UB panel to tackle restrictions

Between the constant volley of court cases and the barrage of flying subpoenas, it can be easy for students to become lost or confused on the issues regarding Internet file-sharing and peer-to-peer networking.\nThat's why Union Board is sponsoring "Download This!," a question and answer-based panel discussion designed in hopes of clarifying the issues of copyrighted music and file-sharing, the University's policies on this activity and its effect on those involved in the music business and industry. The panel discussion will be held at 7 p.m. tonight in the Georgian Room of the Indiana Memorial Union, and it is free.\n"What we looked for was people with practical knowledge in the area," said freshman Morgan Tilleman, assistant director of the Union Board's Debates and Issues Committee. "What we want is for students who download music to see how it affects the music industry and understand both sides of the argument. Both sides will see there's more to the argument then maybe they thought there was."\nThe discussion panel will be made up of four members, all of whom are local authorities on some of the various aspects of the issue of illegal music downloading. The various perspectives represented in the panel will include IU's technical services, the music industry and the law. \nOne of the Debates and Issues Committee's goals was to create a panel comprised of members with broad perspectives in order to not only inform the audience but also generate real discussion and understanding. But the event is designed for students.\nSenior Libby Lewis, director of the committee, said she encourages students to attend because, without active audience participation, it will be a lop-sided debate. She said more audience questions and comments mean a more student-led, "spontaneous" discourse that better deals with the issues on the minds of the students.\n"We didn't want a one-sided discussion," she said. "We're looking to have the students involved."\nBut Lewis also said one of the goals of this discussion is to highlight University policies.\n"The goal is really to alert students that it is illegal and why it is illegal," Lewis said. "The University is taking this seriously now. As students, we should take it seriously, too."\nIU's official perspective will be represented mostly by IU's Chief Information Technology Security and Policy Officer Mark Bruhn, who supports IU's decision of holding students accountable for copyright infringement.\nBruhn's office has issued a total of 1,226 warnings to students and members of the IU network regarding downloading and file-sharing of copyrighted material since October 1997.\nTo discuss the topic from the perspectives of people involved in the music business, the Debates and Issues Committee has called in two local authorities; IU professors Konrad Strauss and George Marakas. \nOriginally, a fifth panel member, local folk and country rock artist Carrie Newcomer, was scheduled to share her views of music downloading on individual artists. She will not be present to a family emergency.\nStrauss is an associate professor of music and the director of Recording Arts at IU, while Marakas is an associate professor at the Kelley School of Business and is an Individualized Major Program sponsor who advises students working toward a career in the music business. Marakas has been a part of the music business in some form or another for the past 37 years, and now owns a recording studio called No Air Sound and a CD production company called Indiana Audio Mastering and Duplicating. He said he has a balanced view and understands students' arguments for downloading music, but does not condone their actions.\n"My part will be to outline the problem, to discuss its impact on the music producers, on the music consumers, and discuss its impact on the music industry," Marakas said. "What I hope the students get out of it is that their motives are sound, but their actions are illegal."\nMeanwhile, University Counsel office member Beth Cate,will provide a "legal landscape" for the issue. Cate works closely with and advises the University Information Technology Services on copyright and file-sharing issues.\n"There have been some laws, some lawsuits, some settlements," Cate said. "What I'm hoping to do is give people a better picture of what is going on."\nMembers of the Debates and Issues Committee said they hope these representatives will provide balanced and varied perspectives to exchange with students in attendance, giving the debate a "freedom of opinion for everybody" atmosphere, Tilleman said.\nFreshman and political science major Michael Zennie said he disagrees with the program's premise.\n"I probably would go just for the information," Zennie said. "But I would not expect any thought-provoking discussion or debate. I would expect mostly just the panel members more or less preaching the illegalities, immoralities, etc., of file-sharing."\nSome students do not expect the panel to be unbiased, but are still interested in what the panel members will have to say.\n"You can kind of gauge what certain groups of people are going to think about this," senior finance major Matt Haas said. "I think you can make generalizations, based on their backgrounds, of whether or not they're going to support file-sharing, but I'm still interested to see what kind of ... support or any theoretical and legal arguments the panelists can make. There are compelling arguments both ways."\n-- Contact staff writer Sean Abbott at seaabbot@indiana.edu.