CopyNight This Tuesday November 27, 2007, 7PM

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Winter hours from 7PM till 9PM, at Rock Bottom Brewery in West Des Moines in the pool room.
Dear CopyNighters,
Black Friday is behind us and eggnog is back in the dairy aisle.
Come cheat on your advent calendars while talking tech
and copyright with like minded geeks. Most chapters meet this
Tuesday, October 27th, in cities around the world. Be sure to
check the website for details on your local chapter, and shoot us
an email if you'd like to start something in your city!
http://copynight.org/
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Newsiness
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* France To Monitor the Net for Copyright Infringement
Looking for ways to spend that surplus of French tax dollars,
President Nicolas Sarkozy is pleased to announce a new government
agency that will track down Internet users who disrespect
copyright. How does it work? By getting ISPs to turn over their
customers, of course! According to the CBC:

"Internet providers will monitor what their
customers are doing and pass on information to the
new body about web surfers who are consistently
pirating material."
Before you bring up recent studies that show users of peer-to-peer
networks buying more music than the average consumer, remember
that this is a moral(e) issue:

"Sarkozy said he feared the internet was becoming
a "lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works
with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total
impunity. And on whose backs? On artists' backs.""
Take that, lawless outlaws.
Links
CBC Story:
<http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2007/11/24/france-illegal-downloaders.html>;
Discussion of recent report on P2P and music purchasing habits:
<http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2395/125/>;
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* US to Tie University Funding to Copyright Enforcement?
A new piece of US legislation would require universities to 1)
provide students with legal music downloading options and 2)
consider technology-based measures to stop downloading on campus
or 3) lose government funding for student aid. What a deal for
record companies! Step 1 suggests that schools may have to get
campus-wide licenses up for RIAA-approved subscription services
like Napster or Rhapsody, the cost of which will likely be passed
on to students. Step 2 will help the recording industry outsource
its litigation efforts to campus IT departments. And Step 3?
According to a letter from several university presidents to the
bill's sponsor:

"Even more alarming, it is our understanding that
the consequences of the Secretary deciding that a
targeted institution has failed to prevent illegal
file sharing would be loss of Title IV student aid
eligibility. Such an extraordinarily inappropriate
and punitive outcome would result in all students
on that campus losing their Federal financial aid
– including Pell grants and student loans that are
essential to their ability to attend college,
advance their education and acquire the skills
necessary to compete in the 21st century economy.
Lower income students, those most in need of
Federal financial aid, would be harmed most under
the entertainment industry's proposal."
That's right - if the school fails its copyright physical, all
students could lose their federal student aid. If that sounds
like a bad idea to you, check out the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's action alert on the bill.
Links
EFF Backgrounder on H.R. 4137:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/11/campus-copyright-mandates-threaten-financial-aid-funds-and-campus-networks
EFF Action Alert on H.R. 4137:
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=331&pg=makeACall
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As always, lots to discuss at this month's CopyNight!
Cheers,
Ren Bucholz
CopyNight Toronto