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Act Now: Senate Forcing Colleges to Spy on Students

secure.eff.org — Twenty-five schools will annually be singled out, required to police their students with network surveillance technologies, and forced to provide evidence to the Secretary of Education about their efforts to stop file sharing.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 25, 2007

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  • jollyholly, on 10/10/2007, -1/+79"The Higher Education Act is supposed to make going to college more affordable, but, under a last-minute amendment, certain schools would risk losing federal funding for student aid if they don't divert funds away from education and toward policing corporate copyrighted content on their campus network."

    Gotta love those last minute amendments that can totally change the letter of the law.. Good thing the government is looking out for those students first, corporate interests last..
  • 11Heather, on 10/10/2007, -2/+41How many Senators do you think actually bothered to read this, or even get briefed on it before giving it he nod? Criminal.
  • Andy.D, on 10/10/2007, -4/+41Ars reports that the Senator has already backed down and canceled the amendment (see the end of the post), good work everyone!

    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070723-bill-would-force-top-25-piracy-schools-to-adopt-anti-p2p-technology.html

  • iamtheinternet, on 10/10/2007, -3/+27the amendment was dropped. problem solved (or at least postponed)
  • Wolt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15Not all file sharing is illegal.
  • lordfoul, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Typical MPAA/RIAA/BSA *****; getting the government to do what is their job, police their own content. Why should schools have to do this for them? Stupid, stupid *****.
  • wildfire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8At least I go to a private college -- although they can barely manage to keep the computers running much less monitor everyone's activities. I'd think for $330/credit hour they wouldn't be using WebSense either, so I can do art research without "Adult Content Filtered" messages -- at an art school of all places.
  • beowulflee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6No they shouldn't. It's not their job to be police. And I certainly don't want my monthly fees to increase just because corporations want them to.
  • sarge96, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6In other news, RIAA, and the MPAA donate $10,000,000 to the Senators campaign.
  • sathias, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Thats two threads in a row that I have seen your spam in, blocked
  • wildfire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Since the action alert is no longer available: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005372.php
  • Ryosen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3With the democrats coming back into power, the RIAA and MPAA don't need to change tactics.

    They just need to change the names on the checks.
  • thebellmaster1x, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I'm pretty sure that no college is a colelge.

    ...Sorry.
  • acceptab1euname, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Grandparent was probably one of those asscandles back on Slashdot who used to bitch about how it was so America-centric.
  • restlessdesign, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Gee let me guess, the first "random" 25 schools will include...http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070402-mpaa-names-its-top-25-movie-piracy-schools.html
  • Pritchard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Can I get a citation on this? I'm running into problems with that site so I can't check if it's stated there.
  • krusader3z, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What college has websense installed? I don't believe you.
  • Ryosen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The amendment was dropped but the problem certainly was not solved. The amendment never should have been put in there in the first place and it will return, snuck into another bill, hoping to go unnoticed. The fact that our congressional leaders are so easily bought for corporate interests in a major problem. Nothing has been solved here - only postponed.
  • smurf22, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What happened to our constitution?
  • cricoste90, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3SSH FTW!
  • unitedstatians, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2what noise is all about: Police bribe student activists to spy on their fellow student protesters for amnesty on future prosections.

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/spy-for-us-and-well-drop-charge/2007/06/17/1182018939024.html
  • wildfire, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I can send you a screenshot. They did it mainly to stop people from dicking around (read MySpace) during class.
  • nuggetz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4What the ***** is going on here. lots of stories on digg about big brother yet no stories on what we can do about it. Digging these stories wont solve *****.
  • abdrahman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2ISPs should not get involved in censoring or restricting content... unless they want to give up their "common carrier" status. If they restrict filesharing, then legally they are responsible for any filesharing that continues to go on, and also will be in trouble if some guy decides to download kiddie porn.
  • jellygraph, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2In other news... enrollments to colleges have been progressively been dropping off. Local authorities said to be "surprised".
  • jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -4/+6buried, amendment no longer exists
  • valkyries, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3So say im am working for a large company with a NDA and other agreements that makes the information we are sending each other "secret" . By law if anyone that is not a recipient of the email read the data they be breaking the law, correct? So this large corporation i work for(much larger and richer then riaa/mpaa) would have the right to sue them right?
  • diagonalfish, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Let's see. You're happily stating in public that you want to commit piracy, is that it? I wonder why the RIAA/MPAA thinks piracy is rampant, hmm?
  • cnot3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2oh come now buddy, uncle sam knows whats best for everyone
  • alricsca, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2What you all are watching are Senators testing the waters to see what the level of awareness is on these issues. He never intended this to go anywhere. Shoot his own staff probably released the information. Shortly you will be seeing various Senators and Representatives drafting variations on this to test the waters. This will of course allows them to suckle at the teats of their masters, who will pay whatever it takes to get this passed. I suspect there is still realignment going on, as well. With the Democrats coming back into power the RIAA and MPAA need to start pushing new tactics and reaching out to new schills. In turn the schills need to test how far they can and cannot go with this. The fact is that the current Congress is acting in the same mold as the last. I say we vote all of these money grubbing media whores out of office. It would make the whole world a better place. For now we just need to keep up the awareness, these whores hate negative spotlights so let us keep it up.
  • Toast1185, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Stories like this are becoming more common and I for one think it is time to fight back. Flaming on the boards is all well and good, but there comes a point when we need to actually fight back. I urge you all to join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/) because they are actively fighting in Washington for the very freedoms that are currently being encroached upon.
  • diagonalfish, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Two things:

