Proposed Bill in Tennessee Penalizes Schools for Allowing Piracy

An anonymous reader brings us an Ars Technica report about a proposed bill in Tennessee which would require state-funded universities to enforce anti-piracy standards. The universities would be forced to "track down and stop infringing activity" or risk losing their funding. The U.S. Congress requested last year that certain universities do this voluntarily. Quoting: "Efforts taken by universities thus far to deter and prevent piracy have had mixed results. The University of Utah, for instance, claims that it has reduced MPAA and RIAA complaints by 90 percent and saved $1.2 million in bandwidth costs by instituting anti-piracy filtering mechanisms. However, the school revealed that their filtering system hasn't been able to stop encrypted P2P traffic and noted that students will find ways to circumvent any system. The end result, some say, will be a costly arms race as students perpetually work to circumvent anti-piracy systems put in place by universities."

Ah Good

[MightyMartian]

Ah good, so Tennessee has the magic black box that can sniff out encrypted traffic.

Right?

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Tennessee?

They used to penalize schools that allowed students with teeth!

Re:Ah Good

[Dr. Eggman]

Or they could stop offering internet connections for personal devices and instead only offer connection through university run/approved labs and computer centers. Control over what gets installed or run on such computers could be more strictly controlled. "Off-campus" housing could still provide access, but the University could more easily claim that its outside its authority. You might laugh, but the computer lab used to be the only place you could get connected; why might it not be possible to become so again? Likely, no not really. But still a grim possible approach.

Re:Ah Good

[rtb61]

Simpler than that. The university or school no longer provides internet access. Instead it creates a separate external entity that is a licensed ISP, that provides internet connections for staff and students, thus giving the school the same protections as a common carrier, whilst still providing a cost effective service.

The insane bat shit logic of penalising and punishing students, for what questionable content publishers deem to be non profit enhancing services provided by schools.

What will state governments do next, mandate that schools become licensed distributors of RIAA/MPAA protected content, and that the revenue be used for funding the school.

Re:Ah Good

[Dr. Eggman]

What will state governments do next, mandate that schools become licensed distributors of RIAA/MPAA protected content, and that the revenue be used for funding the school.

Schools already tried that something sort of like that themselves, (probably as a stop-gap against RIAA litigation,) it didn't really work out so great... [arstechnica.com]

Re:

[mpe]

What will state governments do next, mandate that schools become licensed distributors of RIAA/MPAA protected content, and that the revenue be used for funding the school.

In the process missing the irony that the MPAA has itself been enguaging in "piracy" more than once. So having these entities in charge of enforcement of copyright makes about as much sense as employing an unreformed criminal as a police chief.

Re:

[dreamchaser]

The schools don't even have to create a new entity. I am sure that local and regional ISP's would just love to sign a deal to offer special educational pricing for broadband connections. The schools could offer POP3 email and some web based document sharing services and let students worry about buying their own connection at the negotiated discount rates.

Re:

[CodeBuster]

The amazing thing is that many students are learning occupations that are dependent on IP and yet continue to ignore it.

Lets be honest here, most undergraduate degrees earned at universities today do not translate directly into any marketable jobs skills with the possible exception of basic writing and the ability (hopefully) to think critically and solve problems. Unless your major is business administration or some form of hard science (i.e. chemistry, physics, engineering, etc) you are either going on to graduate school to teach once you complete your PhD OR you are going to end up in some marginal "white collar" job sel

Re:

[khellendros1984]

I go to a "polytechnic" university; it tends to mix marketable skills in with the pure academics; I'd say that the only practically useless degrees would be Political Science, Philosophy, etc. Language majors can become writers or translators, agriculture majors have various options open to them from irrigation and landscape design to veterinary work, depending on the exact major. Engineering and science have obvious work applications. I guess my point is that (at least at my school), graduating students te

Re:

[CSMatt]

The amazing thing is that many students are learning occupations that are dependent on IP and yet continue to ignore it. I wonder who they expect to provide them a paycheck once they become producers? Or would they rather go the inefficient route of millions of one-offs?

For all you know they might work out business models for themselves that don't conflict with file sharing.

