Comments on: MPAA: Linking college funding, piracy is 'perfectly legitimate'

Hollywood's top Washington attorney argues Congress shouldn't be giving taxpayer-financed subsidies to universities whose networks allow widespread copyright infringement.

[dcholloway]

PRIMARILY?? - Bitter pot of rhetoric stew

"When the government is subsidizing universities...to build digital networks that are being used primarily to allow college students to traffic in infringing content..."

Is this guy quite possibly the biggest idiot alive?

College students use the Internet for PRIMARILY facebook.

Secondly we use it to actually do work.

Thirdly, universities aren't even PRIMARILY the biggest copyright infringement offenders.

This guy needs to check his facts.

He sounds PRIMARILY like a demagogue trying to stir up a big pot of bitter-tasting rhetoric stew.

[aka_tripleB]

You actually may have missed something that is used more than Facebook

You've forgot about online gaming. Whether it's simple games like poker, or complex games like WoW, there are countless students that spend days on end playing them without taking much of a break. Even the occasional LAN party, while not technically online, still uses the network probably more than school work.

Congress should reword the bill if they plan to pass it so student get a refund from the RIAA and MPAA after they graduate if the students don't get to keep what they download. After all, most of what the RIAA and MPAA offer no academic value. This would be like charging for the dining service when you'll never eat at the school. Hell, school don't even make you buy your books. You'll probably fail if you don't get the books, but you can also get the book from somewhere else if you want also so you can shop around and get them for the cheapest price. The RIAA and MPAA are trying to create an obscenely illegal monoply in schools, so I'm sure heads will roll when parents learn that they're going to have to give people money and have no choice about it.

[groink_hi]

Students do eat up a lot of the bandwidth...

I provide consulting for a major university. We've helped install gateway software (Nomadix) which limit the number of sessions open per Ethernet port, as P2P, streaming, and other types of software opens dozens of sessions on a single PC. This in turn disabled many MAC addresses from accessing the Internet. The student then has to call helpdesk to get his MAC address unlocked. Helpdesk would then give him information on why he was locked out. We've had this system running since the beginning of the Fall session. And as of right now, the bandwidth usage dropped tremendously - as much as 80-percent.

[georgiarat]

Primarily a Democratic Party and Cause Supporter

Check his contributions....

Just remember how the Democratic Party is always on the side of
students and education. They take us for granted. We will not like
what they do to us but on election day we will still go out and
vote for them. They can count on it!! Until higher education
wises up they will treat us worse than the Republicans.

[ficklepickle]

In the year 2000 ....

... litigious content providers will demand a cut of the federal income tax to offset "losses" due to copyright infringement. It's only fair, after all the feds funded the internet, and as such the government and the people are complicit in the rampant disregard for producer's rights at the hands of college students who have too much time on their hands. Maybe they'll demand reparations in addition to corporate welfare.

[winstein]

Public funding for commercial interests? I don't think so

If MPAA don't want people to copy their movies, encrypt the movies with the latest technology and sell digital downloads, don't sell DVDs.

You can't have it both ways.

[menotbug]

= MPAA joins the War on the Middle Class

Soon we will all be either Poor or Rich.
Either your parents are rich enough to put you through college,
or you don't go at all and have to be poor the rest of your life
because you can't get a good job without that diploma, and
you can't get the diploma without being rich.

College education should be available to all, at least the "all"
who show the right amount of determination to learn and make
good grades. But the costs continue to skyrocket, and the
dollar weakens. Each step we take in the wrong direction
should be re-evaluated, and this article shows us one.

[menotbug]

...forgot the point

should have added this:

The reason this idea is wrong, tying funding to P2P, is that it
would hurt the innocent! There are plenty, like me, who never
use the university network for file sharing. If my college was
hurt financially by this proposed legislation, it would be unjust
for me and all the others who didn't use the network to share
files.
There should be a Constitutional amendment that no law shall
be passed that punishes the innocent. Seems obvious, no?

[Pete Bardo]

If you own a computer ...

with a CD burner and you also own copyrighted CD's, then you have the ability to violate the copyright. Just as you had that ability when you owned both a turntable and a cassette recorder. Therefore, owning a computer with a CD burner should be illegal, too. And any university that has students who own such computers should be denied access to federal funds.

If you walk into a music store where CD's are being sold, you have the means to attempt to steal them and, therefore, should be arrested upon entering the store!

Free country? Give me a break!

[aka_tripleB]

Actually you just need a CD- or DVD-ROM drive

Burners are only needed if you want to make physical copies. This is just a scam by the movie and music studios to get free money on the backs of EVERYBODY else.

[Penguinisto]

Idiot.

The United States Gov't is (ostensibly) supposed to serve The People, not "The Corporation".

There is nothing in the US Constitution that gives your association/cartel the right to exist in spite of a failing business model, crap content, and anti-consumer attitude.

/P

[ethana2]

Absolutely.

I don't think I could have said it better.

And not all their business is going to piracy. I, for example, stick to works that are copyleft licensed. Sure, I don't have much choice of content yet, but you better believe that's changing fast.

jamendo.com

[nicmart]

A strong voice against corporatism

Ron Paul on big business

http://www.eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?
video_id=306&title=Ron_Paul_talks_about_Big_Business

[fokwp]

Subsidizing piracy?

No more subsidies to oil companies until they stop changing the climate?

No more tax breaks for tobacco farmers until they take all the carcinogens out of their product?

No more funding for highway projects until they figure out how to stop highway deaths?

No more funding of wars until they end the collateral damage?

No more funding of nuclear plants until . . . etc.

Hey, this could really work!

[nicmart]

Not "until"

Until? No more corporate and farm welfare PERIOD!

