MUMBAI: The United States Senate passed an amendment to the Higher Education Reauthorization Act that requires universities, for the first time, to provide information on efforts they are making to educate students on digital piracy and detect and prevent piracy on university computer systems.

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) chairman and CEO Dan Glickman commended Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his leadership on this critical issue. Movie piracy is rampant among college students, accounting for more than half a billion dollars loss to the US industry annually.

“Piracy costs the US film industry over $6 billion annually, which means lost jobs and revenue for the American economy. Some college students are abusing powerful taxpayer funded computer networks to download and distribute movies and other copyrighted material which is why we are committed to working with universities to develop and implement plans to address this problem. We commend Senator Reid for his leadership in getting this important legislation passed through the Senate which will help encourage universities to do more,” said Glickman.

Motion picture piracy results in total lost output among US industries of $20.5 billion annually. It costs $5.5 billion in lost US wages. Absent piracy in the US, 141,000 jobs would have been created and $837 million in additional tax revenue. Forty four per cent of the total loss to the US film industry is attributable to campus piracy.

According to the language adopted today, all universities will be required to provide information to the Department of Education describing:

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  Education efforts for students on the potential civil and criminal consequences for the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material.


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  Steps they are taking to prevent and detect unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials on university networks.


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  Campus policies on unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing, including disciplinary actions against individuals who engage in the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material on university computer systems.

Glickman added, “We look forward to working with Members of the House who are also interested in this important issue when they take up this legislation in the fall.”

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