ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


824 C&RL News D ecember 2002 /  ■ 

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e C a rrie  Russell

This m o n th ’s W ashington Hotline focuses not 
on w hat is happening in Washington, D.C. but 
w hat is happening locally at your colleges and 
universities. In October, the Recording Indus­
try A sso ciatio n  o f A m erica (RIAA), th e  Mo­
tio n  Picture A ssociation o f A m erica, th e  N a­
tional Music P ublishers’ A ssociation, an d  the 
Songw riters G uild o f A merica sent a letter to 
university presidents and provosts requesting 
that college administrators develop policies and 
specific procedures to stop file sharing on cam­
pus networks.

After m eeting w ith RIAA, five higher e d u ­
cation associations (the American Association 
o f C om m unity Colleges, th e A m erican Asso­
ciation o f State Colleges a n d  Universities, the 
American Council o n  Education, th e Associa­
tio n  o f A m erican U niversities, a n d  th e  N a­
tio n al A ssociation o f State U niversities an d  
L and-G rant Colleges) sen t a follow -up letter 
to university presidents reiterating the concerns 
o f th e  c o p y rig h t c o n te n t industries. Specifi­
cally, both o f these letters urge college adm in­
istrators to dev elo p  codes o f co nduct regard­
ing copyright and to develop procedures to take 
dow n, identify, o r b lo ck  p ee r-to -p e e r activi­
ties on campus.

Clearly, there is evidence that students are 
using peer-to-peer networks to share music and 
o th e r files, an d  th e se  activities are often, al­
though not always, infringements of copyright. 
W idespread use o f peer-to-p eer technologies 
also can  have an overall negative im pact on 
cam pus netw ork operations overburdened by 
th e  in c re a se d  u se  o f b a n d w id th . H o w ev er, 
these letters m ake no m ention o f several addi­
tional concerns. Universities have n ev er b een  
in th e business o f policing cam pus com puter 
netw orks and other communication venues on 
behalf of copyright holders or anyone else. In 
fact, intellectual freedom — the freedom  to  in­
quire, learn, a n d  q u estio n  w ith o u t fear o f re­
prisal or monitoring— is a central ten et of aca­
dem e. U niversities th at c h o o se  to  police the 
comm unications o f the academ ic comm unity,

Carrie Russell is c o p y rig h t specialist f o r  th e  O ffice  fo r  
Inform ation Technology Policy a t ALA's Washington Office; 
e-mail: crussell@alawash.org

particularly o n  b eh alf o f a third party, run the 
risk o f tram pling intellectual freedom .

C o n ten t in d u stries s h o u ld  b e  u sin g  legal 
m ech a n ism s if th e y  w a n t to  p re v e n t p e o p le  
fro m  e n g a g in g  in  file sh arin g . U niversities 
should not allow themselves to be manipulated 
into enforcing private visions of the law  w ith­
o ut appropriate decisions from courts and leg­
islatures.

T h ro u g h  their action, RIAA, copyright in ­
dustries, and higher education associations have 
g otten the attention o f college administrators. 
Now ACRL librarians n eed  to act. Take advan­
tage o f this golden opportunity and be involved 
w h en  codes of conduct and copyright policies 
are  w ritten . In fact, ACRL lib rarian s sh o u ld  
offer to  c h a ir th e  c o m m itte e s c h a rg e d  w ith 
these activities and ensure that a fully balanced 
approach to these issues is understood and es­
poused.

Why? Librarians understand copyright law. 
Librarians u n derstand that copyright is n o t an 
effective law  if it d o e s n o t m ain tain  th e  b a l­
ance b e tw e e n  th e rights o f copyright holders 
an d  the rights of those w h o  w ish to  use copy­
righted m aterials. We u n d e rsta n d  th at co p y ­
right sets limits o n  the exclusive rights o f copy­
right holders— an d  som e file-sharing activities 
are absolutely lawful. We understand that our 
colleges and universities live and breathe copy­
right. It is o u r c lie n te le  th a t “a d v a n c e  th e  
pro g ress o f scien ce an d  the useful arts.” We 
are the obvious choice to play a leadership role 
in policymaking.

The content industries have advanced their 
position and, to a great extent, w e understand 
their concerns. Piracy is w rong, students and 
faculty d o  n eed to understand and respect copy­
right law, and cam pus netw ork broadband ser­
vices n e e d  to b e  m anaged for the g o o d  of all. 
B ut th e r e  is m o re  to  th e  sto ry  th a t o n ly  w e  
have the credibility to assert. Frequently sought 
out as the cam pus copyright experts, librarians 
w o rk  w ith b o th  users a n d  creators, em brace 
th e free flow o f inform ation, a n d  believe that 
e v en  stu d en ts d eserv e th eir d ay  in court. Li­
b ra ria n s k n o w  c o p y rig h t. D o n ’t sit idly by. 
Frankly, I d o n ’t think w e w an t RIAA to tell us 
h o w  to run o ur cam puses. ■

mailto:crussell@alawash.org