The
Perils of Copyright Law
Nanette
Bertoni
September
23, 2013
Abstract
This paper explores my personal
view on education in the Unites States and its thorny relationship with
copyright law. The question being asked today in the twenty-first century is,
“Is the copyright law in America a hindrance to education?” I will say “yes” to
this question. I will point out that copyright law has become so bloated with
legalism and economic self-interest that teachers are in danger of breaking the
law if they do not appropriately “cough up the fees” when referencing work or
information produced and or gathered by another party.
The
Perils of Copyright Law
by
Nanette Bertoni
Imagine a classroom today if the teacher demanded that
each and every student, with their parents, had to pay for access to
information presented. To add insult to injury, students and parents would be
forbidden to share the learned information to anyone outside of their family. Instead
of coming to class eager to learn, students would be only permitted to enter
when the fee was paid at the door and legal documents signed. Poor families and children would be denied
access to basic information. These families then would not be able to read the
documents required to obtain access to the information.
David Wiley in his article Openness as Catalyst for an Educational
Reformation said, “For the authors of content, resources, courseware, or textbooks,
being open is about overcoming the inner two-year old who constantly screams:
“Mine! You can’t have it! It’s MINE!” Unfortunately, modern law and
college/university policy tend to enable this bad behavior, allowing us to
shout “Mine!” ever more loudly, to stomp our feet with ever less self-control,
and to hit each other with ever harder and sharper toys. Throughout our
tantrums, society soothingly whispers that unbridled selfishness is a natural
and therefore appropriate feeling” (p. 16). He clearly implies that our society
has been reduced to two year old behavior when it comes to our creations in art
and literature.
The educational system in this
country has not helped the situation. Many administrators and teachers failed
to speak up and challenge copyright laws that where being modified and created.
Again David Wiley stated, “If a teacher is not sharing what he or she
knows, there is no education happening. In fact, those educators who share the
most thoroughly of themselves with the greatest proportion of their students are
the ones we deem successful… Education is sharing” (p. 16). Why then have we
allowed the prevailing selfish behavior of seemingly unending restrictions
imposed by copyright law? Let us look at this from an historical perspective.
In Lawrence Lessig’s article Getting Our Values around Copyright Law,
he quotes another author saying, “At the turn of the century [1900], U.S.
copyright law was technical, inconsistent, and difficult to understand, but it
didn’t apply to very many people or very many things” (p. 28). He again quotes,
“Ninety years later, the U.S. copyright law is even more technical, inconsistent,
and difficult to understand; more importantly, it touches everyone and
everything. . .” (p. 28). It would appear that copyright law has not improved
with time. The only thing that has changed is that it affects almost everyone
and everything.
If copyright law is detrimental to
education, why is it allowed? The answer is complicated. I believe that indeed
selfishness is a factor but also protection from someone else making a profit
on one’s own work is a key factor. In trying to protect the creator from being
taken advantage of by a non scrupulous person, we have gone overboard in the
laws created.
Without sharing knowledge, we remain
ignorant. Allowing information sharing, without fees, in an educational setting
would greatly improve an overburdening system. Education continues to struggle
with ever shrinking budgets and copyright laws continue to make access to
information more difficult and fiscally out of reach.
Change happens slowly. With the
creation of the Creative Commons project, information and knowledge is being
made available free of charge. Authors and artists are giving their creations
to this project for the purpose of sharing. So perhaps what we learned as
children can be put into practice, “Share your toys and be nice to each other.”
Sharing is a good thing and knowledge is for everyone.
