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New bill threatens to pull financial aid for colleges whose students download

Contributed by Adlai_E_Stevenson. Posted by aubin on Monday, November 12, 2007 at 2:15 PM (EST)

The latest volley in the file sharing war seems designed to turn fellow students into copyright enforcement agents and punish innocent bystanders. According to CNET, a Democrat-sponsored bill would cut off all financial aid if universities did not agree to test "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity," all of their students -- even ones who don't own a computer -- would lose federal financial aid.

A number of universities including representatives from Yale, Stanford, Maryland and Penn responded:

Such an extraordinarily inappropriate and punitive outcome would result in all students on that campus losing their federal financial aid--including Pell grants and student loans that are essential to their ability to attend college, advance their education, and acquire the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century economy.

Lower-income students, those most in need of federal financial aid, would be harmed most under the entertainment industry's proposal.

The proposal, which is embedded in a 747-page spending and financial aid bill, comes with the support of the MPAA.

News (69 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

trevor_the_exploder (November 12, 2007)

shows what our country really values when it comes to education vs. big business...

2+ Replies

YasserBossin (November 12, 2007)

ladies and gentlemen, the most worthwhile first comment ever.....

Thus_Spoke_Sean (November 12, 2007)

no shit. stuff like this makes me so frustrated. why does everything have to be raped? can't we just have some fucking art and education every now and then?

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

This is the most ridiculous shit ever! Because major labels whine to the government and give the politicians lots of money, they have the power to prevent the education of american citizens? This country is so fucked up.

5+ Replies

InstantDharma (November 12, 2007)

It's the MPAA dumbass, not the major labels. And quit whining. If you losers hadn't decided it was ok to steal music and movies, this wouldn't have happened. The problem is YOU, not them. You brought this on yourself.

Nameless (November 12, 2007)

Yeah... 'cause all those kids without computers and don't download deserve to be kicked out of school because they can't pay for it.

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

Fuck you. I don't download music, so don't assume fuckface.

InstantDharma (November 12, 2007)

well bully for you, but most kids do. So why don't you do something about it, since they're fucking things up for you?

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

They're not fucking things up for me. I'm already finished with college and have the loans to prove it. I just think it's bs that illegal music downloading should have anything to do with kids getting an education. It is an individual decision to do it, and if you get caught, then so be it. Schools should not be punished because their networks are being used illegally by individuals.

spalmer (November 12, 2007)

What a stupid idea. How can colleges possibly have such oversight? Canada knows what the fuck is going on- there is no way to regulate this.

1+ Reply

Autosuggestion (November 12, 2007)

Colleges aren't supporting it.

Woland (November 12, 2007)

campaign finance reform!

mikemikemike (November 12, 2007)

ridiculous.

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

Why do we need an education? Can't everyone just become musicians, sports heroes, actors, and fucking politicians?

1+ Reply

Cottage_Cheese (November 12, 2007)

I'm gonna be a career lottery winner... don't need no college for that!

baseball (November 12, 2007)

i guess denying financial aid for students with drug offenses isn't good enough anymore, let's isolate even more of the student population!

this is ridiculous

cpp_ (November 12, 2007)

never felt better, living in Canada.

nina_d (November 12, 2007)

i'm glad i'm not in college anymore.

karmabad (November 12, 2007)

what a horrible idea. in fact, this is the one of the dumbest ideas i've heard all year. there's no way this is going to happen....what a lame and ridiculous threat. fucking tards

http://thisblogisover.wordpress.com/

Dante3000 (rich) (November 12, 2007)

Would it impend on college kids downloading illegal porn? That's really where the money's at.

Anyhow, it's not a college issue. It's great that MPAA (the motion picture thing right?) has padded the pockets of the this politician so they can "test" their software on a ton of unwilling college students but the halls of higher education are not your fucking test subjects.
College isn't supposed to be a marketing group, a place to slang credit cards to kids who are already neck deep in debt, or a place to start your stupid religious cult. It's a time for kids to pay through the nose for a mediocre education (that they likely wont utilize), and a little piece of paper that somehow makes them more desirable in the job market. If they're really lucky it's a place for some kid to talk a couple of sexually uncertain sorority sisters into a threesome that will o

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3+ Replies

Banal242 (November 12, 2007)

I am only 23 but have considered running for local office so I can start my political climb. That's where all the money is.

My plan is to be the most vague politician ever. Everyone will be apathetic enough for me to win.

veganboyjosh (November 12, 2007)

My plan is to be the most vague politician ever. Everyone will be apathetic enough for me to win.

i'd vote for you...if i gave a crap.

Banal242 (November 12, 2007)

That's the spirit!

Nameless (November 12, 2007)

I don't know Dante... I've been stopped by a couple of people that would throw your religious cult theory out the window.

colin (November 12, 2007)

dems are scaring me more and more these days. first the refusal on the floor to impeach cheney (the republicans are why it passed) and their seemingly unflinching support of the record industry. i know they're a big money party and all but basic fundamental ideas of what is going on are escaping the politicians.

i mean, come on, this won't ever pass and if anything it loses the support of youth for the party that is supposed to be about "changing the direction" and all that.

whatever, fucking politicians. paint 'em red or blue, they're all the same.

5+ Replies

Thus_Spoke_Sean (November 12, 2007)

whatever, fucking politicians. paint 'em red or blue, they're all the same.

they sure are! americans are made to think that Repubs and Dems are these two polar opposite parties, while they are are infact almost identical.

They are supposed to be too, it keeps our system from straying to the left or the right. People think of things like socialism as just some unimaginable evil, but thats ACTUALLY an extreme.

victim (November 13, 2007)

Wow, a one sentence rebuttal to 150+ years of class struggle

jacknife737 (November 12, 2007)

'their seemingly unflinching support of the record industry"

i don't know, but i think if that's a major issue for you, you've got to stop, take some time to think, and reevaluate your priorities.

colin (November 12, 2007)

take into account the recent decision to make a woman pay 200 grand in fees for downloading music. the lawyers for the industry probably charged more than that on the case alone. the industry isn't making any money back, they're just hurting people who probably have bought a cd in their life.

yes i know there are much bigger fish to fry but i figure i'd stay off the topic of giving bush more money for the war or guantanamo bay.

fallingupwards84 (November 12, 2007)

ok Tom Gabel

Banal242 (November 12, 2007)

That's Laura Gabel.

Tobin_Ownlife (November 12, 2007)

Dissent! This is disgusting. I wish I had the financial freedom to leave this fucking place.

returnofdebs (November 12, 2007)

where are all the ron paul gomers to tell us how he would change this? maybe they are too busy hanging homemade signs on the traffic lights by my house.

3+ Replies

ConsolationPrizefighter (November 12, 2007)

Great post.

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

Ron Paul would change this

PunkHasDied (November 12, 2007)

HaHa just kidding. Fuck Ron Paul and all of the other texans. Stupidest people in the nation

Autosuggestion (November 12, 2007)

This is just an incentive to make schools provide evidence that they have a plan for implementing a technology to address illegal file sharing.

A few years ago Duke "gave" every freshman an iPod and incorporated software to make it work with school. A lot of schools now are doing the same thing ("giving" students new technology, paid for by their tuition and fees) with internet pay to play music sites like the new Napster, Rhapsody, and Ruckus to try to combat this issue, giving kids a way to get music (because they know kids are going to go after it regardless and just take the risk), while not having the entertainment industry badger them or go apeshit and sue the 19 year old who downloaded the new Rihanna song and an episode of Lost.

Strip away personal incentive over whether or not you are going to download the new Wilhelm Scream album and re

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1+ Reply

NoUse4aScnName00 (November 12, 2007)

I should have downloaded the new Wilhelm Scream.......It isn't their best effort. :(

manitou1 (November 12, 2007)

Ok now I'm pissed. They want to yank your EDUCATION MONEY because Lars driving around LA in his Bentley is more important? Anyone in a jurasdiction affected by this bill should FIGHT IT TO THE DEATH.

6+ Replies

InstantDharma (November 12, 2007)

You're a fucking retard. You use one example of a rich musician, when the fact is most musicians have difficulty making ends meet. Yet you steal from them. You're the ultimate douchebag.

Dante3000 (rich) (November 12, 2007)

But the artists who are pushing the hardest for these regulations and who receive more support from the RIAA are the multi-millionaires. I agree that downloading can hurt a small band as much (more than, actually) than large bands but they're aren't the ones being represented here.
-Dante

GlassPipeMurder (November 12, 2007)

BANANARCHY!!11

InstantDharma (November 12, 2007)

You're so wrong, Dante.

The RIAA is nothing more than a made-up boogeyman for the thieves.

Are you gonna tell me that people only steal songs from the musicians that are millionaires? No, they steal everything. And they hurt the non-millionaire bands more than anyone else.

You all brought this on yourselves. Deal with the consequences.

TheRedDeath (November 12, 2007)

"made-up boogeyman for the theives"....Do you have any actual evidence or logical thought process to back this statement up?

Nameless (November 12, 2007)

You idiot. His point wasn't that people were only stealing anything from the millionaires--it was that it's the multi-millionaires that seem to be bitching about downloading the most. Not the ones that downloading actually hurts.

The fact of the matter is that the government has no right to take away financial aid for all students. If you want to take it away from the kids who download, then fine, I guess. But leave everyone else out of it, they didn't do anything. This is just scare tactics, and a step towards Orwellian dystopia.

fallingupwards84 (November 12, 2007)

way to go Democrats, thanks a lot

3+ Replies

GlassPipeMurder (November 12, 2007)

i know, how terrible is this!!

it's not like we've got an economy-draining war that's been going on for the last 5 years or anything.

jacknife737 (November 12, 2007)

I know, this is 100 times more worse then aids, darfur, health care reform and iraq combined!!

fallingupwards84 (November 12, 2007)

which the Democrats are doing NOTHING to stop. they're not even trying.

so yeah, they're fucking up every opportunity now to right all the wrongs that neo-cons have done since the Reagan era... whether its big things like foreign policy or small things like this

neffernin (November 13, 2007)

The Republicans are evil and the democrats are fuckups/inept. Its lose-lose

deadbug (November 12, 2007)

Good. Maybe students will leave those major universities causing them to close down... Just a thought.

3+ Replies

SloaneDaley (November 12, 2007)

yes what we need is less educated people, please please please.

jacknife737 (November 12, 2007)

yep because being able to steal music is wayyyy so much better then an education

jacknife737 (November 12, 2007)

times like these, i wish we had an "edit" function.

GlassPipeMurder (November 12, 2007)

i find this hilarious.

Cuffer (November 12, 2007)

This is retarded. Thank god Maryland is against this, finally something my school says that i agree with.

acris (November 12, 2007)

Usa! usa! usa!

cagedpopmachine (November 12, 2007)

that can't be a real bill...

Seanzor (November 12, 2007)

Ron Paul better win next year, hooray for less government! Right about now the Government is just pissing me off more. It's not our fault most movies made are so shitty no one wants to go to the theater to see them. I'm considering becoming a Canadian. Who's with me?

3+ Replies

Autosuggestion (November 12, 2007)

Then why do you want to watch them at all?

Why don't you just come out and say that you want shit for free because you feel like you're entitled to it?

Banal242 (November 12, 2007)

Yeah, the RIAA will crumble in that pro-big business atmosphere.

fallingupwards84 (November 13, 2007)

i'm not sure how many times it must be said that Ron Paul is anti-big business before some of you knuckleheads finally get it

sugarfull (November 12, 2007)

This reminds me of how in the distant past, leaders would wipe out a village as a punishment for one man's crime.

1+ Reply

victim (November 13, 2007)

By distant past do you mean yesterday?

insertcoolnamehere (November 12, 2007)

This is outright insane, i feel really sorry for all you Americans, your political system is pretty fucked up. I really think that the RIAA and MPAA have to come up with positive solutions and stop crying. If record labels and production companies can't survive on their own without government intervention, then other types of business' too bad. Others willl come in and fulfill these needs in the market. Isn't that what the U.S.A is all about?

DontTaserMeBro (November 12, 2007)

so... i'm noticing that this is sorta counterproductive in the long run. what you're saying is... i'm a poor kid (and yeah, i am...) and i'm currently in college on financial aid and loans. and if it weren't for financial aid and scholarship money (which is paying a majority of my college), i wouldn't be in college. now, i don't know about you guys - but if i could go out and buy all the fucking cds i want - i would! but i'm broke and all the money i get goes to books. but wait don't they always tell you if you get a degree you'll make more money than your dead end minimum wage job?

so in short... if i don't have financial aid, i don't go to school, if i don't go to school, i don't have money, if i don't have money, i don't buy cds, if i don't buy cds... then i fucking download them.

ALL THIS WILL DO IS ENCOURAGE MORE DOWNLOA

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xfightmenowx (November 13, 2007)

Are you fucking kidding me?

fox82 (November 13, 2007)

How about they just cut the financial aid for students who get busted with illegal downloads? Makes more sense.

But seriously, universities in the UK try to curb on downloading by restricting access to P2P apps on their network. You can't download stuff or play online games. That way, if you use that stuff, it's down to you getting your own internet connection outside of their influence.

Crazy!

1+ Reply

Autosuggestion (November 13, 2007)

Right. And that is exactly what this bill is trying to do. They are not actually planning on cutting aid. They are using that as a threat to make universities enact a real plan to try to prevent it just like what you have described in the UK. The thought is that the threat of cutting federal financial aid is so big that universities will have to do it.

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