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The rapid growth of technology and the increased number of internet users in the world have created copyright issues that seem to be unknown for most. Before watching the videos, my knowledge of copyright was so little, and I always related it to my field: education. But the reality is that in the last decade, this issue has touched other different areas such as music, visual arts, marketing, publishing, and even fashion. There are several things that drew my attention in the videos. One of them was the 10 myths about copyright, and I guess it did because I related them to my colleagues comments when we had our library training every beginning of a school year. Also, the documentary "Good Copy, Bad Copy" brought memories of situations I have experienced when traveling to my home country, Colombia. Piracy seems to be so normal there, and the government seems to have little or no interest in creating or enforcing copyright laws. For example, I remember when my father-in-law told my husband about the latest Spiderman movie that had not even been shown in the US theater yet, but he had bought a copy from a street vendor. Now if I talk about music, the issue turns just wider. There you can find stores where you can have any CD made with songs of your choice for a very small price. Since not everybody has access to computers or the internet so easily, they prefer to buy these cheap copies. Another important topic that drew my attention was "Fair Use". I was mistaken in reference to how I could use someone else's copyrighted work at school, and I'd say I'm not the only one. I'm sure if I survey my colleagues about this topic, they will be just as confused/wrong as I was. I think many teachers believe that if it's for school use, nothing matters: you can photocopy any material, show any video or remix any work, but that's not true. Finally, it's a pity that our grandchildren won't probably have the opportunity to learn about our history because of the fact that copyright licenses expire and producers do not have the financial means to pay relicensing fees. Something needs to be done about this...it's our history, and it shouldn't just be ignored...
Fary. I see this same thing happen often in my neighborhood. If I go to the convenient store, I can find a bin of "homemade" copies of movies that are in theaters now. They sell for about $5.00 each, and they are sitting out in the open by the cash register. Anybody can purchase them. Also, I know of several place in surrounding areas that can make the CDs of any songs that you want, which also sell for about $5.00. Credit is not being given to the original authors, which is definitely copyright abuse.
ReplyDeleteFary, I agree completely! I live in a city and the same thing happens with bootleg movies! With music, I have not really experienced those "mix tapes". Education is always tricky isn't it? Before this program I too used everything and anything in my classroom without thinking another second. Don't we all? Even still I might use a movie or two that may need to be readjusted because of copyright. Teachers need to be educated on this, because many of our students have no idea. I'm still struggling with students plagiarizing written works. ALL of my students get their music from other means- not many of them can afford to buy it anyway, and they don't think there's anything wrong with it. As educators we need to fix this!
ReplyDeleteFary, Your post is really interesting and makes a lot of great points. When I was in Panama, my experience was similar, there are street vendors all over selling bootlegged copies of the latest movies and music. It is hard to see who benefits from these arrangements.
ReplyDeleteYou also delineate a the most common myth that I have observed among educators. Many believe that classroom use is acceptable because they heard somewhere that fair use covers education. I think the videos this week gave a very clear view of how this is not true. I think that it provides a challenge for educators to think of solutions while working within the copyright framework and following the law.
Fari - I too found Templeton's myths to be quite informative, and it is something that I intend to share with my staff. Like you, these are conversations that my staff has also had. I think that if I also surveyed my staff, the results would be similar in nature. I did find your comments about the role that copyright plays in retelling our history. Very interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experiences with copyright. It's so important for us to share our experiences in order to get some idea of how big this problem might be. I remember several years ago many media and tech pundits saying that if the recording industry kept pace with technology to expand their services they might have done a much better job. For example, they promised in the 1980s that the spike in getting music was because of the transition to CDs but that the price would drop to the old LP prices, but that never happened. Given how cheaply music can now be distributed the price of MP3 albums should be much closers to $2 to $5 and not artificially held at $10 (or more). You own example of stores selling mix-CDs/tapes because it's more convenient speaks to this idea that the record industry could have controlled that by pricing things so low that it would pay to go through the hassle of pirating music. Ugh.
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