Friday, November 8, 2002

Privacy Advocates Warn Colleges Not to Monitor Content of Students' File Sharing By SCOTT CARLSON An organization of privacy advocates has released an open letter urging colleges not to monitor the content of peer-to-peer and other file-sharing transmissions. The group says such monitoring could violate student privacy. The letter is a direct response to an earlier appeal to colleges from the recording-industry and motion-picture associations, which asked the institutions to use emerging technologies to monitor networks for "inappropriate use" and copyright compliance. (That letter is also available online; it can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free.) The new letter, written by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says that monitoring networks could "have a chilling effect on the marketplace of ideas" and might expose colleges to liabilities under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA. The letter also contends that adoption of monitoring technologies could lead to routine compromises of privacy and "is likely to lead to an escalating network 'arms race,' potentially harming overall network integrity and performance." The Recording Industry Association of America issued a brusque reply from its president, Cary Sherman: "I don't think anyone needs to lecture universities about academic freedom and respecting the First Amendment or privacy rights of their students." Chris J. Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the privacy group, says the entertainment industry's letter was "reasonable" in asking universities both to adopt strategies for managing bandwidth loads and to create educational programs for deterring file sharing. But, he adds, the industry stepped over the line when it urged colleges to monitor activity on their networks. "It's impossible to monitor for copyright compliance without peering into the content of communications," he says. "We argue that it's not consistent with the mission of a college and university to monitor and ban transmissions." That said, Mr. Hoofnagle does not know of any colleges engaged in monitoring content on their networks. Most colleges steer clear of such monitoring, fearing that it will compromise provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that protect Internet service providers from lawsuits. The act's so-called safe-harbor provisions allow service providers to claim immunity from lawsuits by holders of infringed copyrights as long as the providers didn't know that users of their services were breaking the law, and as long as the providers took action against the user as soon as the questionable activity was pointed out. However, Mr. Hoofnagle says he has recently heard of regents' pressuring college technology offices to adopt more invasive monitoring strategies, though he would not say where this has occurred. "There has been a lot of pressure from the recording industry on colleges and universities, and I don't think there has been a concerted counter pressure from the computing or student communities," he says. "What we're trying to do is rally students and computer professionals around these ideas." Background articles from The Chronicle: Higher-Education Organizations Urge a Crackdown on Illegal File-Sharing (10/25/2002) Film Studios Want Colleges to Block Students From Downloading Movies (10/11/2002) Tending the Net: Computer-Discipline Offices Offer a Human Touch When Investigating Student Complaints (6/7/2002) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

New admissions process at 6 U. of California campuses retains academic quality, faculty review says Stanford U. revises early-admissions policy, adopts a nonbinding plan similar to Yale's Stanford's press lays off a top editor, cuts number of humanities titles it will publish U. of Michigan punishes its men's basketball team for improper loans a booster made to players Technology will reshape research universities dramatically, science-academy report predicts Privacy advocates warn colleges not to monitor content of students' file sharing