Should colleges more aggressively fight illegal file sharing?

NO
Helen H. Spalding:
We need to educate and advocate a balance of interests

Campuses have limited resources and must focus on their primary missions of learning, teaching and research. Irresponsible downloading and illegal peer-to-peer file sharing should not be condoned, and certainly not encouraged. In meeting the needs among competing interests in peer-to-peer file sharing, academia can provide education and counsel balance.

Academic librarians are deeply committed to support intellectual freedom, equity of access to recorded knowledge and information, privacy and democracy--which depends upon informed citizens who have free and open access to the information they need, and to which they are entitled. Guided by fundamental constitutional principles, librarians have been leaders in trying to maintain a balance between serving the interests of copyright holders and the interests of those using copyrighted material.

Although copyright law in the United States recognized appropriate protection for copyright holders, the law originally was intended to encourage innovation and intellectual activity. Higher education fosters the creation of new knowledge, of works of literature and the performing arts, and of new products that stimulate economic development. Often this creativity consists of sharing research in progress and of combining existing ideas in new and innovative ways. Unreasonable restriction of peer-to-peer file sharing prevents scholars from access to and use of material necessary in their work.

There is a clear need to modify some current behaviors to curtail piracy of digital works. Academic institutions should be full participants in the quest for a solution, but should not overcompensate and become police. Technological controls applied with adequate human judgment are beyond the resources of most academic institutions. A better response would be for the private sector to put into place new business models with new mechanisms for downloading and paying for music at a cost that is affordable to the consumer.

Rather than asking campus computing centers to place technological controls on downloading and peer-to-peer file sharing, academia needs to focus on education. All within the campus community need to be educated and reminded of their ethical and legal obligations to use copyrighted works responsibly. Campus policies concerning copyright and responsible use of computing equipment must be stated clearly and posted prominently. Policies and procedures for addressing and penalizing illegal uses of copyrighted material should be well-known and applied seriously.

Private interests, higher education and public policy must combine to balance the interests of intellectual property owners with those of students, educators, artists and inventors. Future scholarship, culture, economic development and democracy depend on our defending intellectual freedom and equity of access to information, as well as the rights of copyright holders. 

YES
Sheldon Elliot Steinbach:
P2P practices rob institutions and artists

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are becoming increasingly popular on college campuses. KaZaA, the most popular, boasts that 206 million copies of its program have been downloaded. Millions of university students, following a habit they acquired during high school, are downloading and uploading songs, movies and other works without the copyright owner's consent. These students are guilty of copyright infringement, and they are using university networks to engage in this illegal behavior. It's appropriate, reasonable and in the best interests of higher education institutions to actively help copyright holders address this issue.

Many colleges and universities across the country are coping with the growing problem that their academic networks are being diverted for illegal copyright infringements. Even individuals outside the academic community are using college network servers for this activity. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that one university discovered P2P uploading and downloading--primarily by individuals outside the university--accounted for 75 percent of its entire bandwidth. These nonuniversity users are bandwidth-hogs who deprive members of the university community of legitimate, educational use of the network.

Misuse of P2P networks also poses severe security risks. Often, students unknowingly make their hard drives (and the personal data on them) available to millions of strangers around the world, thereby opening campus networks to computer viruses.

College and university faculty and administrators play a fundamental role in students' lives and should not be in the business of condoning unlawful activities. We have a responsibility as educators to teach tomorrow's leaders about making lawful and ethical choices in their lives.

Many institutions already are addressing this problem by devising and implementing policies like bandwidth management tools or codes of online conduct. At Pennsylvania State University, for example, students and employees must participate in a vigorous copyright education program before receiving a university computer account.

The University of North Carolina also recently adopted an acceptable-use policy manual for its campuses, while blocking traffic to unauthorized P2P sites when necessary to protect against unacceptable uses of its campuses' networks.

Our obligation lies in making every effort to inform students, faculty and staff about the consequences that exist when they decide to engage in illegal behavior. We can do that in a manner consistent with institutional needs, the traditions of academic freedom, and respect for student's privacy and First Amendment rights. These collective principles go hand in hand.

A challenging road lies ahead. Colleges have a responsibility to encourage creativity, discovery and innovation in their academic communities along with an understanding of and respect for intellectual property.