US Lawmakers Demand That Colleges Crack Down on Illegal File Sharing

["H. Morrow Long" <morrow.long () YALE EDU>]

Thursday, February 27, 2003

http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022701t.htm


Lawmakers Demand That Colleges Crack Down on Illegal File Sharing
By ANDREA L. FOSTER

Washington

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives admonished university administrators on Wednesday to get tougher with 
students who swap music and video material online in violation of copyright law.

The representatives, members of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the Committee on 
the Judiciary, told administrators from Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina, and the 
University of Tulsa that the way to really convince students that illegal file sharing is wrong is to expel or 
prosecute them.

The college administrators questioned by the congressmen were Graham B. Spanier, president of Penn State at University 
Park; Robyn R. Render, chief information officer of the North Carolina system; and John Hale, director of the Center 
for Information Security at Tulsa.

Rep. William L. Jenkins, a Tennessee Republican, repeatedly asked the administrators whether they had tried to get 
government lawyers to prosecute recalcitrant students.

"We don't handle it that way," said Mr. Spanier. The university tries first to educate students about copyright 
infringement and then, failing that, restricts or ends their ability to gain access to the network, he said.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, pressed the administrators about whether they had ever expelled a student 
for illegal file sharing, and was told no.

"Until this committee and the universities are willing to do something about this, we're just wasting everyone's time," 
she said.

Ms. Waters speculated that college officials are too afraid to go after their largely "middle class" student population 
but probably would not hesitate to prosecute poor students from the inner city.

Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, a New York Democrat, told the university administrators that their students would probably stop 
illegal file sharing if the computers they used for the activity suddenly ignited in flames.

Hilary B. Rosen, chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America, told the committee that the 
association would consider prosecuting individual students who illegally swapped music online. "Nothing is off the 
table," she said. The association sends out about 2,500 notices a month to universities warning them of illegal file sharing 
on their networks, she added.

Mr. Spanier and Ms. Render said they were hopeful that a committee made up of university administrators and 
representatives from the entertainment industry could come up with a solution to the problem of illegal file sharing by 
college students. Mr. Spanier is a co-chairman of the committee, which is considering technological and other methods 
to reduce peer-to-peer file sharing.

But the lawmakers said legislation might be needed to deal with the problem. "What's been done in education and enforcement 
hasn't worked that well," said Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who is chairman of the House subcommittee.

And Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, noted that Congress had considered legislation that would require 
people convicted of sharing copyrighted material online to serve at least five years in prison.

"We have to see from the education community a ratcheting up of concern about this," said Mr. Conyers.



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