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Congress to Universities: Filter Your Net or Lose Funding

November 12th, 2007 by kdonovan11

Fred Benenson over at Free Culture @ NYU is spreading the word about a Congressional bill which is under consideration which would eliminate student loans at schools which do not filter the Internet. As Fred puts it:

This bill contains wording that, if passed into law, would jeopardize federal aid for universities if they refused to filter their student’s internet access. In other words, the bill is designed to force universities to police their student’s internet connections in a way that no other ISPs in the world do. Besides encouraging a violation of network neutrality on campuses, this bill demands universities to do something that is technically impossible — how is NYU’s router supposed to be able to tell the difference between a Creative Commons licensed video podcast that you’re downloading via Miro and an “illegal” file your roommate is getting off of a file sharing network?  The point is they can’t — no technology has been invented that can properly discover whether a file is “legal” or not (consider how difficult it is for a judge to decide whether a use is fair, and then think of trying to create a chip that would do it) and no technology will ever be invented to do this.

The dubiously titled “College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007” (coming in at a staggering 747 pages, the relevant part is from pg. 411-413) is a bad deal and we need to let our representatives know it before they vote on it on Wednesday at 9am.

Take the five minutes to call your representative and let them know how dangerous this is to free speech and higher education. Committee members include:

Democrats

Republicans

Consider saying something like the following:

Hi, the Committee on Education and Labor of which ______ is a member is considering a bill entitled “The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007″ which would strip universities of federal aid money if they do not filter the internet their students use. This is dangerous for free speech, education and the affordability of college. Please have ______ work to amend this.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Congress to Universities: Filter Your Net or Lose Funding”

  1. Filesharing an US-Hochschulen at FreieNetze Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    [...] Free Culture Blog “Filter Your Net or Lose Funding” [...]

  2. Kevin Donovan Says:
    November 13th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

    Mr. Kramer – the purpose of “big education” is not to support “big music.”

    It is to educate!

    Every dollar spent paying for music distracts schools from preparing students. Even further, the cost will most likely be passed onto students and that means all students, even those who aren’t, as you put it, “freeloaders.” That is unacceptable and so is this law.

  3. masa Says:
    November 14th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    more big brother. this is what americans signed moronic people into government for. take way rights. police you on every thing you do. this is their trick. adding these 2 lines into a bill to get this ‘swept’ in with the rest of the bill. you want the government to take care of you from the cradle to the grave, you want them to dictate what you can and can’t do, then keep this going just like it is now. otherwise, change it. elect people who are willing to change the government for the better. like Ron Paul for President in 2008.

  4. Mattyhelmenthes Says:
    November 25th, 2007 at 3:47 am

    Dont post here, mail your congressperson. This will bankrupt universities which already have
    a large problem with all the IT they are forced to support for “educational reasons”

    Lets avoid another unfunded federal mandate, please.

  5. FreeCulture.org - Students for Free Culture » Blog Archive » Students’ Open Response To H.R. 4137 and H.R. Says:
    December 14th, 2007 at 1:57 am

    [...] Contact « Congress to Universities: Filter Your Net or Lose Funding [...]

  6. Automating Democracy: committeecaller.com « Words You Can Use: The BAVC BLOG Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    [...] trying to call members of the Committee on Education and Labor to voice his concerns about the “College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.” Following links to all of the numbers and dialing the phone is a tedious process, so Fred [...]

  7. School Proxy Bypass Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    gr8 resrch bro…

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