Re:

[Score Whore]

For all you know they might work out business models for themselves that don't conflict with file sharing.

That'd be why I said:

Or would they rather go the inefficient route of millions of one-offs?

Because selling "services" is kind of the inefficient way to work.

Re:

[CSMatt]

Really? Red Hat's revenues beg to differ.

Re:

[Score Whore]

Redhat's revenues are meaningless wrt efficiency of the support model.

Re:Ah Good

[Nullav]

I agree with the sentiment that universities (and the tax payers) not fund networks that won't be used properly. I realize that a lot of people do use the networks for perfectly valid uses, according to the evidence the bulk of traffic on educational networks is not legitimate (legitimate being for the purposes of education or legal personal uses.)

And would it be proper to take away one of the most useful tools (network access outside of dedicated 'computer labs')? I don't have the paper to back it up, but I'm assuming the cost of network access is covered in the outrageous cost of textbooks and tuition.

The amazing thing is that many students are learning occupations that are dependent on IP and yet continue to ignore it. I wonder who they expect to provide them a paycheck once they become producers?

You don't get rich off music (at least if you're the one writing it), many games bomb for good reason (Though you can always aspire to get bought out by EA, I suppose.), and universities aren't for aspiring screen actors. Don't even get me started on 'art degrees'.

Or would they rather go the inefficient route of millions of one-offs?

As it should be. Even entertainment has its value, but that doesn't mean that a week, or even a year of brilliance should be rewarded for a lifetime. If those one or two works were all you had in you, move on to something else. If you're talking about patents, software/business model patents are stupid and the rest require effort to infringe upon; people aren't going to copy your innovative new engine left and right, and you can get a good sum of money from whoever does.

Re:

[mpe]

Even entertainment has its value, but that doesn't mean that a week, or even a year of brilliance should be rewarded for a lifetime.

Should anyone continue to be paid for work they did decades ago. If you tried this just about anywhere other than in the entertainments industry you'd, at best, be ridiculed.

If those one or two works were all you had in you, move on to something else.

Or at least continue to do something, e.g. perform those two decades old songs.

Re:

[photomonkey]

That's rather funny.

Firstly, I have one of those 'Arts degrees' (BFA in Studio Art with minor studies in journalism, art history and economics). I am gainfully employed, and run my own business. In fact, I tend to avoid working with people who proudly tout their cookie-cutter business, marketing or management degrees from second or third-rate schools (or as derivatives of half-assed efforts put in at first-rate schools). I value people who have educational and/or personal backgrounds that have caused t

Re:

[iamhassi]

"The amazing thing is that many students are learning occupations that are dependent on IP and yet continue to ignore it. I wonder who they expect to provide them a paycheck once they become producers? Or would they rather go the inefficient route of millions of one-offs?"

Exactly how are they suppose to learn to use all this software without being able to actually use it? Because students already have enough expenses with the cost of books and tuition raising much faster than inflation [usnews.com], and it's been do

Re:Ah Good

[Atlantis-Rising]

No, but Microsoft does. Not only does DreamSpark [msdn.com] offer college students free software, Microsoft gives it away like candy at their promotional events.

Re:

[msdschris]

"So where are they suppose to get the extra couple grand it costs to pay for all the software that industries expect them to know? Think schools are handing out free copies of Office or Visual C++? I wouldn't know a tenth of what I know if it wasn't for downloading software."
Yes, mine in fact does give out free copies. Office 2007 Enterprise, SQL Standard, Visual Studio Professional and numerous others all downloadable from the campus website legally.

Re:

[iamhassi]

"Yes, mine in fact does give out free copies. Office 2007 Enterprise, SQL Standard, Visual Studio Professional and numerous others all downloadable from the campus website legally."

Really? None of the colleges and universities around here offer that service. There's "student editions" available in the bookstore but that's it.

Re:Ah Good

[Digi-John]

In other news, enrollment at the University of Tennessee has dropped off sharply this year. The U of T cites the cause as "damn kids these days", while assuring the public that it has nothing to do with their recent network changes.

