Curb Illegal Downloading on College Campuses Act of 2007

This proposed legislation has the title, “To provide support to combat illegal downloading on college and university campuses,” and may be cited as the “Curb Illegal Downloading on College Campuses Act of 2007.” It was sponsored by Rep. Ric Keller (Fl.) on March 26, 2007, and referred on June 27, 2007 to the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.”

Section 2 of this bill provides the basis for its introduction in Congress, which found that “(c)omputer systems at colleges and universities are intended primarily to aid in educating and increase research capability among students and faculty. Increased illegal downloading and distribution of content through peer-to-peer networks puts great strain on these systems and imposes significant costs on universities,” and that “(p)rograms can be developed that will stop illegal downloading while still maintaining student privacy and academic freedom.”

This bill seeks to provide the Secretary of Education the authority to use the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education for assistance to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations in the establishment of pilot programs and initiatives on college campuses to reduce illegal downloading of copyrighted content.  The goal is to improve the security and integrity of campus computer networks and save telecommunications bandwidth costs, while seeing to it that such bandwidth is available for research and educational purposes.

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