Hence, UMUC, which has one of the largest online student bodies in the country, is now leading a charge on Capitol Hill to rewrite copyright law. Both lawmakers took on the Recording Industry Association of America last year and urged it to reach an agreement with the controversial music file-sharing service Napster. And most copyright policymakers support the changes. Most publishers aren't happy about the prospect. The Motion Picture Association of America is also lobbying Congress to issue voluntary licensing guidelines instead of taking a legislative approach.
Security is one reason for concern.
Once digital copies of works are transmitted over the Internet, they're more prone to piracy. As a caveat, Congress is demanding that colleges encrypt digital transmissions so students can't copy materials for personal use. Money is another issue. Colleges say they can't afford to pay licensing fees, since the bulk of their financial weight is behind marketing programs, a wise strategy considering the number of online programs has exploded from 22 three years ago, to more than 300 today. The opposition isn't buying that argument.