Re:

[Billly Gates]

THis does not work well in the academic environment. What if someone needs to access data in class? I am a business administration major and I download the slides and click on example links in my electronic commerce and marketing classes all the time as part of my assignments. Many group assignments that are in class are due in class via wifi. Laptops are required. Especially internet connect laptops.

Not to mention computer science students needs to read thick api and programming books while they do their w

Re:

[The -e**(i*pi)]

I always enjoyed the 8 hours before the programming assignments were due, where like 5-10 random people would be in a lab from the same class and we could help each other out a little. The only bad part was the assignments were due at midnight, and took 8 hours.
We basically had to use the university lab computers, because if it didn't run on them we got like a 55% max (I learned that lesson fast)

Re:

[ConfusedMonkey]

Being able to wirelessly access the internet from anywhere on campus is a standard learning tool. If a school was foolish enough to attempt a policy like that their enrollment would fall though the floor. What you're proposing is similar to suggesting that everyone should switch from owning textbooks to only using the books in the library to prevent students from photocopying copyrighted material.

Re:

[Dr. Eggman]

I agree. Yes, its not very likely or probably even really possible. But the point is creative thinking works both ways. However, I think encryption is the solution to the wrong problem. The problem isn't "oh noes, how will I get teh music?" its "oh noes, my University will raise tuition rates for everybody if they can't stop teh pirates! (And most likely raise it even under threat of the funding loss the law presents.)

Re:

[Gerzel]

The problem is that the University also runs dorms and as such is a home isp for the students that live in those dorms.

Re:

[John Pfeiffer]

Right. I remember back when the computer labs were almost the only places on campus you could get net access... The stories I could tell you about how easy it was to compromise all internet access... Oh boy. (All the logins for quality porn sites alone were worth it!)

There's really nothing to stop someone from putting in a Linux live-cd, and doing whatever they damn well please if they don't feel like picking apart ITS's favorite windows security suite and just doing what they want in windows. What are

Re:

[John Pfeiffer]

Yeah, they could also encase all the computers in cement and only those students able to master the force can access the internet by manipulating the molecular structure of the cement... My point is, there's nothing anyone is likely to actually DO that can counter it. Smartass. :P Futzing with the BIOS is the closest you get to a reasonable solution... But it would slow the process of servicing the machines... And if there was just one password for all the machines...or even one for each lab or something

Re:

[epee1221]

Ah good, so Tennessee has the magic black box that can sniff out encrypted traffic.

Well, the evil bit is right there in the packet header.

Re:

[nurb432]

Dont need a network balck box, they can just install monitors on the actual device you are using, and you must have it connect to the router to gain access. Sort of like how netzero used to be ( still is ? ).

They also could mandate that your PC is part of their NT domain, and they just start blocking any application that isnt 'acceptable' to their new policy, just like in the big corporate world. Oh, and you wont be allowed to install software either.

Don't like it? Dont want to give them root access to your

Re:Ah Good

[MightyMartian]

Even if it were a serious statement, this is nothing more than an arm's race, and an arm's race that's the state's (or university's) to lose. Ban encrypted traffic, someone figures out how to disguise it. Figure out how to recognize that, someone comes along and does one better.

Re:

[TubeSteak]

Even if it were a serious statement, this is nothing more than an arm's race, and an arm's race that's the state's (or university's) to lose. Ban encrypted traffic, someone figures out how to disguise it.

Guess what, the schools can do one better, in the extreme, they can just ban the offending students.
They can do anything from cutting off net connections to expelling the students outright.

In between, you have being put on probation & threatened with expulsion. This will either straighten out the alleged infringers, or force them into off campus housing. Either way, problem solved.

Just don't forget that ultimately, all the power is in the hands of the Uni/College.

Re:Ah Good

[sortius_nod]

Yeh, because it's so hard to hijack another student's computer and utilise it as a proxy... imagine the litigation that would follow for expelling students for downloading when they are innocent. I think it would cost the universities a lot more than $1.2m...

Re:

[MightyMartian]

What that would amount to is banning students whose traffic doesn't match your filters. "I'm sorry, no encrypted traffic, and no weirdo stuff." That will go over well with computer science students accessing odd-ball ports with homegrown protocols for testing.

