, DC

agould — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:58:30 -0500

Yesterday, the Department of Education hosted the fifth of its six regional hearings on the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). Held in the Department's Washington, DC K street offices, the meeting allowed panelists from the Department to hear feedback and collect testimony from the public regarding how the HEOA's rules should be drafted. People were also invited to submit correspondence electronically if they could not attend.

On Wednesday, the room was packed with more than 70 people representing various organizations. People spoke about an array of issues, including peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), student aid, campus security, learning disabled programs, and accreditation rules. Because EDUCAUSE is taking the lead on the P2P issue, I'll confine my observations to that subject here.

EDUCAUSE Vice President Mark Luker asked that the Department "direct special care to the rules" pertaining to the P2P provisions. He asked that the panel pay attention to the conference report that accompanied the law, since it offers the universities great flexibility. Finally, Luker mentioned that EDUCAUSE has been "directly and intensely engaged" with the entertainment industry, technology vendors, and experts for years in an effort to come up with "mutually acceptable approaches" to copyright infringement issues. Because of this engagement, he asked that EDUCAUSE play a role in the negotiated rulemaking process. (EDUCAUSE President Diana Oblinger submitted a letter on the P2P issue for the record yesterday. This letter, which was sent on behalf of all EDUCAUSE member institutions, stresses the importance of the rule making process and asks that EDUCAUSE play a part in the process.)

It should also be noted that Don Spicer of the University of Maryland System, as well as representatives from the American Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) and the Association of American Universities (AAU) voiced concerns about onerous regulations related to unauthorized copyright infringement. Spicer in particular emphasized that "flexible rather than prescriptive rules" would be necessary for applying the law.

"The conferees clearly understood the diversity of American higher education and the need to develop rules that are flexible enough to allow varied institutions to deal with the problem and to meet the expectations of the law as appropriate to their local needs," Spicer said in his testimony.

But the education community was not alone in speaking about P2P. Representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and Universal Music Group attended the hearing as well. They concentrated on four main points: 1) Strong acceptable use policies are needed, 2) Universities need to enforce those policies, 3) Technology is needed for blocking unauthorized content, and 4) Universities need to offer legal alternatives. They argued that technology solutions will ultimately save money for institutions. As evidence, they said the Universities of Utah and Florida each saved over $1 million when they installed Audible Magic and Red Lambda, respectively.

Universal Music Group Executive Vice President Matt Gerson told the panel that the vast majority of schools have not implemented technology for curbing copyright infringement. He dismissed bandwidth shaping, saying that the technology is oftentimes turned off at night, allowing students to download unauthorized content during the early morning hours. Gerson said copyright infringement has "taken its toll on the economy," and he questioned how serious universities were about actively enforcing their acceptable use policies.

Stuart McLaurin, the MPAA representative, asked that his organization and "others interested in protecting intellectual property" have a place in the negotiated rulemaking process. He also said using technology would send a clear message to students, a sentiment echoed by Gerson. Gerson said young adults need to realize that "stealing is stealing."

RIAA, MPAA resume lobbying push to expand copyright law

ckeller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:51:57 -0500

The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are lobbying for a pair of bills that enjoy bipartisan support. Both are designed to give the federal government more power to police copyright violations, and both are likely to run into opposition from political foes of the RIAA and MPAA.

EDUCAUSE Takes Action on Higher Education Act

cluckett — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:29:42 -0500

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.

The EDUCAUSE analysis focuses on two principal requirements that will be challenging for higher education institutions: (1) that every college and university will develop “plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including…the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents”; and (2) that institutions “will, to the extent practicable, offer alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property, as determined by the institution in consultation with the chief technology officer or other designated officer of the institution.”

The analysis finds that these provisions are, respectively, weaker and stronger than what the higher education community was seeking in earlier drafts of the legislation, requiring each institution to carefully interpret the legislation’s language in deciding how to comply, assuming the legislation is enacted.

Browse related EDUCAUSE resources on P2P File Sharing.

