[Infowarrior] - Universities win Senate fight over anti-P2P amendment

[Richard Forno]

Universities win Senate fight over anti-P2P amendment
Posted by Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9749071-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-
1_3-0-5

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has withdrawn anti-file-sharing
legislation that drew yowls of protest from universities over the past few
days.

Reid, without explanation, on Monday nixed his own amendment that would have
required universities--in exchange for federal funds--to use technology to
"prevent the illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of
intellectual property." The proposal would have been tacked on to the Higher
Education Reauthorization Act of 2007.

That alarmed lobbyists for universities, which tend to be delighted to
accept federal largesse but rather dislike the government placing conditions
on the cash.

Even worse, in their opinion, must have been the requirement that the U.S.
Department of Education annually identify the 25 colleges and universities
receiving the "highest number of written" complaints from copyright owners.

Educause, a group that represents universities and related organizations,
sent out an "URGENT CALL TO ACTION" on Friday that called Reid's amendment
"yet another attempt by the federal government to dictate the day-to-day
operations of colleges and universities." It urged recipients to phone
Congress immediately "and tell them how much higher education opposes this
amendment."

It's unclear why the Democratic senator yanked the anti-P2P amendment on
Monday evening--saying only that "I ask that the Reid amendment be
withdrawn"--but perhaps the last-minute pressure worked. Reid's office did
not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

What's a little odd is that Reid actually offered a revised version of the
amendment earlier Monday that would have effectively gutted it. It said the
Department of Education "shall not find any of the 25 institutions of higher
education...to be ineligible for continued participation in a program
authorized under this subchapter because of failure to comply with this
section."

Translation: Universities could ignore the requirements of creating "a
technology-based deterrent to prevent the illegal downloading or
peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property" without suffering any
financial consequences. The only downside would be the potential for bad
publicity, but even that appeared to have been enough.