Re:

[Score Whore]

Yeah. The state will have totally lost when they block all direct connectivity and only allow net access through application level proxies. I'm curious how you think any significant bandwidth will then be leveraged through the uni network by the students for copyright infringing purposes?

Re:

[kesuki]

By 'pirates' do you mean online banking, online shopping, and logging into web-mail or logging into web fourms. or logging into blog sites... not to mention ssh...

blocking encrypted data isn't realistic, now tallying encrypted traffic, and designing a router the lowers the network priority of people who exceed, say 15 MB of encrypted traffic in one hour... and shuts them off completely if they exceed 100 MB an hour... well that's a whole different ball of wax.

but then people can't effectively use vpn eithe

In other news...

[Harmonious Botch]

The NSA reports a record recruiting year from students at the Univ of Utah. "They are some very talented cryptography students.", says NSA spokesman.

At my university...

[snl2587]

they do this already, and for the most part are very good at it (Limewire and the like can't be used without the user's internet being disconnected).

Of course, many of the people I know simple use uTorrent. So yeah, the legislation won't do much of anything but deny universities money when the US is already lagging worldwide.

Re:At my university...

[thegrassyknowl]

It seems to me that the US Government and many others are focusing on this new-fangled Internet thing because it's a haven for people who pirate music, share terrorist plans and do all sorts of other nasty stuff (like free exchange of ideas). Do they think about anything else?

When will they realise they can't filter the Internet without removing access to all-but one protocol (port) and even then the filters are doomed to failure. Without blocking all other access people will just sidestep the filter and use open relays, proxies and networks like Tor.

They can't possibly hope to analyse all traffic that flows either. The computation power alone would be unfeasible and the amount of false positives would be too high that there'd be a revolt against it.

*grumbles* Instead of finding new and expensive ways of "fixing" the Internet why don't they just fix the copyright, IP and other laws.

Re:At my university...

[MightyMartian]

The reality is that the Internet, like a lot of new technologies throughout history, is going to destroy some businesses. The flintlock and cannon put the archer and spearman out to pasture. The car decimated the horsebreeding industry.

New technologies will render some industries obsolete or unsustainable. RIAA and the MPAA had a good ride as they are currently structured. Well, it's more involved than that. They've spent decades screwing over artists, incautious investors and the taxman (read: the taxpayer). But the model they've used for all that time cannot be sustained in any age of digital reproduction and distribution. It's a dying game. Call it theft if you like, and it is, but the fact that it's so pervasive really tells us that the way intellectual property has been viewed for a couple of centuries is gone.

Re:

[TheLink]

"it's so pervasive really tells us that the way intellectual property has been viewed for a couple of centuries is gone."

Coup of centuries? I think it's only been viewed as IP for a much shorter time than that.

IP slows down progress. It's only good for
1) People who can only come up with one good idea/CD in their entire life.
2) Companies that enslave such people

OK, I exaggerate and maybe we might need copyright, but it should be a lot shorter, say 7 or 10 years. That way Microsoft will be too afraid of relea

Re:

[the brown guy]

At my university...we have maximum bandwidth until we reach a certain transfer limit, after which it gets painfully slow. I assume that at other universities you have to sign in to use their wireless internet. Still, people can still transfer via LAN, I think that's the correct term. I'm not tech savvy.

Re:

[Atlantis-Rising]

Amusingly enough, I know universities where that only applies to student housing- the on-campus wireless is uncapped (B, 11 Mb/s), but try to use the 100 Mb/s drop in your room and you'll soon see the folly of your ways.

Re:

[kisak]

New technologies will render some industries obsolete or unsustainable.

The thing is that *AA have gained huge benefits from the new technology. The production of good quality sound and film have become so much cheaper. The printing cost of CD's/dvd's close to zero. The internet and globalisation have opened new markeds for their artists.

The cost for the industry is now to pay for creative minds (artists and production people), marketing and to bribe radio/MTV to play their videos. Production costs are

Re:

[Dan541]

Universities are ISPs.

How long will it be until this is forced onto consumer ISPs?

