Details on file sharing could come next month
By Daniel Bal
Collegian Staff Writer
As early as next fall, Penn State might be involved in a pilot program that would allow students to legally listen to free music online.
During Monday's Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly meeting, Penn State President Graham Spanier said he hopes to announce next month details about the service that will allow students free access to music from online companies.
Russell Vaught, associate vice provost for information technology, said although there are unforeseen forces that could halt the program from being implemented, he does not have any reason to believe otherwise.
"It's highly likely this will happen," he said. "I don't see any snags."
Vaught said the program will not be free for the university, but it will be provided to the students at no additional cost.
"The university bulk buys newspapers and then provides them to students, at no additional charge," he said. "It's the same as the movies in the HUB; they are being paid for, but not by students."
The program will allow students to access streaming music files, which can be transferred to an MP3 player, but cannot be burned onto a CD.
Students could listen to a song continuously, but upon disconnection from the Penn State network, they would no longer have access to the song.
The program will not allow anonymous downloads such as those on Kazaa.
It also differs from LionShare, which is an authentic peer-to-peer program. LionShare will not primarily be based on sharing music. A recent $1.1 million grant will allow for the development of technology for LionShare.
Spanier said the university wants to put a legal file-sharing system in place before any students get in trouble with the law.
Last year, in front of a congressional panel, Spanier said several congressmen labeled college students as criminals who should be "locked up."
So far, no student has been sued at Penn State due to illegally downloading music, and the university said they would deny access before the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) takes action.
"We like our approach to be educational in nature, not criminal," Spanier said.
In September, the RIAA filed 261 lawsuits against individual Internet users, 52 of which have been settled since.
The RIAA has said they plan to file more lawsuits this month.
University spokesman Bill Mahon said, "[The university] has to look at what companies are out there that provide music legally and a pricing structure [the university] can afford."
Mahon said illegally downloading music is a big issue and is causing traditional music stores to close their doors, but it also has an effect on students here at Penn State.
The university wants the work of students who write plays and produce television shows to be protected, he said.
"[The students] have a lot at stake with copyright," Mahon said.
Penn State has taken a leadership role nationally to restrict illegal file sharing and has attempted to come up with a reasonable solution, he said.
Janet Moccia (senior-international politics) said, "I think it's a good idea because students need a legal way [to listen to music online], so it's definitely needed and appreciated."
Evan Schoss (junior-geography) agreed adding that he buys a lot of CDs from artists he enjoys and wants to support.
Although he will not be able to burn CDs, Schoss said, "It's good to just have an MP3 collection."
Although students will not be able to burn CDs with Spanier's proposed program, some are still looking forward to the program's benefits.
The Associated Press and Claudia Vargas contributed to this report.
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