[Air-L] Fwd: [Softwareandculture] Students Protest Copyright Bill in Nashville

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Chris Molinski <chris.molinski at gmail.com>
> Date: February 28, 2008 1:00:20 PM CST
> To: softwareandculture at lists.tmttlt.com
> Subject: [Softwareandculture] Students Protest Copyright Bill in  
> Nashville
> Reply-To: software and culture <softwareandculture at lists.tmttlt.com>
>
> The Tennessee Legislature is attempting to pass a Bill that would
> criminalize thousands of students at public universities.
>
> Senate Bill 3974, sponsored by Sen. Tim Burchett, forces any
> institution of "higher learning" to monitor all public university
> students and expel any who access copyrighted content online.  The
> Bill does not distinguish between types of content - but broadly makes
> viewing copyrighted content an offense suitable for expulsion.
>
> Students at the University of Tennessee are outraged.  Protests have
> been building across the state - and have caused the Legislature to
> delay a hearing on the Bill.
>
> The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the lobby for
> the recording industry, has largely forced this Bill to move forward
> in the face of opposition from the University, it's professors and
> students.  The Recording industry claims that as a result of "file
> sharing" CD sales have declined, despite academic evidence to the
> contrary.
>
> A study released last year by Felix Oberholzer-Gee, associate
> professor at the Harvard Business School, and Koleman Strumpf,
> professor at the University of North Carolina, showed that increased
> amounts of file sharing largely has an effect on sales that was
> "statistically indistinguishable from zero" - but in some cases may
> have even increased CD sales. [1]
>
> The University of Tennessee currently has in place a conservative
> policy for punishing students who share copyrighted content online:
> they ask the individual to stop, address the matter personally, and
> disconnect the individuals Internet connection if the act continues.
>
> Bill 3974 would instantly criminalize all offending individuals - and
> force the University to expel thousands of students.
>
> Tennessee readers on the popular blog "Boing Boing" have already
> responded by expressing their shame and embarrassment that this Bill
> would move forward.
>
> Next week at the Legislative hearing in Nashville, Wednesday March
> 5th, there is scheduled to be a protest beginning at 8:00 AM on the
> corner of 6th and Union St. Representatives from Knoxville will gather
> students at 5:00 AM and transport them to the Nashville hearing in
> order to make their voice heard.
>
> To jump on a bus in Knoxville and join the protest go to COPYSHOP (317
> N Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37917), ready to leave by 5:00 AM Wednesday
> March 5th.
>
> Visit COPYSHOP (http://copy-shop.org/knoxville) for information and
> updates about the fight against copyright in Tennessee.
>
> --
> http://copy-shop.org/knoxville/archives/74
> --
>
> [1] "File sharing may boost CD sales" Harvard Gazette:
> http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/04.15/09-filesharing.html
> _______________________________________________
> softwareandculture mailing list
> softwareandculture at lists.tmttlt.com
> http://lists.tmttlt.com/listinfo.cgi/softwareandculture-tmttlt.com

Jeremy Hunsinger
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,  
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu 
)

Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a  
thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.  
--Byron