Want Financial Aid? Don’t Download That Song
In one of the most mind-boggling feats of legislation, a new bill introduced into Congress, called the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, would eliminate federal financial aid if someone on campus participates in illegal file sharing. Even more amazing is that this proposal is contained within a 747 page bill [pdf], resulting in many in Washington not even knowing about the loss of financial aid. The bill was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on November 15, 2007.
At the heart of the proposal is that, should a university fail to combat illegal file sharing, every single student at that university will lose federal financial aid. It doesn’t matter if 99% of the students are innocent or don’t even own a computer, they’ll be held accountable and, in many cases, will be forced to drop out of college because they will be denied access to one of the most essential aids in helping them to obtain an advanced degree.
The prospect of losing a combined total of nearly $100 billion a year in federal financial aid, coupled with the possibility of overzealous copyright-bots limiting the sharing of legitimate content, has alarmed university officials.
“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,” a letter from university officials to Congress written on Wednesday said. “Lower-income students, those most in need of federal financial aid, would be harmed most under the entertainment industry’s proposal.”
We are now in a position whereby we have collective guilt for collective crimes. The RIAA no longer needs to prove you downloaded a song. All they have to do is find one person on campus, claim the university didn’t do enough to stop it and, BAM!, no financial aid for the school and more money for more wars.
This is thinly veiled extortion and it will only be a matter of time before more conditions are placed upon the universities in order for them to continue to receive their federal financial aid. It is also not the job of Congress to enforce private property rights. The law has already given the MPAA and RIAA the power to fight for their rights.
Considering the length of the document, I suspect many did not read it. If no one read the 342 page PATRIOT Act [pdf], then do you really expect them to read something twice as long? Plus, with such a cute name as College Opportunity and Affordability Act, your politicians don’t want to be seen as someone who is rejecting college opportunities and against education.