~Dan

Parallels to Civil War

[Shajenko42]

This reminds me of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Cliff notes: Slave owners couldn't track down slaves that made it to the North, so they made a law saying that federal marshals had to do it for them or face an enormous fine.

Essentially, the same thing that the RIAA is trying to do with copyright infringers - force other people to do their policing for them.

Of course we know what happened to the slave owners - they lost their legal right to own slaves entirely. Who knows how this will affect the RIAA's right to own copyrights.

Re:

[Belial6]

"Of course we know what happened to the slave owners - they lost their legal right to own slaves entirely. Who knows how this will affect the RIAA's right to own copyrights."

You know, that is a good point. Just as most people assume that the 'owning' of information will never be outlawed, there was a time that many believed that the 'owning' of people will never be outlawed. As copyright now stands, we are quickly moving to a slave state. All communication is derivative. All recorded history is... we

Really now?

[eggman9713]

If universitites actually enforced their network access policies (academic, non personal business only blah blah), I would never be able to post this comm

Re:

[Dr. Eggman]

Arthur: What?
Maynard: '"...I would never be able to post this comm"'.
Bedevere: What is that?
Maynard: He must have been caught while typing it.
Lancelot: Oh, come on!
Maynard: Well, that's what it says.
Arthur: Look, if he was being taken away, he wouldn't bother to type 'comm'.
Maynard: Well, that's what's written in the post!
Galahad: Perhaps he was dictating.
Arthur: Oh, shut up. Well, does it say anything else?
Maynard: No. Just 'comm'.

[There is a thunderous

Re:

[repapetilto]

I thought it was funn

Just little time...

[nbert]

...until they'll realize that all the efforts the **AA has gone through will result in some people exchanging data on physical media. I'm amazed that they still believe everything will be fixed if the internet has been regulated beyond reason.

There's a theory which says that all music produced up to now will fit on a single hdd within a decade. I'm certain that they will stop chasing universities the moment they'll realize that some people carry all music available in their purse ;)

Who defines pirate bits?

[Anonymous Coward]

How would piracy be defined? So because I have torrent downloading or a P2P network client transferring data I'm now a pirate?

I think many Linux users who download ISOs from these sources would be quite turned off by the prospect of that label.

Re:

[The Anarchist Avenge]

Yarrr, ye be thinkin so, but ye be wrong as a nor'easter in Botany Bay!

Re:

[davidphogan74]

Well, it's not like you paid for Linux, so you must be a pirate. Right?

Re:

[ASBands]

Pirates would simply specify a bit in the IP header. Logically, it would be implemented like RFC 3514 [faqs.org]

Re:

[Dan541]

How would piracy be defined? So because I have torrent downloading or a P2P network client transferring data I'm now a pirate?

Does the RIAA like what your doing?

If not your a pirate.

~Dan

Meh.

[Creepy Crawler]

It's not like the creators are getting any benefit, are they?

And try something else: buy a VPS. Tunnel your traffic to VPS via SSH or another "stupid" encryption. Hell, XOR could work.

And pay for the VPS at 3 month increments using those "reloadable credit cards". Just dont use your name or real CC or check. No paper trail. :-D

Now, guess what I did.

checks (to the RIAA) and (bank) balances

[themushroom]

> The University of Utah, for instance, claims that it has reduced MPAA and RIAA complaints by 90 percent ...

The number of MPAA and RIAA complaints directed toward grandmothers and elementary school students has also gone down without the use of filtering. Coincidence?

That, and the U of U is in SLC so chances are the students can just walk over to the nearest temple and listen to a tabernacle choir for free. :-D

Always has - always will

[djupedal]

How many times does it have to be repeated?

The internet views restrictions as outages and routes around them.

Re:

[TheLink]

Zero please.

Q: How many Economists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Economists don't change lightbulbs- they sit in the darkness writing academic papers and wait for Adam Smith's Invisible hand to do it.

Q: How many Internet Fans does it take to bypass restrictions?
A: They talk about "nuke proof", "routes around censorship" and hope someone else does it.

Hurting encrypted P2P without hurting nonP2P users is not immensely hard as long as nonP2P users never have lots of encrypted connections to many desti

If, if, if...stop stammering, pls.