    1.) File sharing is *not* stealing. The sending party still retains the file, you have only made a copy. Therefore, it is copyright infringement (*if* the file is copyrighted), but not theft.
    2.) First file-sharing- what next? Want the government to start spying on other things too? I'm sure it can be arranged, if the right people pay the right politicians enough.
  • nukem996, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I goto a private school and there policy is you pay for classes so if you want to dick around fine, as long as it doesn't disturb others but don't complain when you fail.
  • MrObjectional, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2*Sigh*

    That's the sign of college-know-it-all-hippies.

    But in all seriousness you can find how to contact your elected officials at usa.gov
  • Skywise, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Funny isn't it? When the Republicans tack on a stupid amendment it's OMG TEH EVIL REPBULICANS ARE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD on Digg.

    When it's the Democrats doing it, it's "OMG! TEH EVIL SENATORS ARE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD"
  • MrObjectional, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Do you actually think the Senator who wrote this had any idea what he was really proposing? Actually, it was probably a lobbyist that wrote most of it...
  • syroncoda, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1it's truly amazing how relaxed the country, and especially the student bodies of these "fine" intellectual establishments, are to what is an incredible invasion of privacy. Regardless of how much this is a corporate initiative to bully free speech and rein in on cultural exploration, I find it disturbing that there isn't enough protest to these things. In any other country there would have been major protests and the entire country would here about it and talk about it on the news and its sad that the only discussion of this is online.

    /end rant
  • diagonalfish, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2... and people like you are the reason it's come to this.
  • smurf22, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I guess its time to pirate the old fashioned way, cds and walking.
  • MioTheGreat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2"the number of students identified as making unauthorized use of copyrighted materials: "

    So. They're not the top 25 piracy schools, they're the top 25 piracy but either don't care, or don't know how not to get caught schools.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1
    So stop using lame file sharing software, improve your security and most of all, get p2p developers to evolve. Stop with the privacy rights stuff. The internet was never designed with privacy or security in mind. There are many things you can do to improve your privacy and security. https://www.microchp.org/privacy/


    College students especially should be able to adapt, improvise and overcome such obstacles. Just as John Ashcroft improved anonymity on the net by being overly oppresive; this too will help build a stronger, more secure and private set of networks. They have already realized this and that is why there is so much of a push to "redo" the internet.

  • unitedstatians, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1http://digg.com/politics/U.S._government_monitoring_student_protest_emails
  • CNAIF, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The mere fact that you have a politician trying to do this is disgusting beyond belief.
    America seriously needs to flush. The bowl is full of *****.
  • 0xbadfood, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm pretty sure your NDA doesn't apply to other people. If you're sending "secret" information, encrypt it. And if you're not, encrypt it anyway...it never hurts.
  • danarama, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1file sharing is being used as an extended arm for more facist infiltration of places for free thought and independance
  • omegaredIX, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2File sharing is stealing, period. What would you do if some little college *****, or any ***** for that matter, stole the work you had devoted a lot of time to? Stop ***** stealing ***** and the government wouldn't have to spy on you.
  • tetsura, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1lol@america
  • frsrblch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Solution: Go to school in Canada. With all the money you save on tuition, even paying as an American, you could afford to buy all that ***** you pirated... not that you would, but you could if you felt like it!
  • marcene, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Pay attention to what the Department of Education wants to do so that they have oversight of all higher education, and so that they can standardize curriculum. If colleges do not participate, they lose access to federal funding. This is an administrative action (by request of the President?), not a Congressional issue. Congress is trying to put a fence around it so that the Department of Education does not have the ability to control college and university curriculum. The theory may be that Dept.of Ed has done so well fixing our K-12 schools that they now want to do the same to U.S. colleges. Is it the way they are trying to keep foreigners out of our colleges so there is more room for American students - reduce the quality?
  • petebwhat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Believe it or not, copyright *itself* is in the constitution ....
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