Committee Looks at Technology to Limit Illegal Filesharing
(Washington, DC) – Members of the House Science and Technology Committee today heard from university officials and a leading technology expert on different methods to reduce illegal filesharing on campus internet systems.
While most colleges and universities provide their students with internet access for educational and research purposes, a growing number of college students have instead come to use the system to illegally download and share copyrighted music and movies through free peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing programs, such as eMule and LimeWire. In 2006, some 1.3 billion tracks were downloaded illegally in the U.S. by college students, compared with approximately 500 million legal downloads.
“Illegal filesharing isn’t just about royalty fees. It clogs campus networks and interferes with the educational and research mission of universities,” said Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “It wastes resources that could have gone to laboratories, classrooms and equipment. And it is teaching a generation of college students that it’s alright to steal music.”
While other House Committees have examined the regulation of illegal filesharing, adequate technology will be the first line of defense in actually preventing it.
Witnesses at today’s hearing discussed their universities’ experiences with two different types of technological measures to prevent illegal filesharing on their networks: traffic-shaping systems and network-filtering systems.
Traffic-shaping systems control the speed of network transmissions based on where in the network they originate and what computer program sends them. This makes filesharing slower and more difficult by reducing the flow of data to and from computers that tend to transmit or receive copyright-infringing transmissions.
Network-filtering systems specifically identify and block transmissions that contain copyrighted material.
Witnesses testified on the extent to which these technologies reduced illegal filesharing, and also technological issues surrounding them–such as privacy and impacts on speed and reliability of campus networks.
“One of our nation’s greatest strengths is our educational system, and American universities are the envy of the world. Their mission is to educate students, and they should not condone or look the other way when their computer networks are used as clearinghouse for digital piracy and illegal filesharing,” said Gordon.
Today’s witnesses included Dr. Charles Wight, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Undergraduate Studies, University of Utah; Dr. Adrian Sannier, Vice President and University Technology Officer, Arizona State University, on leave from Iowa State University; Mr. Vance Ikezoye, President and CEO of Audible Magic Corporation; Ms. Cheryl Asper Elzy, Dean of University Libraries, Illinois State University; Management Team, ISU’s Digital Citizen Project; Dr. Greg Jackson, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, University of Chicago.
For more information on the hearing, follow this link»
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