Copyright and Fair Use
This post is in response to reading an article by
Hall Davidson that was originally printed in the Oct. 2002 edition of
Techlearning, and reposted with advance permission and under the Fair Use
principle. It describes issues related
to the complex issue of Copyright, Fair Use doctrine, and education. A quiz was also included, and answers
explained. I got 2 out of 20 wrong, was
right but questioning on 5 others, and correct on the rest. Some comments follow below.
On 3, having different versions of a program on
different systems is a common problem. I
am not surprised it is false. Making
more installations than you have a license for is illegal. To get around the issue, I habitually save
Word docs in an older version, such as Word ’95.
Number 4 sounds strangely relevant to today’s
political climate. Copying software for
additional use beyond the license just because an educational institution is deliberately
underfunded isn’t legally defensible.
Neither is State governments issuing mandates that aren’t funded
ethically defensible, but I digress.
I disagree with 6 because the project should still
contain a reference to the source, regardless of whether it is under Fair Use.
On 11, using video clips from an aired program in a
project should be fair for the protected purpose of freedom of speech and
social critiquing, especially for educational purposes. However, doing so with malicious intent or to
defame, without redeeming social benefit, may get into a gray area.
13-This I was a little surprised at. I thought that at least they should be
required to acknowledge the source, if only as a courtesy and respect
thing.
In 17, taking pictures in public is addressed. When the Eagles released their album, “Hotel
California”, it used a picture of the well – known landmark, the Beverly Hills
Hotel. The owners did not take too
kindly to that, and tried to stop it. However,
because the picture was shot from the elevated bucket of a cherry – picker
truck that was parked in the middle of a public street (cost $60,000 dollars
back then!), there was nothing legally that the hotel owners could do to stop
them from using the image. As long as a
picture is shot from public land (street) and plainly visible from said spot, it is
generally fair game for use, with some exceptions. This creates some privacy concerns.
Ps. When the Eagles made that song, they included references to many senses. They referred to vision, sound, smell, taste, touch, etc. Multiple Intelligence – friendly!
As a
teacher, it is very important to know and respect these issues, and to make
sure these principles are followed and modeled in the classroom.
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