Protect the RIAA, or else!

E-mail I just sent to George Miller (sponsor of the bill), Nancy Pelosi & GW Bush.

________________________________________
From: Dean Caravelis [mailto:Dean.Caravelis@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 8:28 PM
To: 'George.Miller@mail.house.gov'
Cc: 'sf.nancy@mail.house.gov'; 'president@whitehouse.gov'
Subject: Higher Education Bill

Representative Miller,

I believe that the language contained in section 487 and 484 in this bill is a mistake. The private sector is fully capable of enforcing its own intellectual property. Our universities should concentrate on developing plans to further enhance our education process NOT be proxy police forces to maintain the cash-flow of the motion picture & recording industries.

What is your logic behind stuffing this into a Higher Education Bill? Does it make sense because colleges are concentrated areas where this kind of illegal file sharing takes place and it is our obligation as a government to help preserve corporate America’s revenue? (Click here for the definition of a slippery slope)

Please help me understand how this makes any sense, and also please send me the e-mail addresses of the RIAA’s lobbyists because I sure as heck would love a job with them. It must be cake if they can get things like this injected into bills without any kind of an uproar. Plus, I wouldn’t mind some 5-star meals.

Sincerely,

Constantine Caravelis
Born in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Citizen

The massive Higher Education bill is about 750 pages, (or you can view just the relevant Sections 487 and 494 here, if you prefer). The Section 494, titled “CAMPUS-BASED DIGITAL THEFT PREVENTION”, in its simplified version, says the following.
Sec. 494 Each eligible institution participating in the federal aid program shall:
• provide annual disclosure/warnings to the students applying for or receiving financial aid, stating that:
o
o P2P file sharing may subject them to civil and criminal liability;
o summary of penalty for violation of copyright laws;
o University’s policy of disciplinary action for using university’s IT for unauthorized downloads; and
o the actions that the University takes to detect such activities;
• develop plans for offering alternative to illegal downloading or P2P distribution; and
• develop plans to deter illegal downloading.