Resources

The latest resources from the EDUCAUSE Policy office. Resources include letters, policy briefs, and more. For a full listing of EDUCAUSE Policy Resources, click here. For resources specific to policy issues that are actively monitored by the EDUCAUSE Policy office, please visit Issues and Positions.

• ECPA Reform Letter in Support of Leahy Amendment (9/17/12)
  EDUCAUSE has joined with businesses and other trade associations in this letter sent by the Digital Due Process coalition to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging support for Senator Leahy’s September 13 amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act. This amendment which would prevent companies from sharing customer emails without a search warrant in most cases. Provisions to that bill would amend parts of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The coalition argues that the out-of-date protections in ECPA for access to e-mail and other electronics could hamper the growth of cloud computing and other technologies.
• Ex Parte Contact in USF Contribution Methodology (8/30/12)
  On Wednesday, August 29, 2012, Greg Jackson (Vice President, EDUCAUSE) and John Windhausen (Telepoly Consulting), on behalf of EDUCAUSE, met with Vickie Robinson, Ernesto Beckford and Charles Eberle of the FCC's Telecommunications Access Policy Division to discuss the Universal Service Contribution Methodology proceeding. This notice provides a summary of those points and of that conversation.
• EDUCAUSE USF Reform Reply Comments (8/6/12)
  Reply comments sent by EDUCAUSE to the Federal Communications Commission on August 6, 2012 in the matter of the Universal Service Contribution Methodology (WC Docket No. 06-122), A National Broadband Plan for Our Future. This document follows earlier comments submitted by EDUCAUSE in this matter and is a response to some of the other commenters regarding the proposed reform of the Universal Service Fund (USF) contribution methodology. The document reinforces the EDUCAUSE views that 1) basing USF contributions on telephone numbers, unrelated to actual usage of the network, would impose an inordinate burden on low-volume users, would not be sustainable, and would violate the principle of fairness, and 2) private networks that do not serve the general public, such as those operated by colleges and universities, should not be subject to USF fees. It also points out that most of the initial comments in this proceeding support these views.
• ECPA Amendment Letter (7/31/12)
  In this letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell, EDUCAUSE joined with the Association of Research Libraries, businesses, and other trade associations to support Senate Amendment 2580, cited as the “Electronic Communications Privacy Act,” to the Cybersecurity Act (S. 3414). This amendment would provide privacy protections for email and other electronic communications — including requiring that the government obtain a search warrant based on probable cause in order to obtain email content. The amendment would also implement the first principle of the Digital Due Process (DDP) coalition -- of which EDUCAUSE is a member -- whose goal is to simplify, clarify, and unify the ECPA standards. More information can be found in the August 3, 2012 blog, "EDUCAUSE Joins Letter in Support of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendment.
• USF Reform Comments to the FCC (7/9/12)
  Comments sent by EDUCAUSE, AAU, ACE, APLU, AASCU, and NACUBO to the Federal Communications Commission about the proposed reform of the Universal Service Fund contribution methodology. These comments support reform while also urging the FCC to retain some key principles, “particularly the need to avoid imposing an unfair burden on any sector, and the treatment of educational institutions as ‘end users’ and not as ‘providers’ of telecommunications.”
• Networking, Telephony, and USF Patterns in Higher Education: A Sample Snapshot (7/3/12)
  The FCC recently opened a proceeding to consider how to reform its collection of fees for the Universal Service Fund and may reach a decision in this matter later this year. In the first quarter of 2012, EDUCAUSE undertook a sample survey to assess college and university contributions to the federal USF governed by the FCC and how changes in the FCC formula might affect our members. This ECAR bulletin presents the results of that survey, along with some scenarios for changing USF contributions and how those alternatives might affect higher education.
• Comments on the Department of Education Distance Learning Financial Fraud Rulemaking (5/29/12)
  Comments touch on the use of technology to identify fraud (particularly IP and e-mail tracking) and identity verification requirements, and EDUCAUSE cites "examples of community-based, community-driven projects to establish that ED may find more effective ways to address its identity verification concerns through dialogue and collaboration with the higher education IT community."
• A Case for Fair Use: The Georgia State Decision (5/15/12)
  This policy brief summarizes the long-awaited opinion released May 11, 2012 in the Georgia State University e-reserves copyright infringement case, and provides analysis of what this means for higher ed.
• How USF Reform Might Affect Colleges and Universities: Some Early Appraisal (5/3/12)
  The FCC appears poised to change how USF contributions are collected. A recent sample survey of colleges and universities provides some insight into how a revised USF formula might affect higher education.
• HEOA Peer-to-Peer Forum Presentations
  MPAA and UNC presentations from the HEOA Peer-to-Peer Forum jointly sponsored by EDUCAUSE and NBCUniversal on April 7, 2012.
• EDUCAUSE Ex Parte Notice for FCC USF Contribution Meeting (4/16/12)
  The letter shares about a meeting that took place on April 13, 2012 to discuss this matter, and EDUCAUSE's desire to seek a "predictable, simple, equitable and long-lasting alternative mechanism [of collecting USF fees on interstate and international end-user telephone calls]."
• ACE Letter Urging Vote on State Authorization Repeal (2/27/12)
  The letter urges the Representatives to vote for H.R. 2117, which would repeal two highly problematic and prescriptive regulations initiated by the Department of Education (ED): the credit hour definition and state authorization regulations.