Higher Education and Entertainment Communities Seek Technologies for Online Distribution of Licensed Digital Content on College Campuses

For Release: Thursday, June 19, 2003

Contact: Charles Phelps Chair of the Technology Task Force University of Rochester charles.phelps@rochester.edu 585-275-5931

Contact: Mark Luker Staff to the Technology Task Force EDUCAUSE mluker@educause.edu 202-872-4200

The Technology Task Force of the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities has issued a second public Request for Information (RFI), seeking information on technology and/or services that can distribute licensed content, such as music and movies, to authorized users of information networks at U.S. colleges and universities. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. EDT on July 14, 2003.

The second RFI is part of the Joint Committee's goal of helping to reduce copyright infringement and bandwidth saturation that occur through widespread use of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing on college and university campuses. The first RFI, whose deadline was June 2, 2003, sought information on available or planned technologies that might include such tools as traffic auditing; bandwidth shaping; file blocking, screening, and filtering; and network performance analysis.

The Joint Committee Task Force will neither recommend nor certify any technologies or services identified through the RFI process. Rather, its goal is to gather, describe, and organize the information submitted to provide a knowledge base on available technologies and/or legitimate services. Following this preliminary effort, the Joint Committee is expected to distribute a version of the information to college and university representatives, some of whom may then elect to run pilot tests on one or more of the technologies.

EDUCAUSE, the association for information technology in higher education, is distributing this announcement on behalf of the Joint Committee. The Joint Committee Web site includes the complete text of both RFIs, frequently asked questions, and a list of members of the Joint Committee and the Technology Task Force.

About EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The current membership comprises more than 2,200 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 250 corporations, with 17,000 active members. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at www.educause.edu.