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Anti-P2P College Bill Moving Through House
An anonymous reader writes "A news.com article is covering an amendment to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (pdf) that should make folks in Hollywood, the RIAA, and the MPAA well pleased. The tiny section seeks to hinge government approval of an institution of higher learning on whether or not they adequately dissuade Peer-to-Peer filesharing of copyrighted materials. The Act came out of the House Education and Labor Committee, which agreed on the terms unanimously. There is still some question, though, as to what penalties should be handed down for institutions that don't do enough to protect intellectual property. 'Some university representatives and fair-use advocates worry that schools run the risk of losing aid for their students if they fail to come up with the required plans. "The language in the bill appears to be clear that failure to carry out the mandates would make an institution ineligible for participation in at least some part of Title IV (which deals with federal financial aid programs)," Steven Worona, director of policy and networking programs for the group Educause, said in a telephone interview Thursday.'" Update: 11/16 16:36 GMT by Z : PDF link corrected.
In all seriousness, if you want to send a clear message that you don't like where this is going, go vote for Ron Paul in your local primary. His website (www.ronpaul2008.com) has all the info you'll need to get ready.
Whether you agree with all his politics or not, he is the only one running - THE ONLY ONE - that dares to say the current way of handling government is wrong.
Congress simply doesn't have the authority to try and force college students to buy music from the RIAA. And no, that isn't a straw-man, that is what you get when you simply connect the fist-sized dots in front of you. They can, and should, work to make a body of valuable law, but their primary duty is to encourage commerce. Radiohead, Reznor, and others are proving that commerce is still quite viable, and in that light there really isn't any authority for Congress to meddle with this dying industry. Especially not at the cost of those schools and students they're supposed to be trying to help.
In the end this becomes just another needless law to protect special interests.
Of the candidates currently running, I can think of only one who would have the convictions to veto this crap.
CAN WE HAZ SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE NOW? No, really, given that most market interventions end up hurting consumers, as this article makes clear, can we please NOT have single-payer health care?
Mod me off topic if you want, but I want to go on record as being the first person to say that the government is the enemy.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist