Whilst it would be easy to villify this guy for his past actions, lets look at why he has changed his tune.
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14497With Penn president Graham Spanier firmly planted on the movie and music industry’s Joint Committee of Higher Education and Entertainment Communities, alongside ace sophist Cary Sherman of the RIAA, the school provided the foundation for what’s turned into a full-blown entertainment cartel penetration of US teaching institutions, coupled with all-out attacks on their students.
Instrumental in hooking Spanier was Barry K. Robinson, by pure coincidence both a member of Penn State University’s Board of Trustees and senior counsel for the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
Graham has signed a letter concerning another matter with respect to the RIAA.
This entertainment industry proposal which may be under consideration by the House Education and Labor Committee would establish the Secretary of Education as an agent of the entertainment industry by requiring the Secretary annually to create a list of the 25 colleges and universities with the highest levels of unauthorized peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, based on data supplied by the industry. The list of the top 25 violators provides no logical basis for initiating federal action. It does not reflect a universal census of violations, nor even an appropriately designed random sample of violations.
Rather, the entertainment industry gets to decide who is a “violator.” The entertainment industry assuredly would make these choices to maximize the political and deterrent impact, but the fact remains that the 25 colleges or universities so identified would be designated by the entertainment industry. The Secretary would be required, under the language of the proposal, to act on the entertainment industry’s information and direction. This clearly is an inappropriate role for a Cabinet officer of the Federal government
It seems this guy has at last seen where appeasement of bullying and extortion leads to, its a pity he decided his students where second class citizens the first time around the block.
