Patrick Leahy: “I am pleased today to stand with my colleagues, Senator Alexander, Senator Hatch, and Senator Nelson of Florida, to…”

“I am pleased today to stand with my colleagues, Senator Alexander, Senator Hatch, and Senator Nelson of Florida, to express the sense of this Congress that institutions of higher education should act diligently to help eliminate the harms from the illicit copyright infringement that plagues many campus computer systems. Online piracy, especially illegal file-sharing of copyrighted works such as music, movies and software, is a growing problem. While I always encourage technological innovation, I am also acutely aware of the need to respect the intellectual property rights and talent of those who create the works that are made available online. Some peer- to-peer software applications allow individuals, without authorization, to copy and distribute--for free--unlimited numbers of these valuable works. The speed and convenience of our universities' networks, which were built for academic pursuits, have unfortunately also proved to be a lure for students seeking to engage in this illegal and detrimental behavior. When music and movie industry representatives speak with me about this problem, they describe a disturbing level of online piracy. In addition to exposing students to legal liability, illegal file-sharing on school networks may compromise the integrity of those systems by using up expensive bandwidth, introducing spyware, and hosting destructive viruses.…”