Sunday, November 04, 2007
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U. of Oregon Says No to John Doe fighting the recording industry's antipiracy lawsuits
U. of Oregon Says No to John Doe

Add the University of Oregon to the small but growing list of institutions that are fighting the recording industry's antipiracy lawsuits: The university is asking a federal judge to quash subpoenas seeking the names of 17 campus song-swapping suspects. The Recording Industry Association of America asked Oregon officials to forward pre-litigation notices -- which offer discounted rates for out-of-court settlements -- to the students earlier this year. But the university declined, so the trade group went ahead and filed a "John Doe" subpoena that called on Oregon to name students identified only by Internet-protocol numbers. When faced with similar subpoenas, most colleges have acquiesced. But according to Ars Technica, Oregon officials enlisted the state attorney general's office to help them argue that they simply cannot identify the students the RIAA wants to sue. Most of the students did their file sharing from the university's wireless network, campus officials say, and several others used computers in double-occupancy dorm rooms. Students have to enter user names when they log on to the campus network, but the university says it cannot conclusively determine whether the people who signed on to the network were the ones guilty of copyright infringement. Oregon officials say they don't have the resources to conduct a more thorough investigation on the recording industry's behalf. The John Doe subpoena "requir es the university to create discoverable material to assist plaintiffs in their litigation rather than merely disclose existing documents," wrote the university in an affidavit. --Brock Read
Campus Librarians Fight Proposed Expansion of Surveillance Powers

College librarians are leading a charge against measures in the House and Senate that would grant federal intelligence agencies great latitude in gathering data on library patrons. The bills, which are intended to replace a temporary law amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, would let the government force "communications-service providers" to hand over information about the activity of users who are not U.S. citizens. Government officials would not be compelled to demonstrate probable cause that subjects are spies or terrorists, reports The Washington Post. (The Department of Justice has stated that libraries are considered to be Internet-service providers.) Campus librarians say it's all too easy to imagine scenarios in which federal investigators look in on foreign students who just happen to use library machines or networks as they conduct research at American colleges or from overseas. The Association of Research Libraries, the American Library Association, and the Association of American Universities are lobbying to have the bill amended. So far, though, the response from lawmakers has not been encouraging. "You know what happens if that gets into the bill?" asked Sen. Christopher S. Bond, a Missouri Republican who helped craft the Senate measure, of the amendment favored by the library groups. "You would have your libraries filled with al Qaeda operatives." --Brock Read

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Sunday, November 04, 2007 7:00:45 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Related posts:
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