EDUCAUSE Takes Action on Higher Education Act

EDUCAUSE has joined other organizations in signing a letter from the American Council on Education to U.S. congressional leaders about requirements in the House and Senate joint committee report of the final version of the Higher Education Act (HEA) Reauthorization. The letter applauds certain provisions of the HEA but cites the drawback of “an extraordinary number of new reporting and regulatory federal requirements,” including those addressing peer-to-peer file sharing.

The EDUCAUSE analysis focuses on two principal requirements that will be challenging for higher education institutions: (1) that every college and university will develop “plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including…the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents”; and (2) that institutions “will, to the extent practicable, offer alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property, as determined by the institution in consultation with the chief technology officer or other designated officer of the institution.”

The analysis finds that these provisions are, respectively, weaker and stronger than what the higher education community was seeking in earlier drafts of the legislation, requiring each institution to carefully interpret the legislation’s language in deciding how to comply, assuming the legislation is enacted.

Browse related EDUCAUSE resources on P2P File Sharing.