oct05c2.indd


Ber nadette Murphy W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

Campus file sharing and fair use 
College presidents and chancellors have 
recently received letters from Graham Spa­
nier (Pennsylvania State University), Cary 
Sherman (Recording Industry of America), 
and David Ward (American Council of 
Education) encouraging university lead­
ers to make changes in their computing 
policies in order to address the issue of 
peer­to­peer file sharing among students. 
Of course, the use of fi le­sharing systems 
for activities that infringe copyright is 
illegal. We do not want to diminish the 
seriousness of this issue. But we do want 
to encourage college and university librar­
ians to remember that there are legitimate 
applications of file­sharing systems and fair 
use of copyrighted materials. 

The use of peer­to­peer file sharing to 
facilitate the distribution of unauthorized 
copies of copyrighted works often uses up 
valuable bandwidth, thus affecting overall 
campus network operations. But not all 
file­sharing activities constitute piracy. 
Moreover, universities and libraries are 
just beginning to discover new and lawful 
ways to use “peer­to­peer” networks for 
research, teaching, and lawful document 
transfer. And even some transfer of music 
files could be lawful acts. We encourage 
universities and libraries to continue to 
use “peer­to­peer” networks for legal 
activities. 

Any discussion of peer­to­peer file 
sharing must acknowledge that the rights 
of users of copyrighted materials form the 
basis for the balance of copyright law. The 
library community should not lose sight of 
the fact that the progress of learning, re­
search and discovery is the goal of higher 
education and the underlying purpose of 
the copyright law. (We also note that deal­
ing with file sharing is a multifaceted issue 

Bernadette Murphy is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: bmurphy@alawash.org 

that implicates, in addition to copyright, 
such issues as privacy and intellectual 
freedom.) 

As a new school year gets underway, it is 
important for librarians to help advise college 
administrators on copyright policy. Librarians 
understand the importance of a balanced ap­
proach to copyright law and are the copyright 
expert focal points on campuses. We must be 
at the table when university policies are estab­
lished to respond solely to industry concerns. 
While piracy is wrong and infringers should 
be held accountable, we must be vigilant 
to ensure that decisions made today do not 
adversely affect education and research for 
years to come. 

Fair use upheld 
In June, the Supreme Court’s decision in 
MGM Studios v. Grokster unanimously re­
affirmed the Sony Betamax principle, thus 
upholding fair use in the digital age. In 
the Sony case (1984), the court held that 
the makers of the VCR should not be held 
liable for copyright infringement simply 
because the device could be used for in­
fringing purposes. The text of the court’s 
opinion contains a statement emphasizing 
the importance of lawful uses of fi le sharing 
(see the decision, www.supremecourtus. 
gov/opinions/04slipopinion.html). We 
echo the court’s opinion that legal peer­
to­peer sharing offers many “benefi ts in 
security, cost, and effi ciency.” 

It is important that university libraries 
address the problem of illegal fi le­sharing 
on campuses, but librarians are asked to 
keep in mind that technological protection 
measures aimed at preventing piracy can 
also inhibit students’ and library users’ 
ability to exercise fair use. 

To learn more about fair use in the digi­
tal age, visit www.ala.org/copyright. And 
through the academic year, stay tuned to 
ALAWON for the latest on copyright legisla­
tion and litigation. 

October 2005  677 C&RL News 

www.ala.org/copyright
www.supremecourtus
mailto:bmurphy@alawash.org