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Congressman praises Penn State for efforts to combat digital piracy

Washington, D.C. -- Testimony by Penn State President Graham B. Spanier before the U.S. Congress Tuesday (Oct. 5) on university efforts to combat peer-to-peer piracy is being applauded by federal legislators responsible for regulating legal use of computer networks.

Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property that played host to Spanier's testimony, led the praise, lauding Penn State for "keeping students honest" through efforts like its online music service with Napster, which is being provided to all students at no cost to them.

"The subsidized availability of online music services on campuses like Penn State contributes tremendously to the goal of keeping students honest," said Berman. "If the trend continues and these services secure widespread adoption on campus, the music services may have gained customers for life. Similarly, participating universities may achieve a rare two-fer: reducing their computer network costs while fulfilling their educational mission.

"Copyright education campaigns on many campuses, including Penn State and UCLA, are also a credit to the responsible university administrators," he continued. "I understand it is no easy thing for college administrators to tell their students that one of their most cherished pastimes in wrong. However, it is the right thing to do. A core mission of the university is to shape the moral character of the next generation of leaders. Encouraging students to obey the law and respect the property rights of others fits squarely within that mission."

Spanier's testimony was his second such report to Congress on this issue. He appeared before the subcommittee on February 26, 2003, shortly after becoming co-chair of the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities. Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), co-chairs the committee along with Spanier.

His report to the subcommittee gave an overview of the joint committee's work over the past year. Significant development has occurred in the way colleges and universities have dealt with copyright infringement on their computer networks, primarily through progress in the creation of legitimate online services, education, enforcement and new technology.

"I have dedicated considerable time during the past two years to this effort because I believe that higher education must be part of the solution," said Spanier in his opening remarks. "Universities are among the principal creators of intellectual property in our nation, and we must teach and practice respect for it. We operate libraries and university presses where copyrights are created, understood and protected. We invent and operate some of the most sophisticated information technology systems in the world, and it is in our best interests to protect our network infrastructures from misuse and abuse."

For more on Spanier's testimony and the complete text of his opening remarks, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/8351

Berman also was impressed with Penn State's efforts to develop an open-source software program that can be used within the academic community to simplify the management, exchange and use of digital information by educators. The University released the open-source code for this new academic file-sharing technology, called LionShare, last week.

"I applaud Penn State for undertaking its LionShare project," said Berman. "Piracy apologists have long defended the predominantly-infringing P2P networks on the hypothetical basis that, someday, some way, these networks might prove useful for scientific or research activities. While the underlying P2P software clearly could be put to legitimate uses, the most popular networks themselves have demonstrated next-to-no scientific or research utility.

"As I understand it, the LionShare project at Penn State is attempting to establish P2P networks optimized for scientific and research purposes," he added. "The hope is to connect scientists directly to one another and to the otherwise unavailable research, notes, data and unpublished material residing on their hard drives. In assessing the needs of scientists and researchers, the LionShare project has apparently found that they will share their materials most freely on closed networks with some level of security and authentication. The LionShare project will hopefully achieve its goal of establishing just such networks."

For more on Penn State's efforts to curb peer-to-peer piracy through its online music service with Napster, visit http://live.psu.edu/napster

For more on Penn State's new LionShare file sharing technology, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/8389

Last Updated March 19, 2009

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