Contact: Charles Steinfield, Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, (517) 432-1331, steinfie@msu.edu; or Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu
2/12/2004
John King, professor and dean of the University of Michigan�s School of Information, will be the featured speaker at a Michigan State University forum titled �The Challenges of Peer-to-Peer File Sharing.�
The forum, which is free and open to the public, will be held Thursday, April 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 147 of the Communication Arts and Sciences Building on the MSU campus. It is the culmination of a unique one-credit course on peer-to-peer file sharing the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media offered last month to more than 50 students.
A peer-to-peer, or P2P, system refers to a computer network where people can exchange individual files on their computer directly with each other, without having to upload them to a mediating server. Peer-to-peer software, such as the original Napster program and the now widely used KaZaa, makes it easy to share these files by indexing and enabling searches of all the files in all connected users' shared directories.
"Most of the attention given peer-to-peer systems has emphasized their use in the illegal trading of copyrighted digital information, particularly music file sharing through software such as KaZaa,� said Charles Steinfield, a professor of telecommunication, information studies and media at MSU. �In this course, we take a broader view, examining the underlying technology, the economic foundations and the policy implications of decentralized systems for file sharing.�
King�s talk is titled �P2P Systems and the Music Industry�s Crisis of Adjustment.�
�There is a long history of incumbent interests attempting to stomp out emergent ways of doing things � mainly because such innovations threaten the institutionalized order that benefits established players,� King said. �Examples include the history of the sheet music industry opposing recording technologies, and the film industry opposing videotapes.
�The P2P story is an example of an industry in such a crisis, where the new capabilities P2P affords are completely at odds with the social and institutional structures that have evolved around the old methods of producing and distributing music.�
David Gift, vice provost for Libraries, Computing and Technology at MSU, and James Hilton, associate provost for Academic, Information and Instructional Technology Affairs and professor of Psychology at U of M, will also present talks at the forum.
Gift�s presentation is titled �Responding to P2P Challenges on the Campus Community.�
�Balancing the university�s responsibility to educate students in a safe and culturally stimulating environment with laws like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act poses serious challenges to the campus community,� Gift said. �This is especially true given the high quality of our networks, and the programmed response of P2P systems to seek out the best connections for obtaining desired music files. The university�s responses here at the forefront of the P2P challenge are of critical importance for all of us.�
Hilton�s talk is titled �When Worlds Collide: P2P, Law and Academic Tradition.�
�As scholars and teachers, we constantly create information, transform it, and transmit it to our students, colleagues, and the world at large, and we see intellectual progress as requiring the free exchange of ideas,� Hilton said. �At the same time, we are surrounded by a world in which information is rapidly becoming a kind of commercial good � a piece of property with tangible value.
�How we respond to the opportunities and threats that emerge from these changes in the technical and legal landscape will determine much of the future of our classes and scholarship.�
A question and answer and panel discussion session will follow the presentations. The forum is presented by MSU�s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media.