[Luna M]

Sadly, it wouldn't.

I wish it were true--because you're absolutely right, those are actual cases in which the government SHOULD stop subsidizing. Unfortunately, changing the climate, carcinogents, highway deaths, wartime collateral damage, and nuclear waster are ALL LEGAL. Whereas copyright infringement is not. That's the ONLY reason the RIAA and MPAA get away with what they're doing...there are legal grounds upon which to base their lawsuits. We have no charge to fit the crime of corporate bullying committed by Superpower Businesses. We only protect businesses from each other, not from individual consumers. And there are absolutely no laws in place to protect consumers from Superpower Businesses.

[chuck_whealton]

He's kidding, right?

"taxpayers' money to build digital networks that are being used primarily to allow college students to traffic in infringing content,"

He's kidding, right? "primarily" to infringe? Some great research comes out of our universities and colleges and their networks are one of the tools they use to aid them in that great research.

How does this guy come off saying that? Where is he getting this information? Does he have statistics showing infringing use versus legitimate use?

I'm not sticking up for illegally downloading music or anything else, but that seems so far fetched that it's not even funny.

Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

[XoneDaGnome]

Fritz Attaway...

... did mommy and daddy pay your way though college?

[R.Jefferson]

I would guess war reparations paid his way

just like how America still has to pay an allowance to a group of people for a war we did the most to stop.

How ironic.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Who Cares?

Who cares what the MPAA says? They're out to serve their own interests. Why would anyone care what they have to say about university funding?

MPAA: Keep your nose out of the education system.

[paulej]

We Should Meet in the Middle

While the university networks are not "primarily" used for piracy, I would personally have no objection if the Universities taking steps to thwart any illegal use as long as the MPAA pays for all of the associated costs. I do NOT want my tax dollars being used for the financial benefit of the MPAA.

Paul

[Luna M]

Hear hear.

That's my question: if my money isn't going to fund the students, who is it going to?

[Anysia]

That's just brilliant (sarcasm)

Punish the entire school for the actions of some. Who is in charge of the US? The MPAA and the RIAA seem to think they are, as they are seemingly setting policy.

[Luna M]

Who are we keeping money from?

Yeah, why would I want to give money to people trying to learn, anyway? Better for them to be uneducated, poor and well under the heel of the law than intelligent thieves. Darn kids think they're so important, who needs 'em?

Seriously, this lawyer is full of crap. By withholding funds from colleges, they're screwing over the kids, not just the colleges. Whether we like it or not, higher education is a money-fueled business.

More importantly, if my tax dollars aren't going to funding college tuitions, what ARE they funding? Bombs?

[dargon19888]

Lets clear the air...

The article is that the MPAA wants to cut funding to Universities that do not play ball with the MPAA.

Clearly no one, not even the MPAA disputes this.

Their logic is that if the university isn't paying up to the MPAA on behalf of their students, then they are defacto supporting students in their copyright infringements.

Their argument is that the govt shouldn't fund education to universities that do not "teach the proper moral values."

Clearly this is misguided lobbying on the part of MPAA. Because some students decide to break the law, doesn't mean that the universities condone their action.

The universities are not the police and are not the MPAA.

Yes, ironically the MPAA does have a point. If you are sharing music that you didn't purchase, you're violating copyrights and should be held accountable.

But this point is lost due to their grandstanding.

Two wongs don't make a wright. ;-)

[CLBradford]

Media (A limited few rich people) own the Goverment

Let's see how long this stays up, but the fact is the public is feed what they think buy Goverment and Media.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13062.htm

[frankz00]

Is Movie Piracy Really That Bad???

I think movies are doing quite okay considering. They make a ton of money because they're very smart about their back catalogs. What I mean is that it's much easier and more convenient for me to walk into Walmart or Circuit City and pay $5 - 10 for an older movie than it is to torrent.

I just don't think it's worth it for them to make a-holes out of themselves when it's not as bad a situation as it is for music.

In either case, both music companies and movie companies need to learn to work with the new technical realities or they will die. Legislation is not going to fix their situation.

[raptorirq6665]

Seriously

if this guy actually believes any of that ignorant crap, he should be disbarred. The entire Copyright law is corrupt and needs to be rewritten. It's not the people's fault if the government and the major record labels are 10 years behind the rest of us.

[CLBradford]

You must be early on in your Major

Unfortunately in our advisarial system we call Law
It is this mans duty to advance his clients interest. If the client presents a gray area that can be used for precident on future actions, a sad state of affairs surely but it is where we find ourselves. If this chafes your sense of justice, Good, go ask your Professors what were the ideals and principles behind Jeffersonian Lawyers. Or better yet research them yourself, this Republic could use more of them. No I am not a Lawyer, just have a love for the lost art of Law

[dgrant6230]

stupid!!!

This has got to be the stupidist thing I've heard in quite some time. What about roads? They're used for drug trafficing, speeding, illegal alien smuggling and bunches of other illegal activities. Is Congress going to cut their subsidies too?

[E McCann]

How utterly ignorant.

Cars are sometimes used by people who download music, too. Maybe we should cut drivers ed funding? (Oh, wait, education budgets already get gutted.) People might use busses while listening to downloaded music or watching ripped movies - or even *gasp* going to buy an MP3 player, some of which can play music! Perhaps we should tie funding for public transportation to piracy measures!

The MPAA needs to get slapped down, as does the RIAA, HARD. They're out of freaking control.

[dondarko]

yeah lets defund already defunded colleges

and make the cost of going to college even more expensive and unattainable. that's perfect recipe for future disaster in this country. While the rest of the world continues to expand and make higher education more affordable we're going the opposite way.

RIAA and music industry need to take a look at themselves and why piracy is happening to them first and foremost.