Anti-P2P Higher Education Act May Cost Some Colleges $500,000 Annually

New study suggests that some universities may spend this amount in cash and personnel time complying with the recently enacted legislation.

This past August the Higher Education Act (HEA) was passed that included provisions forcing colleges and universities to combat illegal file-sharing on campus.

The Association for Computing Machinery found that the mandatory use of technological deterrents will "indirectly add to the costs of education and university research" and it seems a new study bolsters its claim.

For the Campus Computing Project, the largest continuing study of the role of computing, e-learning, and information technology in American higher education, conducted a special survey titled the "The Campus Costs of P2P Compliance." The report is based on data from 321 colleges and universities and focuses on P2P compliance costs in terms of both expenditures and personnel time.

According to the study, battling illegal file-sharing on campus networks will cost colleges somewhere between an estimated $350,000 and $500,000 USD annually. This estimate includes the cost of implementing traffic shaping and P2P monitoring programs, ‘education initiatives’ designed to inform students on piracy, and the time spent by IT personnel monitoring compliance.

“The survey reveals that many private universities spend significant sums to license software intended to stem illegal/inappropriate P2P activity on campus networks (over $100,000 annually, on average, for campuses with software license agreements)," reads the report. "While the software licensing fees paid by public universities are significantly less (over $20,000 annually), these payments still reflect a major allocation from campus IT budgets.”

It also notes that the HEA unfairly targets community colleges which don’t usually serve as a primary Internet provider since they lack student housing. Even though they have had little or no illegal file-sharing activity they are still subject to the same HEA P2P mandates as other educational institutions.

"From one perspective, these campus expenditures seem to be a significant ‘enforcement subsidy’ that supports the entertainment industry’s efforts to stem digital piracy," continues the study. .

The study saves its most disparaging remarks for its conclusion.

"So too it is understandable that campus officials would chaff at the continuing efforts of the MPAA and RIAA (a) to swiftboat higher education on the issue of P2P, portraying college students as digital pirates and campus officials as turning a deaf ear to concerns about copyright and IP issues, and (b) to have colleges and universities engage in costly ‘pro bono enforcement’ on behalf of the entertainment industry," it reads. "Echoing a theme heard during the recent public debates about the credit crisis, the entertainment industries seem determined to privatize content but pass on the costs of IP protection and enforcement to the public – either through the new IP czar or via legislative mandates on P2P and digital piracy targeting colleges and universities."

Well said.

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