House Committee Holds Hearing on Filesharing on Campus
The House Science and Technology Committee held a full committee hearing on June 5 to discuss “The Role of Technology in Reducing Illegal Filesharing: A University Perspective.” The witnesses represented four campuses and one technology vendor including (click on each name for witness testimony):
- Dr. Charles Wight, University of Utah
- Dr. Adrian Sannier, Arizona State University
- Dean Cheryl Asper Elzy, Illinois State University
- Dr. Greg Jackson, University of Chicago
- Vance Ikezoye, Audible Magic.
Committee Chairman Gordon began the hearing by giving an overview of the current state of filesharing on campuses and remarking that he didn’t “want to be holding this same hearing in the 111th Congress.” Ranking Member Hall then summarized that there is a general consensus that technology can’t completely solve the problem, but it can be a part of the solution. All of the witnesses reinforced this and testified that no single technology would bring an end to peer-to-peer filesharing on college and university campuses, but rather that a combined approach of technology and education is required. Dean Elzy pointed out that “you can’t stop what you can’t find” when she explained to Ranking Member Hall that only half of all unauthorized copyrighted music files can be detected by current technology, and the percentage is drastically less for movie files. In response to questioning by Committee Member McNerney on the interoperability capabilities of available legal music options, such as Ruckus, Dr. Sannier explained that all of the technologies currently at market have their liabilities.
More information on the hearing is available at http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=1846.
