Universities may lose federal funding due to piracy

Universities slow to crack down on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing could lose federal funding, as university administrators are pressured by copyright groups to launch anti-piracy campaigns.

As part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the controversial provision calls for universities to create methods to fight against the "unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials by users of the institution's network."

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If a school wants to keep federal funding, a "technology-based deterrent" must be used to reduce piracy. Fortunately, administrations will not have to monitor student Internet use.

Most universities have complied only when legally asked to do so; for example, schools were hesitant to turn over information until the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) started filing John Doe lawsuits.  To stifle piracy, universities have looked to implement legal downloads and content sharing on their networks, but this has been met with rather inconsistent results.

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Even so, RIAA President Cary Sherman said he's unsure if the campus influence programs are reducing piracy, but it could be a good step in the right direction.

During its anti-P2P campaign lasting several years, the RIAA sent out as many as 1.8 million letters to ISPs informing them of copyright infringement.  About 270,000 letters were sent to universities and college campuses in the U.S.  One student had to pay more than $27K in fines for sharing 37 copyrighted songs using a P2P program, but very few others had to pay such high amounts.

I think universities should try to limit P2P piracy on their own networks, but it's obvious students will continue to find new ways to share copyrighted material.  As long as Internet usage isn't monitored, I think it's okay if copyright infringement is enforced. I'm discouraged that federal funding could be withheld from Universities that don't comply with the Feds. That sounds like extortion.

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