The House of Representatives education committee passed a bill this morning that would set higher-education policy for the next five years — and despite the efforts of campus officials and lobbyists, the measure directs colleges to take steps to combat illegal file sharing.
The legislation tells institutions to “develop a plan” for offering legal alternatives to piracy, and it also commands colleges to consider “technology-based deterrents” that attempt to block infringing peer-to-peer transactions. Higher-education groups like Educause and the American Council on Education — which have long stressed their opposition to the antipiracy dictates — organized a last-minute effort to quash the controversial language. But the file-sharing provision was never discussed during a markup of the bill yesterday.
The measure will now head to the whole House for a floor vote, but that vote may not take place until next year. —Brock Read
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