Internet Filtering Mandates on Campus
From Berkman alumnus Bill McGeveran...
Earlier this summer I spoke at the Institute for Computer Policy and Law, a workshop for professionals responsible for IT infrastructure in higher education. They were all abuzz about a campaign this spring and summer by the RIAA to target colleges and universities and demand that they take more actions to curb illegal downloading by their students. In particular, a just-defeated Senate amendment to the Higher Education Reauthorization Act would have required that colleges and universities install certain forms of DRM and filtering technology on their networks to catch students infringing copyright law through illegal downloading. The amendment also envisioned federal government publication of a list of the 25 colleges and universities that received the most infringement notices from the content industries — not exactly an unbiased metric! (Technically, these were framed as conditions for federal funds, but effectively they’re mandates given the importance of federal money in higher ed, as we know from other contexts.) The amendment’s author, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, withdrew it in the face of sharp criticism. But the base bill will be considered in the House this fall (where there have already been hearings on the issue) and everyone expects the same amendment to be back.
I recognize that illegal downloading is illegal and I think schools absolutely should take steps to stop their students from doing it. But there’s two problems with the Reid approach.
First, DRM and filtering technology has the double-whammy of being really expensive and burdensome to install properly on one hand and frequently ineffective on the other. The problems can include interfering with P2P technology that has legitimate and innovative educational purposes. And of course Congress is not offering any extra money to help with meeting this new requirement.
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Earlier this summer I spoke at the Institute for Computer Policy and Law, a workshop for professionals responsible for IT infrastructure in higher education. They were all abuzz about a campaign this spring and summer by the RIAA to target colleges and universities and demand that they take more actions to curb illegal downloading by their students. In particular, a just-defeated Senate amendment to the Higher Education Reauthorization Act would have required that colleges and universities install certain forms of DRM and filtering technology on their networks to catch students infringing copyright law through illegal downloading. The amendment also envisioned federal government publication of a list of the 25 colleges and universities that received the most infringement notices from the content industries — not exactly an unbiased metric! (Technically, these were framed as conditions for federal funds, but effectively they’re mandates given the importance of federal money in higher ed, as we know from other contexts.) The amendment’s author, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, withdrew it in the face of sharp criticism. But the base bill will be considered in the House this fall (where there have already been hearings on the issue) and everyone expects the same amendment to be back.
I recognize that illegal downloading is illegal and I think schools absolutely should take steps to stop their students from doing it. But there’s two problems with the Reid approach.
First, DRM and filtering technology has the double-whammy of being really expensive and burdensome to install properly on one hand and frequently ineffective on the other. The problems can include interfering with P2P technology that has legitimate and innovative educational purposes. And of course Congress is not offering any extra money to help with meeting this new requirement.
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