P2P File Sharing, Presentations/Speeches, and Campus or Subscription Music Services

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.

Earlier this year, in what Casey Green called its "spring offensive," the Recording Industry Association of America stepped up its program of bringing infringement claims against thousands of on- and off-campus users of peer-to-peer file-sharing systems. At the same time, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held a "Piracy on University Networks" hearing, where one representative warned "the hammer is coming." Meanwhile, forward-looking companies were quietly exploring new business models for distributing entertainment in digital form. Whether based on advertising and ISP licenses, these models take as a given the ubiquity of easy transmission and storage of digital entertainment, both to and among consumers. In this session, we'll explore how the old models are grudgingly giving way to the new, and the implications of this transition for colleges and universities.

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.

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.