Univ.PiracyTop10 Lette (Purdue)

May 1, 2007

President Martin C. Jischke

Purdue University

Office of the President

1031 Hovde Hall, Room 200

West Lafayette, IN 47907-1031

Dear President Jischke:

The issue of copyright piracy on university campuses is one that Congress has long sought to address in a constructive and collaborative manner. Since 2003, the House of Representatives has conducted no fewer than five hearings into this subject, involved multiple Committees in the consideration of legislative alternatives, and engaged in direct outreach to both the educational and creative communities.

Most recently, on March 8, 2007, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property conducted a hearing entitled, “An Update – Piracy on University Networks.” Previously, on September 26, 2006, the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness held a hearing entitled, “The Internet and the College Campus: How the Entertainment Industry and Higher Education are Working to Combat Illegal Piracy.”

This extended Congressional inquiry into the campus piracy issue has given the education community, copyright creators, and technology providers numerous opportunities to update us on the state of efforts to combat the theft of copyrighted material by the use of university computer and data networks. While this inquiry demonstrates that modest progress has been achieved, it has also furnished substantial evidence to question the commitment of some institutions to adopt and, more importantly, implement policies that will actually contribute to a reduced incidence of campus digital piracy.

The fact that copyright piracy is not unique to college and university campuses is not an excuse for higher education officials to fail to take reasonable steps to eliminate such activity nor to appropriately sanction such conduct when discovered. Consider:

a 2006 study by the L.E.K. group attributed 44% of the domestic piracy losses suffered by the U.S. motion picture industry – more than half a billion dollars annually – to college students;

a Spring 2006 survey by Student Monitor found more than half of all college students download music and movies illegally;
a survey of college students conducted by the NPD market research firm revealed that students reported that more than 2/3 of all music they acquired was illegally obtained; and

NPD also concluded college students were responsible for more than 1.3 billion illegal music downloads in 2006 and that college students disproportionately used P2P networks to download unauthorized music files (i.e. college students accounted for 21% of all P2P users but 26% of all P2P downloaded music files.)

Both copyright theft and plagiarism involve the misappropriation of another’s work for one’s own personal benefit. Just as institutions of higher education take seriously the moral and ethical ramifications that result from individual acts of plagiarism, it is critical they convey a similar sense of purpose and commitment in the fight against digital piracy.

The theft of copyrighted goods and losses attributable to digital piracy are substantial and consequential. Beyond the obvious ethical and moral dimensions, the economic loss borne by U.S. creative industries imposes serious individual and collective costs on the U.S. economy. As one example, the $6.1 billion dollar loss endured in 2005 by the U.S. movie industry equals a loss of $20 billion in GDP, 141,000 jobs, and $835 million in tax revenue. The jobs lost tend to be positions that pay substantially more than average, and in fact, represent precisely the types of opportunities that those with an advanced education may wish to seek after graduating.

Student digital piracy imposes extraordinary costs on creators who earn their living by working directly in the copyright industry and diverts scarce and expensive university computing and networking resources, which are intended to be devoted to educational purposes, to the furtherance of illegal activity.

Taxpayers at the federal, state and local level expend billions of dollars annually in support of efforts to keep college within the reach of qualified students. Many of these dollars may be used, directly or indirectly, to support university computing resources and programs that it appears are, all too often, abused to facilitate civil and criminal copyright infringement on a massive scale.

We are concerned that your institution has been identified by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as one of the ten schools in receipt of the highest number of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices of infringement during the most recent reporting period.

Specifically, Purdue University has been identified as having received 1,068 DMCA infringement notices, which are issued pursuant to the terms of 17 U.S.C. 512, from RIAA during the period from September 2006 to mid-February 2007. In addition, Purdue University received no fewer than 873 DMCA infringement notices from the MPAA during the period from September to December 2006.

The presence of your institution on both “Top Ten” lists is a troubling indication that authorized users of your university computer networks routinely utilize your facilities to engage in the theft of copyrighted works.

Inclusion on these lists also indicates that an institution may need to act urgently to improve elements of its education, enforcement and technology programs. The offering and promotion of legal alternatives to illegal P2P downloading may also significantly enhance efforts to combat the corrosive effects of campus digital piracy.

To ensure that we and other Members of Congress are provided with a more comprehensive understanding of the precise anti-piracy practices enforced on your campus and the extent of Purdue University’s commitment and resources devoted to tackling this serious problem, we ask you to personally ensure that the following “Survey of University Network and Data Integrity Practices” is completed and returned to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property no later than May 31, 2007.

Your full and complete responses to the enclosed survey will assist us in determining what “best practices” need to be instituted. It will also help us to assess whether Congress needs to advance legislation to ensure the unacceptable use of educational facilities to obtain or traffic in copyrighted goods is no longer commonly associated with student life on some U.S. campuses.

We look forward to receiving your completed responses and hope to have the opportunity to discuss with you what steps your institution is taking to ensure members of your university community comprehend and take seriously the need to respect copyrights.

Sincerely,