Posted on 11/10/2007 5:33:04 PM PST by mathprof
New federal legislation says universities must agree to provide not just deterrents but also "alternatives" to peer-to-peer piracy, such as paying monthly subscription fees to the music industry for their students, on penalty of losing all financial aid for their students.
The U.S. House of Representatives bill, which was introduced late Friday by top Democratic politicians, could give the movie and music industries a new revenue stream by pressuring schools into signing up for monthly subscription services such as Ruckus and Napster. Ruckus is advertising-supported, and Napster charges a monthly fee per student.
The Motion Picture Association of America applauded the proposal, which is embedded in a 747-page spending and financial aid bill. "We very much support the language in the bill, which requires universities to provide evidence that they have a plan for implementing a technology to address illegal file sharing," said Angela Martinez, a spokeswoman for the MPAA.
According to the bill, if universities did not agree to test "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity," all of their students--even ones who don't own a computer--would lose federal financial aid.
The prospect of losing a combined total of nearly $100 billion a year in federal financial aid, coupled with the possibility of overzealous copyright-bots limiting the sharing of legitimate content, has alarmed university officials.
"Such an extraordinarily inappropriate and punitive outcome would result in all students on that campus losing their federal financial aid--including Pell grants and student loans that are essential to their ability to attend college, advance their education, and acquire the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century economy," a letter from university officials to Congress written on Wednesday said. "Lower-income students, those most in need of federal financial aid, would be harmed most under the entertainment industry's proposal."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
In essence a new tax to pay the libs. Hardworking parents pay increased tuition for Jr. to go to college and have to also pay for Napster along with the room and board.
Attention any college or university upset by this possibility:
Repeat after me — Hillsdale College...Hillsdale College.
Hillsdale takes NO Federal funds AT ALL. They will not enroll student receiving Federal funds AT ALL. As a result the Feds have NO SAY about what they teach or how they run their university. They just run about the best university education you can get. Check ‘em out...SSZ
I thought this article was going to be about plagarism in papers. I guess music is the focus of college.
Democrats and shakedowns. Like apple pie and coffee.
So funny the MSM doesn’t take them out over it.
Where have things gone wrong?
Yes, but what is the price? Probably far more than any middle-class student can afford.
Why the sham? Why not just cut checks directly to the studios?
Hillsdale has plenty of private sources of funds. It’s a remarkable institution. Like I said, check ‘em out. Visit their site www.hillsdale.edu (sorry I forget the HTML for a link) and sign up for Imprimis, their FREE monthly newsletter. At the site they explain how the scholarships and other things work.
BTW, I am not an alum nor a paid shill for Hillsdale. Just trying to turn a few on to a good thing...SSZ
Meanwhile the entertainment industry is paying writers .4% royalties on video/DVD sales. It’s always interesting to see how the various Democrat constituent groups rate. Environmentalists trump blacks, Hollywood trumps unions, etc.
Why is it the priority of Congress to give the music industry thugs more ammo for coming after people?
One FReeper has this tagline:
What if illegal entry into the US were as serious an offense as downloading music files?
Seriously, we have our priorities waaayy outta whack
No surprise here.
Hillsdale is a good school and one of the most conservative in the nation.
I blame the room-temperature IQ politicians of both parties.
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