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September 15, 2005, 03:38 PM ET
A Hard Line Against Piracy
This summer Marquette University became the first institution to sign up for the Business Software Alliance’s "Define the Line" program, a campaign designed to persuade college students not to swap copyrighted computer programs. At the time, campus officials said they wanted to cut file sharing by teaching ethical lessons, instead of simply offering students legal alternatives to their favorite peer-to-peer networks.
How is the university working to win the hearts and minds of software-swapping students? So far, campus officials have handed out brochures provided by the software trade group, tacked some antipiracy posters to walls, and mentioned the dangers of copyright infringement during a seminar on campus safety. One administrator calls the campaign "a natural fit with Marquette’s mission." But skeptics may argue that the university’s coalition with the trade group is more a matter of circumstance than one of altruism: Marquette appears to have joined "Define the Line" at the recommendation of UGS, a software company (and a member of the trade group) that donated more than $30-million of software to the university last year. (The Marquette Tribune)
For more on the "Define the Line" campaign, see an article from The Chronicle by Brock Read.
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