110th CONGRESS
1st Session

H. R. 1689

To provide support to combat illegal downloading on college and university campuses.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 26, 2007

Mr. KELLER of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To provide support to combat illegal downloading on college and university campuses.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the `Curb Illegal Downloading on College Campuses Act of 2007'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:

      (1) Illegal downloading and online distribution of movies, music, software, games and other intellectual property has increased significantly on college and university campuses.

      (2) Computer systems at colleges and universities are intended primarily to aid in educating and increase research capability among students and faculty. Increased illegal downloading and distribution of content through peer-to-peer networks puts great strain on these systems and imposes significant costs on universities.

      (3) Additional staff and resources are required to respond to notices of illegal downloading, costing more money.

      (4) Illegal downloading and file sharing exposes campus networks to computer viruses and worms, and can put sensitive personal and proprietary information at risk.

      (5) Programs can be developed that will stop illegal downloading while still maintaining student privacy and academic freedom.

SEC. 3. SUPPORT THROUGH THE FUND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION.

    Section 741(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138(a)) is amended--

      (1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (7);

      (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (8) and inserting `; and'; and

      (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

      `(9) supporting efforts to establish pilot programs and initiatives to help offset the costs associated with implementing model programs and policies on college campuses to reduce illegal downloading of copyrighted content in order to--

        `(A) improve the security and integrity of campus computer networks; and

        `(B) save telecommunications bandwidth costs, while ensuring such bandwidth is first and foremost made available for research and education-related purposes.'.

END