Technology+Report

TECHNOLOGY REPORT - COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Copyright violations are a major concern in today’s classroom. Innocent use of information gleaned from the Internet can lead to unknowing infringements. These violations are enhanced in a computer lab, where the Internet is at the fingertips of each student. “As computers become a larger part of the curriculum, educators everywhere are being asked to take a stand for cyber ethics, the right and wrong of computer and Internet use.” [i] Copyright laws protect a myriad of artists from the illegal use of their creations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential income are lost annually by these artists through illegal downloading of songs, pictures, movies, and video games. Students often feel impervious to detection. This is a false sense of immunity. "I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?" [ii] When in doubt regarding the use of information from the Internet, the motto “better safe than sorry” should rule. If you think the information is copyrighted, chances are, you are correct. Most students and educators assume that information taken from the Internet is free, and that there are no encumbrances placed upon its use. This assumption is far from the truth. In fact, most information from the Internet is copyrighted, with very few exceptions. In today’s classroom, with technology textbooks becoming obsolete almost the minute the ink dries in them, educators are forced to look elsewhere for lesson plans and classroom tools to use to teach their courses. The Internet is a convenient place to find information, but a teacher needs to be wary of using too much information from one site, making copies of copyrighted material, or downloading files that are not intended to be “free.” One way to overcome this copyright barrier is to search for information on the Internet that is labeled as “free.” An example would be Adobe’s official web site. Adobe has an excellent page dedicated to educators, which offers free lesson plans and other technical information. Educators and students, however, are given “…more latitude than other users when it comes to instructional use of copyrighted material, but it’s important to teach students about these provisions and how to determine when use of images or videos are protected by fair use.” [iii] This is not latitude to break the rules however, and every school should have and disseminate to students the particular campus copyright rules, which follow the Copyright Act. Another copyright area that educators need to be aware of is the domain the school district has over materials created by an educator within the normal scope of his or her job. “When a district employee creates a copyrightable work, such as a computer program, a workbook, or a photograph, and the work is created within the scope of the employee’s job, the district is legally the ‘author.’” [iv] Educators should, therefore, be wary if and when they choose to change school districts. Works created at one district are not capable of being transported to the educator’s new school district because, legally, the former school district is the author and owner of the work, even if the educator did all the work creating it.

[i]  Krueger, Robert (2003 July/August) Discussing Cyber Ethics with Students is Critical. //The Social Studies.// Retrieved from [] Discussing%20cyber%20ethics%20with%20students%20is%20critical.pdf [ii] Fox News. (2003 September 9). 12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading. //Fox News// Retrieved May 7, 2010 from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96797,00.html [iii]  Brooks-Young, S. (2010). //Teaching with Tools Kids Really Use//. Corwin [iv] Stroder, Rebecca S. (2006 February) What Every School Should Know About Intellectual Property. //The Education Digest//. Retrieved from http://biblos.lamar.edu/eres/heh/Abernathy/ Abernathy%20EDLD5352%20 What%20every%20school%20should%20know%20about%20intellectual%20property.pdf