Competing with free. And that's an order!

sworona — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:50:39 -0500

M*A*S*H fans may remember the episode where Major Burns, frustrated at the low turnout for his morning calisthenics, whines, "But Colonel Potter, we'd get so many more if you'd just order them to volunteer."

For years, the entertainment industry has been promoting its own version of morning calisthenics to our college and university campuses, so-called commercial music services such as CDigix, Ruckus, and Napster. And the results have been similar: Even when offered for free, students stayed away in droves. The selection of songs was too small or the music couldn't be downloaded to iPods or the content couldn't be moved from device to device.

And so, following Major Burns' lead, Big Music and Big Hollywood have gone to Colonel Congress, and the Capitol Hill brass have delivered. Buried in the just-released Higher Education Act is a provision ordering every college and university in the country to "offer alternatives to illegal downloading". The inevitable result? Precious tuition and tax dollars diverted from academic needs to corporate vendors for the purchase of services that no one will use.

When pressed, the entertainment industry explains the failure of campus-based commercial music services with the complaint, "You can't compete with free!" But the $16 billion spent by Americans last year on bottled water and the 5 billion iTunes tracks sold to date by Apple put the lie to that explanation.

Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, has a much better explanation: "The best way to combat piracy is to bring content to market on a well-timed, well-priced basis." But Congress is telling the entertainment industry not to bother following Iger's advice; campuses are now required to buy whatever the market offers.

Steve

This message reflects the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of EDUCAUSE or its members.

EDUCAUSE Now - Show #5 - P2P Update & Data-Rich Blogging

gbayne — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:13:19 -0500

EDUCAUSE Now is a monthly podcast, focusing on the intelligent use of information technology in higher education. Each episode features a variety of stories, interviews, and views that relate to IT in higher education. Let us know what you would like to hear at podcast@educause.edu.

Subscribe to EDUCAUSE NOW RSS feed

This episode of EDUCAUSE Now features:

P2P Update: New Business Models, Old Ways of Thinking
(01:22–10:52)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit organization that fights for your rights in the digital realm. We interview EFF's staff attorney, Corynne McSherry, to hear the latest updates in the file-sharing debate and learn some new ways of thinking about the issue.
A Commentary from EDUCAUSE President Diana Oblinger
(10:52–14:16)
Diana contemplates what we mean by “communication” in a tech-savvy world.
Data-Rich Student Blogging: Reflection and Ownership in Learning
(14:53–21:43)
Biology professor Stephen Gallik noticed that more of his students’ time in the lab was spent on clerical tasks and record keeping than on reflection and learning. He collaborated with instructional technologists Jim Groom and Andrew Rush to design a flash application that saves time and publishes full lab results to a student’s own blog. A screencast demonstration of this application is also available.

Music for EDUCAUSE Now:

"Groove IT" by Denis Kitchen
“Electric Guitar 005” by Plastic Soul Band
“Rebirth” by Steven Host
"Butterfly Disease" by Undadogg
"Sunsand" by Sebastian6

Podcast: Up Against the Firewall

gbayne — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:05:28 -0500

This podcast features a keynote session entitled, "Up Against the Firewall", presented by Brenda Laurel, Chair and Professor of the Graduate Program in Design at the California College of the Arts, and Rob Tow, Science and Technology Consultant at the California College of the Arts. The session was recorded at the EDUCAUSE 2008 Western Regional Conference.

While students and educators clamor for unfettered access to the Internet, IT professionals are shoved against the firewall by the likes of the RIAA and the Union of Concerned Parents for a Safe College Experience. What are the educational arguments for open networks in higher education? Can’t the kids just look at YouTube and Facebook at Starbuck’s? What’s the use of an open-laptop, Internet-enabled classroom? What’s the duty of an educational institution regarding digital rights management? Is censorship of particular sites or content the proper role of higher education? This lively session features these and other topics.

EDUCAUSE Now - Show #1 - Premiere Episode

gbayne — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:46:49 -0500

Welcome to the premiere episode of EDUCAUSE Now!

