House approves MPAA-backed college antipiracy rules

[Hairbautt]

"The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a higher-education funding bill that includes controversial new antipiracy obligations for universities."

"The 354-58 vote to approve the College Opportunity and Affordability Act leaves intact an entertainment industry-backed provision, which makes up just a tiny part of a bill that has ballooned to more than 800 pages.

It says higher-education institutions participating in federal financial aid programs "shall" devise plans for "alternative" offerings to unlawful downloading--such as subscription-based services--or "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity.""

Source: Full Article @ C|Net NewsBlogs - Posted by Anne Broache

[MagusDraco]

...

Well that's just fucked up.

[Aaxel21]

Always picking on the defenceless poor college students.

[svenseven]

I bet tuition will go up due to them having to enforce these stupid laws... though I think it still has to pass the senate and president dumbass.

[Aaxel21]

I wouldn't doubt it. All they need is a reason to hike tuition.

[tusks]

It says higher-education institutions participating in federal financial aid programs "shall" devise plans for "alternative" offerings to unlawful downloading--such as subscription-based services--or "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity."

What cheap alternatives do students have that can provide the same volume of content at the same speed that is available on newsgroups, trackers, ftps, etc?

[grimms]

Always picking on the defenceless poor college students.

My thoughts exactly. The'll do any thing, including sueing your grandmother to protect profits.

[deepee]

since college traffic accounts for a lot of the bittorrent traffic, it ll be sad to see it go