[djupedal]

If you stood on your head and chucked nickels out of your ass, the street would be full of fecal-covered coins.

And yet, the download beat goes on. How sweet that is :)

Thanks for making my point. And thanks for taking a run at me, but better luck next time. I'm sure with a bit more time and perhaps a nap, you can do better. Go for it.

Re:

[TheLink]

Yeah I was sleepy... Woke up early. Mornings are overrated.

I'll try better next time :).

Internet Routes around Censorship

[ParadoxDruid]

I can't remember where I first heard it, but the phrase, "The Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it" seems applicable here.

Re:

[canuck57]

I can't remember where I first heard it, but the phrase, "The Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it" seems applicable here.

I disagree with that to 98% is easily achievable. Internet access can be policed enough to prevent pirate down links, but not necessarily communication. One limitation a MP3 more MP4 is going to have is they are large enough using DNS to send/receive them, while it might work it is eventually and few will wait the time to download then listen. Plus, even that can

They will have to contract it out to comcast

[gambolt]

A guy I know who works in a Campus IT department has said that if bills like this pass they will have no choice but to contract dorm connectivity out to Comcast (and make students pay for it). Efforts to launch stuff like campus wide wifi would be dead in the water. It sounds like it would be the death of .edu, pretty much.

Not their responsibility.

[bigstrat2003]

Enforcing the law is the job of the law enforcement system. No one else. If we're going to suddenly make it the responsibility of universities to ensure their students follow the law, then it's high time we fired our law enforcers... because what, then, are they doing, if not enforcing the law?

Re:

[Anonymous Psychopath]

I think you're confusing criminal and civil law. In the US, at least, law enforcement concerns themselves only with criminal law enforcement. Copyright, trademark, patents, etc. are all considered civil.

It's equally ridiculous for placing the burden for civil enforcement on the universities, though.

Re:

[shentino]

Actually copyright infringement can be considered criminal.

Ever see those "FBI Warnings" on movies that say it could be a federal offense?

Re:

[Dan541]

If they're supposed to prevent copyright infringement which is a civil matter, why not require them to prevent all kinds of other things like underage drinking, and hold them accountable for things like murder that have been happening lately?

Because you can't sue the murderer

~Dan

Sneaker-net

[glindsey]

Are they going to search every kid's locker and backpack for USB sticks, micro SD-cards, and plain old external hard drive enclosures? From what I've heard, good old sneaker-net is still a common way for kids to exchange movies, songs, games... if they crack down on the net, kids will just resort to physical trading more often.

Re:

[repapetilto]

As a "kid" still I'll say that almost noone really does that, its just way more convenient to send it over the internet when you want it. That being said if noone could download anything they wanted anymore thats exactly what would happen.

Re:

[noidentity]

And isn't sneaker-net entirely legal (fair-use)?

Re:

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Well, at least they'll get out some time and get some exercise. So sneaker-net could be labeled as a health plan.

Re:

[level_headed_midwest]

This has already started to become very common where I go to college. You can fit a TON of stuff on a 500 GB external hard drive that costs maybe $120. Putting music files on cheap DVD-Rs is very common as well, and there can be quite a few stuffed on those.

Re:

[alan_dershowitz]

No, because the RIAA doesn't care if filesharing is hard. Everyone I know who is currently in college is taking advantage of the fast college network by running uTorrent perpetually, downloading movies, games and music. Nobody has as many friends as many people as they can download from off the Internet, and most of their friends probably don't have a terabyte of the latest music, either. That's why they don't give a damn about sneakernet. The Internet makes pirated music EASY to get and PLENTIFUL which is

Why stop with copyrights?

[serutan]

How about withholding money from schools that have too many robberies, assaults, parking tickets and overdue library books?

Re:Why stop with copyrights?

[MightyMartian]

The record and movie indusry lobbiests don't give a damn about rape, murder, assaults and double-parking assholes. They're job is buy the political whores that sit in Washington and state legislatures.

What I think we need to do is to pass a Constitutional amendment forcing all politicians to dress up like the cheap tarts they really are. Every morning before they go into a session, they should be forced to stand out on the street showing their legs while lobbiests are constitutionally required to throw nickels at them.

