Congress Takes IP Enforcement to School

The House and senate have passed a compromise version of the Higher Education Opportunity Act that requires colleges and universities to spell out how they will combat unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material. The bill calls for an annual disclosure by schools that "explicitly" informs students that unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials, including P2P file sharing, may mean civil or criminal penalties. It also requires schools to summarize those penalties and to describe its policies regarding unauthorized P2P file sharing.