EDUCAUSE Now is a monthly podcast, focusing on the intelligent use of information technology in higher education. Each episode features a variety of stories, interviews, and views that relate to IT in higher education. EDUCAUSE Now will also inform you about upcoming events, report on past events, and feature the movers and shakers in policy, teaching and learning, security, and a whole host of other important topics for our members. Let us know what you would like to hear at podcast@educause.edu.

This episode of EDUCAUSE Now features:

The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Study entitled, "Service on the Front Line: The IT Help Desk in Higher Education"
We talk about some of the surprising findings with ECAR Fellow and author of the study, Mark Sheehan.
ELI in Conversation: Future Learning
A conversation between George Siemens, director of the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba, and Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. This conversation was recorded at the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative 2008 Annual Meeting. George Siemens is the author of "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age", and - Michael Wesch has produced two important videos on Web 2.0, "Information R/evolution" and "The Machine is Us/ing Us." You can listen to the full length podcast of this conversation.
A Commentary from EDUCAUSE President Diana Oblinger.
Diana introduces herself as the new president of EDUCAUSE and provides some background information on her career path. She also speaks about her vision for the future of EDUCAUSE.
The EDUCAUSE Policy Office: Update
We check in with EDUCAUSE Vice President Mark Luker regarding current hot topics -- federal broadband policy, net neutrality, and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. You can read the EDUCAUSE report, "A Blueprint for Big Broadband", and visit the talking points for P2P filesharing issues.
Music for EDUCAUSE Now:
- "Groove IT" by Denis Kitchen
- "Lorge" by El Ten Eleven
- "Guitar Suite I, Movement I" by Dan Tharp

EDUCAUSE Podcast: Washington Update with EDUCAUSE Vice President Mark Luker

gbayne — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:39:31 -0600

In this 50 minute podcast we feature a keynote speech by Mark Luker, Vice President of EDUCAUSE. The speech was delivered at the EDUCAUSE 2008 Southwest Regional Conference in Houston, Texas, and is entitled, "Washington Update: We're from the Government, and We're Here to Help You!"

Mark A. Luker is vice president of EDUCAUSE, where he heads Net@EDU, a 'thought-leadership' coalition of university CIOs and state network directors who work to advance national networking for both research and education through joint projects and federal policy. Net@EDU was the spawning ground of Internet2, and is now expanding its focus to include advanced connections between campuses and their customers in surrounding communities and regions. He also leads the EDUCAUSE office of government relations and policy analysis in Washington, D.C., which works with partner associations to help shape the emerging policy and legal framework of the Internet, intellectual property, and other issues of importance to higher education.

Luker served two years as program director for advanced networking at the National Science Foundation and the federal Next Generation Internet project. Prior to that he was CIO at the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, where he was active in national projects including the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative and the Coalition for Networked Information.

Luker received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and served as a faculty member and then a dean at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, before moving into information technology management.

Tune In Jan. 23 for a Free Web Seminar on Evaluating the RIAA’s Legal Threats to Online Activity

pkurkowski — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:11:33 -0600

The recording industry’s complaints against alleged music downloaders are just the tip of the iceberg in legal threats against online activity. In the five years of the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, we have seen thousands of legal threats, with claims including trademark infringement, defamation, and copyright infringement. This seminar will discuss some of the range of complaints, both unwarranted and justified, and describe ChillingEffects.org’s resources for those trying to evaluate legal threats. In some cases, the web’s sunlight can help to melt meritless threats.

In this free January 23 EDUCAUSE LIVE! seminar, Legal Threats, Chilling Effects, and Warming the Air, presenter Wendy Seltzer, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Visiting Professor, Northeastern University School of Law, will discuss these threats and how to evaluate them.

Those unable to attend may wish to visit the archives after the event or browse related EDUCAUSE resources on Copyright Infringement, P2P or File Sharing, Piracy, and Patents.

An interview with the misguided RIAA

ckeller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:49:20 -0600

This is an unabridged transcript of Don Reisingers interview with the RIAA.