Re: MPAA Explains Why It's Okay To Tie Federal Funds To Blocking File Sharing

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: bobr () bobrosenberg phoenix az us
Date: November 21, 2007 2:32:36 AM EST
To: "David Farber" <dfarber () cs cmu edu>
Subject: Re: MPAA Explains Why It's Okay To Tie Federal Funds To  
Blocking  File Sharing

Dave

Perhaps for IP.

"After all, many kids on college campuses own cars -- and I'd imagine  
that most of
those students break the speed limit frequently enough. Yet, we don't  
see any bills
being proposed in Congress that would prevent financial aid funding  
unless
universities start handing out more speeding tickets and put in place  
plans to offer
public transportation. So why should they do that for copyright  
infringement?"

I disagree.  It seems to me that the Big Gummint should withhold all  
funds from
colleges & universities that do not forbid students from having  
driver's licenses,
owning cars, or driving any vehicles.

Fortunately for me, I got my hands on a degree and got out of  
university long before
the internet (and this controversy) arose.  So, I did get to drive  
while I
simultaneously matriculated.  As I recall, you were then busy with  
Arpanet.

Cheers,
Bob

P.S  Then the Big Gummint should outlaw the MPAA.

--
Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ  85067-3023
Mobile:  602-206-2856
LandLine:  602-274-3012
bob () bobrosenberg phoenix az us

**************

"Civil government cannot let any group ride roughshod over others  
simply because
their consciences tell them to do so."
-- Robert H. Jackson
While an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Jackson  
was appointed
Chief United States Prosecutor at the International War Crimes  
Tribunal in
Nuremberg, Germany.

"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the  
voice of
opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of  
increasingly
repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its  
citizens and
creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
-- Harry S. Truman, message to Congress, August 8, 1950

> MPAA Explains Why It's Okay To Tie Federal Funds To Blocking File
> Sharing
> from the because-we-say-so,-dammit dept
> While Congress' new bill on education funding may not be as bad as
> some are making it out to be, it still seems quite questionable that
> Congress appears to be regulating the idea that universities need to
> do the kind of marketing and educational campaigns that the recording
> industry cannot. We've asked supporters of the bill to explain how it
> could possibly make sense to mandate such things, and the MPAA's top
> lawyer, Fritz Attaway, has given his answer, claiming that it's
> because the internet is "used primarily to allow college students to
> traffic in infringing content," while being subsidized by gov't funds.
> It would be nice if Attaway or someone else at the MPAA could actually
> back up the claim that the primary use of the internet by students is
> infringement. While I wouldn't doubt that it's a popular use, to say
> that it's the primary use is hard to believe -- unless you count
> things like visiting Facebook pages, using Google and sending emails
> as "infringement." At the same time, this doesn't seem to support the
> reasons for this bill. After all, many kids on college campuses own
> cars -- and I'd imagine that most of those students break the speed
> limit frequently enough. Yet, we don't see any bills being proposed in
> Congress that would prevent financial aid funding unless universities
> start handing out more speeding tickets and put in place plans to
> offer public transportation. So why should they do that for copyright
> infringement?



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