College Groups Fighting Copyright

The New York Times today reported that the Recording Industry Association of America has got a new thorn in their side and this time its popping up at college campus near you. A group called Students for Free Culture is advocating looser copyright law restrictions and free information exchange over the Internet on P2P networks. The group has chapters at more than 35 colleges across the country. The group was established at Swarthmore College in 2004.

"We will listen to free music, look at free art, watch free film and read free books," reads the manifesto from its Web site, freeculture.org. "We refuse to accept a future of digital feudalism."

While it's true that the Internet has caused us to reexamine the copyright laws that have been in place for decades and didn't take into account our digital world, it's still a very gray area and one that still has repercussions if you trample over copyright laws. These reprecussions are creating a stir and causing students to unite and fight what they think is an injustice. The Times reported that "Members of the Students for Free Culture talk about the group’s goals with something like the reverence that earlier generations displayed in talking about social or racial equality." Whether it is the same is debatable but we are sure that finding the right balance on this issue will be battled out in the courtrooms and classrooms over the coming decades.