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You may recall that recording-industry lobbyists managed to insert a rather nasty clause into the College Opportunity and Affordability Act to penalize universities which don't follow a strict antipiracy indoctrination campaign. (The bill is up for debate when the Senate returns from Thanksgiving recess). Even though the bill is said to be mostly a scare tactic, it could potentially hold federal funding ransom. The bill demands that universities receiving federal funds purchase a music subscription service to deter piracy that, by some estimates, could have taxpayers forking over $100 billion meant for financial aid to pay instead for digital subscriptions. Why the grab for education dollars?

According to Motion Picture Association of America lawyer Fritz Attaway, the government is subsidizing piracy, so it's obligated to stop it. "Those universities are spending a lot of taxpayers' money to build digital networks that are being used primarily to allow college students to traffic in infringing content, I think it's perfectly legitimate for Congress to say, wait a minute, if we're giving you money, we don't want it to be used to help college kids infringe copyright."