New File-Sharing Bill Enters Congress

Months after a bill that could have required universities to police student downloaders was dropped on Capitol Hill, universities are already bracing for round two.

Last week, Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) and Rep. Howard P. McKeon (R-Calif.) proposed the College Access and Opportunity Act, a measure that would require universities to monitor students’ online activity for illegal file-sharing.

The bill echoes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) proposal, which was withdrawn in July after vocal opposition from universities and across the country.

Wendy Seltzer ’96, a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, wrote in an e-mail that such legislation could “limit academic freedom” because existing software cannot distinguish between legal and illegal downloading, and would place pressure on universities.

“It would require them to allocate resources at the bidding of the entertainment industry, to report on work done to enforce others’ copyrights, to implement impossible technologies, and to be named-and-shamed if they ended up on the ‘25 worst’ list,” Seltzer wrote in an e-mail.

The legislation calls for the U.S. Secretary of Education to identify the 25 colleges and universities with the highest number of copyright infringement cases each year. These institutions would be required to inform students of their illegal downloading policies and review and develop mechanisms to prevent such action, including anti-piracy software.

Currently, Harvard advises students about copyright law and responds to notices of claimed infringement on its networks. Since 2000, it has dealt internally with a handful of copyright infringement cases.

The University has not received any pre-litigation notices, Seltzer said.

The bill has been met with criticism from universities nationwide, public advocacy groups, and major corporations including Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.

Some in the entertainment industry see the legislation as a step forward in the fight against piracy on college campuses.

Angela B. Martinez, spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America, said 44 percent of digital piracy occurs on college campuses.

“Many universities are taxpayer-subsidized,” she said, “and therefore should be concerned if illegal content is being passed over networks.”

Steven L. Worona, director of policy and networking programs for a nonprofit called Educause, said universities should be able to craft their own anti-piracy policies, rather than using blanket legislation.

Tim R. Hwang ’08, member of Harvard Free Culture, said the bill compromised the role of educators.

“[W]hen universities violate the privacy of students...they’re complicit in a kind of legalized thuggery that poisons their role as educational institutions,” he wrote in an e-mail.