NOT! From the “Essential Reading” section of the sidebar:
On piracy, the compromise adopts the House’s requirement that colleges develop plans to “detect and prevent” illegal downloading of music and videos on campus, including offering alternatives to illegal downloading. But negotiators provided a possible out for colleges, adding the phrase “to the extent practicable” to the language.
Now this probably won’t change anything. The RIAA will continue using Soviet-style tactics, and colleges will continue to let them. Meanwhile, “legal” means of downloading music are by-design inferior to the illegal ones, and are more concerned with granting deniability to univerisites who are themsleves afraid of getting sued than providing music to the students who are typically at the recieiving end of the recording industry’s bullying.
What this does do is make at least some federal funding contingent on schools tayloring their network contracts to the demands of the recording industry. Even on higher ed it seems our Democratic congress isn’t quite as progressive as some would hope…
Soviet-style tactics? Pay for the fucking music, you leeches!
Said Non-thief,
On May 14, 2008 at 4:33 pm: