Congress sets colleges test on filesharing

Because US colleges are such quiet and well-ordered places, the House of Representatives have decided they might as well send nineteen of them a long, rambling questionnaire to find out what they're doing about filesharing.

Curiously, the US government tried one of these last year, but many schools opted to not take part because the usual expectation of filing anonymously had been removed. Hmm... I wonder who else might have been interested in the responses.

The driving force behind the latest survey is Texan Republican Lamar Smith who, having pocketed $7,500 from the RIAA in campaign funds is approaching this less as an open and independent mind, more as a corporate shill. Not that a man can't serve more than one master, of course. Lamar certainly does, as Consumerist details:

he received $7,500 in campaign contributions from the RIAA Political Action Committee as well as $2,000 from the Warner Music Political Action Committee. A group called "Texans for Lamar Smith"pocketed a cool $1,000 from Andy Lack, the Chairman and CEO of Sony/BMG, as well as another $1,000 from the Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Political Action Committee.

Almost as soon as Smith's gang had published their press release, Mitch Bainwol from the RIAA issued one of his own - presumably he had one prepared, just in case:

“Illegal file-trafficking is a shared problem for the entertainment industry and universities alike,” said Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America. “We recognize the many pressing issues facing administrators today, but we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to theft on such a massive scale. After extensive hearings and inquiry, members of Congress are right to expect answers. We welcome this effort to document the commitment and resources that universities are putting forth to address this problem.”

Sure, you might think it would be more time for college heads to be examining the botched handling of the Virginia Tech shootings, but compared to the loss of a few quid from the bottom line of Sony-BMG, is that really a good use of their time?