P2P File Sharing and Presented at Western Regional conferences

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 will discuss these and other topics.

The attention of—and on—higher education has been focused on defensive measures to curb illegal file sharing. But this is occurring in the context of a much larger national debate about the appropriate role of copyright and intellectual property in cyberspace. Simultaneously, myriad new business models and delivery options for online digital entertainment are being tested. Ê What are institutions of higher education doing to curb illegal file sharing? What are the issues in the larger copyright debate? And what is the vision of the entertainment industry for offering digital entertainment online? A panel of distinguished experts in the field will discuss these and other pertinent issues in the peer-to-peer file sharing debate.