| The Safe Harbor model required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to protect Colleges and Universities, as network service providers, from legal liability is detrimental to the learning environment needs of higher education.;The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is targeting institutions of higher education aggressively cracking down on the amount of illegal file sharing by students on campuses all across the country. The RIAA is demanding that colleges and universities monitor their networks for illegal activity and block the certain data packets. Colleges and universities contend this demand is a violation of privacy and academic freedom, however, RIAA has lobbied congress to require colleges and universities to comply with network monitoring and educational requirements.;This research study consists of interviews with personnel from colleges and universities regarding the main issues: (1) Network monitoring -- is it used and how? (2) How is education participants made aware of copyright law offered on campus? (3) How the RIAA is affecting policies?;This project looks at the seemingly contradictory technological environment on campuses. The primary goal of higher education is free and open exchange of information for teaching and research, however, this culture of openness conflicts with the restrictions required by the RIAA. Given the contradictory goals, how are the colleges and universities solving this dilemma?... |
