[governance] New TN Law Forces Universities To Patrol For Copyright Violations

[Jeffrey A. Williams]

All,

  It seems that in Tennesee the state officials have decided to
mount up their black copywright motorcycles and helecopters.

  It seems that there will need to be yet another legal challange in
federal court regarding this law, and likely several challanges to
get this error in state officials judgment.  Seems to me that such
a law may run up against the Cyberbulling statutes?  Fully
a Civil Rights issue.

See:
CSMatt points with this excerpt from the EFF's page: "Last week, the
RIAA celebrated the signing of a ridiculous new law in Tennessee that
says: 'Each public and private institution of higher education in the
state that has student residential computer networks shall: [...]
[R]easonably attempt to prevent the infringement of copyrighted works
over the institution's computer and network resources, if such
institution receives fifty (50) or more legally valid notices of
infringement as prescribed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of
1998 within the preceding year.' While the entertainment industry
failed to get 'hard' requirements for universities in the Higher
Education Act passed by Congress earlier this year,
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/riaa-wins-campuses-lose-tennessee-governor-signs-c
the RIAA succeeded in Tennessee (and is pushing in other states) with
this provision that gives Big Content the ability to hold universities
hostage through the use of infringement notices. Moreover, the new rules
will cost Tennessee a pretty penny in the cost review attached to the
Tennessee bill, the state's Fiscal Review Committee estimates that the
new obligations will initially cost the state a whopping $9.5 million
for software, hardware, and personnel, with recurring annual costs of
more than $1.5 million for personnel and maintenance."

Regards,

Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 284k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
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very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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