If we're going to have pathetic whores in power, they should be forced in every way to behave like them.

protest on March 5th in Nashville

[kaldari]

A major protest is planned for Wednesday, March 5th in downtown Nashville. 8AM, corner of 6th Ave. and Union (near the capital building). Come and show your opposition to this ridiculous legislation.

Re:

[OMNIpotusCOM]

Maybe if students put as much effort into school and not doing illegal things, this wouldn't even be a debate. But no, you go out there and show whatever it is you think you're showing. All I think you're really showing is how dumb college kids are, and how little they realize how the real world works.

Re:

[Wildclaw]

The only reason the real world works like it does is because of that exact attitude your are displaying.

"Don't question authority. Just shut up an work. If you have any time to question authority, work some more."

Keeping the general population apathetic, tired, scared and separated on unimportant issues is vital to maintaining the most control so you can reap the most benefits.

A population that care enough and have energy to activly questions new legislation, that can't be fooled by scare tactics and that d

Re:

[darkfire5252]

So where's the Knoxville protest?

American Schools

[youthoftoday]

OK so I have to ask. I've wanted to know for ages. When a British person says 'school' they mean a place where children and teenagers go to be educated. When they say 'university' they mean a place where people go to get degrees. When they say 'college' they can mean a subset of either.

What does 'school' mean in America? It seems to cover just about everything under the sun as I understand it...

Re:

[Asky314159]

In America, the word 'school' can correctly be used to describe any educational institution, regardless of age. If you're talking specifically about children and teenagers, you attach an adjective, like 'K-12 schools', 'elementary schools', 'middle schools', or 'high schools'. If you're talking about a place to get a degree, 'university' and 'college' are used interchangeably. But all of them can be described as 'school'.

Re:

[aadvancedGIR]

So, does that word also covers your prisons? Many of your teenagers or young adults get a degree there.

Why schools should exclusively use free software

[QuantumG]

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html [gnu.org]

There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on free software. It gives users the freedom to control their own computers--with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants it to do, not what the software user wants it to do. Free software also gives users the freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an upright life. These reasons apply to schools as they do to everyone.

But there are special reasons that apply to schools. They are the subject of this article.

First, free software can save the schools money. Even in the richest countries, schools are short of money. Free software gives schools, like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the software, so the school system can make copies for all the computers they have. In poor countries, this can help close the digital divide.

This obvious reason, while important, is rather shallow. And proprietary software developers can eliminate this disadvantage by donating copies to the schools. (Watch out!--a school that accepts this offer may have to pay for future upgrades.) So let's look at the deeper reasons.

School should teach students ways of life that will benefit society as a whole. They should promote the use of free software just as they promote recycling. If schools teach students free software, then the students will use free software after they graduate. This will help society as a whole escape from being dominated (and gouged) by megacorporations. Those corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes: to get children addicted (1). They will not give discounts to these students once they grow up and graduate.

Free software permits students to learn how software works. When students reach their teens, some of them want to learn everything there is to know about their computer system and its software. That is the age when people who will be good programmers should learn it. To learn to write software well, students need to read a lot of code and write a lot of code. They need to read and understand real programs that people really use. They will be intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day.

Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, "The knowledge you want is a secret--learning is forbidden!" Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software community rejects the "priesthood of technology", which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code and learn as much as they want to know. Schools that use free software will enable gifted programming students to advance.

The next reason for using free software in schools is on an even deeper level. We expect schools to teach students basic facts, and useful skills, but that is not their whole job. The most fundamental mission of schools is to teach people to be good citizens and good neighbors--to cooperate with others who need their help. In the area of computers, this means teaching them to share software. Elementary schools, above all, should tell their pupils, "If you bring software to school, you must share it with the other children." Of course, the school must practice what it preaches: all the software installed by the school should be available for students to copy, take home, and redistribute further.

Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson. It also teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of tycoons. All levels of school should use free software.

insightful? how about off-topic?

[mbius]

What the eff does free software have to do with the entertainment industry using Congress to bludgeon college students? I'd like to discuss the merits and shortcomings of your minifesto, it's just not relevant here.

