College students just want their P2P; Congress says, "Nope!"

The House Education and Labor Committee just passed the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (PDF), and now it's up for a House vote. Wow, sounds like a really great act. I mean, there's "Opportunity" AND "Affordability." Those are two things that are great in college. But many educators are worried that most of the opportunities to make college affordable are only going to be available if they crack down on peer-to-peer file sharing networks and come up with alternatives.

House aides have issued a fact sheet denying the claims that funding may be tied to compliance and labeled detractors as proponents as "supporters of intellectual property theft," but some watchers aren't convinced.

"The language in the bill appears to be clear that failure to carry out the mandates would make an institution ineligible for participation in at least some part of Title IV (which deals with federal financial aid programs)," Steven Worona, director of policy and networking programs for the group Educause, told News.com.

In a letter signed by University of Maryland system, the president of Stanford University, the general counsel of Yale University, and the president of Pennsylvania State University, the Association of American Universities threw its weight behind the opposition.

"Such an extraordinarily inappropriate and punitive outcome would result in all students on that campus losing their federal financial aid--including Pell grants and student loans that are essential to their ability to attend college, advance their education, and acquire the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century economy. Lower-income students, those most in need of federal financial aid, would be harmed most under the entertainment industry's proposal," wrote the association.

The House says that the only requirements would be for colleges to distribute information about the laws and policies surrounding illegal downloading with students' financial aid forms. Regardless of the effects, the MPAA is backing the bill and says it's happy with the results.

In related news about overbroad anti-piracy laws, the rules that the U.S. pressured Russia into passing are being selectively used as excuses to arrest dissidents and shut down critical publications.

Awesome.