John Ringland, an associate professor of mathematics, gave a presentation at Tuesday's Faculty Senate meeting in an attempt to drum-up university-wide support for two unrelated issues - the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act and the use of non-Microsoft software.
The Digital Media Consumer Rights Act, a bill currently in the United States Congress, would, if passed, counteract some of the damage the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 has done, according to Ringland.
"A bill that deserves and needs our support, the DMCRA, has been introduced," Ringland said. "It would restore fair use by ammending the DMCA so as to allow circumvention of access controls for uses that do not infringe on the copyright."
According to Judith Hopkins, a representative from University Libraries, enacting the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act would allow students and faculty to access copyrighted material that is blocked by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Ringland said the Digital Media Copyright Act restricts Internet users' access to copyrighted information and public domain information. He said it also radically increased the control of copyright-holders, which could hurt students and faculty members who need to access copyrighted materials.
In his resolution before the Faculty Senate, Ringland asked the university to take a public stand against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and support the enactment of the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act.
According to Ringland, the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act has gathered support from corporations around the country including Verizon, Intel Corporation and Gateway.
Hopkins said the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act would "loosen up" the Digital Media Copyright Act by allowing the use of anti-encryption devices to give students and faculty access to the copyrighted information.
Sen. James Campbell said the senate should not come out in favor of the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act yet.
"I think we are hearing one side," Campbell said. "I am not sure what the other side is, which is why I am a little queasy about supporting the resolution."
"I have read quite widely on this issue and as far as I can see, the only people in opposition have vested financial interests," said Ringland.
Sen. Marilyn Kramer said she is in support of the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act, because it is a way to restore the public's freedom of accessibility to electronic material.
"I find it very frightening that this intrusiveness can come into your office and dictate how you use your material," said Kramer.
Sen. Peter Nickerson said he agreed that the senate should support the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act to preserve "academic freedom."
The resolution to support the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act passed with one vote in opposition.
Ringland's second proposed resolution involved the university's support of Microsoft software.
Ringland said Microsoft software currently dominates at UB and is a burden because the software limits access to information and the right to privacy.
"There are particular things about Microsoft that make it less than ideal for us to be promoting," said Ringland.
According to Ringland, Microsoft restricts the free flow of information and is not friendly to scholarly pursuits.
"It is a vital we realize that choosing our software infrastructure is not like choosing a supplier of copper pipe or even choosing Dell versus (Hewlett Packert) as a computer hardware supplier," Ringland said. "On the contrary, there are huge differences between what academic life in the future will be like under a monolithic Microsoft regime."
He referred to Linux and Apple Computers as the only viable competitors to Microsoft's stronghold.
A recent Computers and Informational Technologies survey indicated that 6 percent of UB students use Linux systems, and an additional 4 percent use Macintosh, said Ringland.
"Diversity is the reason to support open software now at a university even in the absence of any clear advantages it might have over the alternative," he said.
According to Ringland, UB needs to get in line with institutions, such as Yale University, Princton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University, that provide Linux support.
"UB is far behind the leaders," Ringland said. "If we want to be a close follower we need to dramatically lengthen our stride."
He said he does not oppose the use of Microsoft, but he advocates the need for acceptance of other systems.
"I want to see diversity and not a heterogeneous software environment," said Ringland.
Voldemar Innus, the vice president and chief information officer, said he does not see the university's wide spread support of Microsoft as a problem.
According to Innus, UB is in the third year of a three-year agreement with Microsoft and is looking to renew the arrangements.
"As long as the university community broadly uses Microsoft products, we will try to provide that software platform at the lowest costs," said Innus.
According to Sen. Samuel Schack, there is a problem with supporting Microsoft exclusively because its software is usually incompatible with alternative systems, such as Macintosh.
Innus said he identifies with the inconvenience that Microsoft poses to Macintosh users, because the same incompatibility issue affected his office, until they made the decision to switch to Microsoft systems.
"In order for us to get our work done, we gave up a Macintosh environment," said Innus.
Sen. Judith Adams-Volpe said she does not support the resolution because she is not sure of the possible costs involved, and the current resolution puts too much negative emphasis on Microsoft.
"I think it makes a stronger document if it does not focus on one proprietary system," said Adams-Volpe.
The resolution will be voted on at next month's faculty senate meeting.
