The Recording Industry Association of America’s dogged pursuit of file-sharing college students is nothing new. In August a bill was enacted that furthers the already strict guidelines for colleges and universities.As a part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the new provisions require universities to take a number of measures that raise First Amendment issues.The strictest measure suggests that institutions effectively combat illegal downloading by using “technology-based deterrents.” This vague term is used to encompass a wide range of software programs that police networks, restrict bandwidth and block protocols.Although the exact interpretation of the bill will be left to the Department of Education, many critics fear it could be a Trojan horse virus that will open the door for Congress to add penalties in the future.One fear is that the entertainment industry will lobby for a process called “deep packet inspection,” which allows universities to examine the contents of all files sent through their networks to see if they contain copyrighted material.But the biggest objection to the bill is the principle of forcing educational institutions to be police for the entertainment industry.”I would go so far as to say you could raise a constitutional challenge to this law,” said Emily Erickson, assistant professor of mass communication. Erickson teaches media law and specializes in First Amendment theory.Technically speaking, a university is an internet service provider (ISP) just like Cox or Verizon. Although the Telecommunications Act of 1996 freed ISPs of legal liability for the content on their networks, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act gave the ISPs safe harbor only if they blocked infringing material.”What is extremely problematic is singling out universities as ISPs,” Erickson said. “Why are you singling them out like that and putting restrictions on them that you don’t require from other ISPs?”In 2005 the Motion Picture Association of America cited a study that stated 44 percent of revenue lost to piracy was because of campus file-sharing. This estimate was drastically inflated. This year the MPAA retracted that statistic, admitting that collegiate piracy only accounts for 15 percent of losses.So why are college campuses still being targeted by the RIAA and not other ISPs?”It’s a political impossibility to make them liable,” Erickson said.She said essentially the giant corporations like AT&T that own the ISPs are owned by the same people losing revenue.”They’re not going to require liability for themselves,” Erickson said.She also said colleges don’t have the same lobbying power, and the specific community attached to their network is easily targeted.”Universities are unique as ISPs. They are often excluded from copyright infringement liability through fair use, so to single them out and do it through the Higher Education Act is egregious,” Erickson said. “It’s absolutely outrageous.”Thomas Gray, psychology freshman, said he doesn’t download illegally but doesn’t agree with the bill.”That’s definitely an invasion of privacy,” he said. “I don’t think the school has a right to go reaching into my stuff.”Institutions will be also be required to annually inform students of the dangers of downloading and offer legal alternatives. The University already adheres to both these measures by sending out an annual e-mail and referring students to Ruckus, a free downloading service.Neither Gray nor Don  McAdams, mechanical engineering freshman, have heard of Ruckus. While free, the service does not allow files to be burned or copied. The files don’t play on many popular MP3 players like iPods.”I want to listen to music on my iPod and in my car,” McAdams said. “Just on the computer is kind of lame.”Sheri Thompson, IT communications and planning officer, said the University already complies with the measures in the HEA.She said the University uses technological deterrents like bandwidth shaping tools. The network restricts bandwidth for on-campus housing and blocks certain protocols.”File-sharing itself is not a bad thing. It’s when you’re transferring files illegally that you get into trouble,” she said. “It’s easy, just don’t do it.”—- Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]