Maybe you're suggesting universities find a F/OSS solution to crack down on P2P traffic? A part of me would die if such a thing existed.

Re:

[QuantumG]

The point is what schools should be teaching about copyright.

The attitude of "don't share" is wrong.

Re:

[mpe]

What the eff does free software have to do with the entertainment industry using Congress to bludgeon college students? I'd like to discuss the merits and shortcomings of your minifesto, it's just not relevant here.

Given that it is actually possible to "pirate" "free software" and that one of the entities which has actually managed to do so is the MPAA the matter probably is of some relevence.

Dhoh!

[florescent_beige]

Proposed Bill In Tennessee...

Hmmm what?

...Penalizes Schools For...

"Teaching Intelligent Design" Oh please please say "Teaching Intelligent Design".

...Allowing Piracy

Dhoh! So close!

Par for the Course

[Compulawyer]

What do you expect from a state that is the home of Jack Daniel's [jackdaniels.com] whiskey but distills and stores all that whiskey in Lynchburg [wikipedia.org], part of Moore County, a dry county [wikipedia.org]?

RIAA hacks

[Wandering_Turtle]

The RIAA is lobbying its way into the legislature. They don't actually work for artists, they just claim to represent them in order to get the cash. Trying to get colleges and universities to enforce their pet legislation is akin to selling our government to the loudest (and maybe highest too) bidder. The cost will just build up over time and cost far more than artists lose.

1.2 million in bandwidth?

[XaXXon]

How much bandwidth / transfer does $1.2 million buy these days?

better idea

[ILuvRamen]

Yeah colleges "allow" piracy but isn't that sort of picking on the last man in the chain? Why doesn't the RIAA go to the real, actual source of the problem. No, I don't mean the internet in general. I think we all know that the real people responsible for securing their products from being pirated have failed miserably and need to pay up for all the damage their neglegence has caused. The RIAA should sue the RIAA. Seriously, it's your own damn fault. It's like if this was early Star Trek and they were

Re:

[Peaker]

I think nobody should make anything digitally anymore based solely on the assumption that noone will be able to copy it.

Copying is NOT like taking away a man's television (while also depriving him from his window).

Copyrights are more harm than good.

Inexcusable use of money and time

[TheNucleon]

I am confident that neither the tax monies directed towards higher education, nor the tuition paid by students, was ever intended to be used to create a RIAA/MPAA surrogate police force. As if suing Grandma isn't bad enough, now these freaks want money and energy diverted from educational purposes to this BS. And to make it happen, their bought-and-paid-for minions in legislatures will threaten the funding of schools that don't do it. Wow. Just, wow.

You know, one day we're going to wake up, as if coming

I can attest to this...

[sidz1979]

I'm a student at the University of Utah, and I live in the University student housing. So I have no option but to use the University-provided Internet connection.

For over a year now, it seems that they've been blocking the default ports used by bittorrent (azureus). I can't download anything with azureus (even legal stuff, like linux distributions), if I use the default ports settings. It does work (somewhat), however, if I change the TCP port setting to a non-standard one. Uploads still don't work, even

This reminds me of something...

[chaoticgeek]

I was reading the little blurb about the article and I got a creepy feeling that it sounded like what you always hear about the cold war and the arms race against US/USSR... Maybe it is just me but the blurb about it just gave me that impression.

It must be getting late...

[Dracophile]

...because I read that as "Proposed Bill in Tennessee Penalizes Schools for Allowing Privacy"

In addition to piracy ...

[phoomp]

I propose that schools also lose funding if they have any students engaging in *any* undesired activities, such as drug use, shop lifting and pre-marital sex.

Not their job

[Sierpinski]

The role and responsibility of a university is to educate students, and provide research facilities. The government should stop bowing to the will of the RIAA lobbyists (it's plain and simple corruption, buying the laws you want) and forcing these universities to get involved in a business that they shouldn't have to deal with. If the universities want to enact policies that say if you are caught sharing music, then you are disciplined (dismissal, etc) then that would be acceptable in my opinion, but I don'