Students could lose aid over Internet piracy

Two congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives recently proposed a law that could strip federal financial aid from students. If colleges and universities do not follow the proposed methods of preventing illegal file sharing, the federal financial aid could disappear.\nSeveral eyebrows have been raised because of the language of one provision. This clause jeopardizes the federal financial aid that students receive if colleges and universities do not install technology to block illegal file sharing.\nThe issue needs to be dealt with through law enforcement, said Wendy Wigen, a government relations officer with EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit organization composed of 2,000 colleges and universities, adding that the congressmen want the universities to act as an agent for the music and movie industries.\n“It’s not their role,” she said of universities. “They have a real problem with being the gatekeeper.”\nThe language of the bill would require colleges and universities who have received at least 100 illegal file sharing notices during the past year to provide evidence to the Secretary of Education that the institution has plans to use technology-based deterrents to prevent the piracy. Or else, they would no longer be eligible to receive financial aid.