Higher Education, Entertainment Industry Witnesses Detail Impact of, Efforts to Combat

Internet Piracy on College Campuses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness, members of the entertainment industry and the higher education community today highlighted the impact of Internet piracy on college campuses, while outlining ways they are cooperating to combat its increase.  Over the last decade, theft of intellectual property on the Internet has become a significant challenge, with the music and movie industries feeling the greatest impact.  College campuses often are seen as a haven for this activity.

“The university environment creates a perfect storm for piracy,” Subcommittee Chairman Ric Keller (R-FL) explained.  “College students, who are computer and Internet savvy, use state-of-the-art computers and the fastest computer networks in America to find the music, movies, and other entertainment products that they love.”

“The good news,” Keller continued, “is that while universities are at the center of this storm, they are also in the best position to confront the problem.  To help them, in March of this year, the House passed H.R. 609, which reauthorized the Higher Education Act, and included language to allow universities to use federal funds to combat this problem.”

Dan Glickman, chief executive officer for the Motion Picture Association of America, detailed the extent of Internet piracy, particularly for the film industry.

“Piracy is the greatest obstacle the film industry currently faces,” said Glickman.  “A recently released study, conducted by the international consulting firm LEK, found that the U.S. film industry lost $6.1 billion to piracy in 2005.  That same study estimated that 44 percent of our industry’s domestic losses, over $500 million annually, are attributable to college students.  An earlier Deloitte and Touche study estimated that approximately 400,000 films are illegally downloaded every day.  CacheLogic, an Internet monitoring group, has estimated that over 60 percent of all Internet traffic in the U.S. is attributable to peer-to-peer usage.  Furthermore, well over 90 percent of all the content on peer-to-peer networks consists of unauthorized copyrighted files.”

Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, echoed Glickman’s comments, noting a similar impact on the recording industry.

“The breadth of the problem of illegal file-sharing is clear,” Sherman told the panel.  “The ability of millions of computer users around the world to find and trade copyrighted works with each other has cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars and threatened our ability to succeed in the evolving legitimate digital marketplace…  While we have achieved real progress in converting pirate networks into legal services and in deterring a sizable number of would-be illegal downloaders, the problem of illegal file-sharing remains a serious one.”

Dr. William Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, made clear for the subcommittee that the higher education community is not only aware of this illegal activity, but actively working to stop it.

“I can state without hesitation that higher education is at the front of the line of people who want this unauthorized activity to stop,” Kirwan told the panel.  “The money and time it takes to clean up after it is significant.  In addition, plenty of students complain that the activity is clogging up the network to the point that they can’t get their work done.”

Kirwan underscored steps that public schools in his state are required to take to combat piracy on their campuses, noting, “Every institution must have an articulated policy covering acceptable use of network resources that clearly respects the network as a shared resource and particularly prohibits illegal activity…  Each institution employs technologies that monitor its network and in particular identify inappropriate traffic, watching for signatures and characteristics of illegal activity.  I stress that we do not examine content and therefore maintain privacy rights.”

Cheryl Elzy, dean of university libraries and a federal copyright agent at Illinois State University, told the Subcommittee that her school not only is seeking to slow piracy through technology – but by changing behavior as well.

“Illegal downloading of music, videos, movies, and games is a symptom,” said Elzy.  “It is not the problem, nor is technology the answer.  The problem is changing behavior, almost changing a culture.  To that end, Illinois State can have a significant impact on peer-to-peer behaviors in another, more important way.  Our teacher education graduates number in the top five in the nation.  Almost 1,000 new teachers walk out our doors each year, and each teacher will influence the lives of at least 20-30 children each year.  If our graduates can learn good Digital Citizen behaviors while on campus, they will imprint that ethical and legal perspective on perhaps 20,000 children annually.”

So institutions may adopt some of the proactive approaches outlined today, Congress has indicated a willingness to help.  On March 30, 2006, the House backed the College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 609), which included language to provide schools federal resources through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to address Internet piracy on college campuses.  The Senate has yet to act on this legislation, which would reauthorize programs under the Higher Education Act.

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