Posted on 05/07/2009 2:11:41 PM PDT by dangerdoc
So the Copyright Office is currently in the middle reviewing proposed exceptions to the DMCA, and one of the proposals on the table would allow teachers and students to rip DVDs and edit them for use in the classroom. Open and shut, right? Not if you're the MPAA and gearing up to litigate the legality of ripping -- it's trying to convince the rulemaking committee that videotaping a flatscreen is an acceptable alternative. Seriously. It's hard to say if we've ever seen an organization make a more tone-deaf, flailing argument than this.
Take a good look, kids. This is what an industry looks like right before it dies. Video after the break
Why should they be copying and editing DVDs in the classroom, unless it’s a class in the process of doing that?
These media goons never cease to amaze me.
Sometimes a few lines from a scene of a tv show or movie can illustrate a concept in a humorous or memorable way that makes a lasting impression and brings home the point much better than any textbook explanation possibly could.
Then recite the lines.
Why should teachers be photocopying a few pages or chapters out of a book instead of providing copies of the whole text to students?
The law has always permitted copies to be made in an educational environment.
It can be a documentary, it can be a historical recreation, it can be a reading of shakespeare, it can be a lot of things reference in a lecture.
I think you read the article wrong. The “editing for use in the classroom” means that instead of buying the DVD and copying for use in the classroom (think videotaping a program like National Geographic for the classroom the next day), they are suggesting the teacher buy a video camera, videotape the TV and then show the class.
Which doesn’t make sense because either they have a DVD camcorder (do they even sell the old VHS ones anymore?) or using a digital camcorder and putting it on DVD.
So maybe I’m the one that’s confused.
Did you read it to mean they were actually copying and editing the actual DVD INSIDE the classroom? Because they meant for USE inside the classroom.
One of the many idiocies of the last administration is that it didn’t take away the Clinton special-interest subsidy to Hollyweird, aka the DMCA.
I agree that videotaping something off TV to use in class is absurd. However, the claim that they can’t teach without multimedia frou-frou is absurd, too - particularly when it involves copyrighted Hollywood materials.
I have to agree with the MPAA. If the students and teachers weren’t so busy copying DVDs, they’d have more time to sext each other over their cell phones.
The Copyfraud ping: copyright, patent and trademark law, mainly as applied to the digital age, especially their abuse.
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My only thought is how annoying it is to find a video where someone has taken video of their tv and converted it to a format for viewing on the internet, instead of doing a direct conversion from their feed to the tv. I don’t care what their living room looks like, and along with much better video, they’re converting anyway.
So, back to on-topic for you guys...
No, I understood the general concept. However, I find the educational “need” farcical. On other other hand, I really don’t care if they do or don’t.
Irrelevant. They can teach in a cave by scratching diagrams into the rock, but there's no reason they should be expected to do that, either.
The bottom line is that the law permits a certain degree of fair use, and Hollyweird is attempting to violate that law. If the GOP had any spine, the DMCA would be history and infringements of fair-use rights would carry penalties every bit as severe as infringements of copyright.
Good idea. I guess we should have to retype the lines from a news article one line at a time per post if we want to discuss it on a news forum too, right?
It's about the circumvention of the copy protection on the DVD. They don't want a teacher to rip a DVD and put the class-relevant parts into a video. They want the teacher to spend money, buy a camcorder, make a severely inferior copy by shooting a TV screen, import that into a computer, then edit that.
If the teacher puts it on a DVD the teacher will likely not use the copy protection so that's not an issue.
No, it's not, because the taxpayers are paying for all of the equipment, and dealing with the results of the wasted time.
If the GOP had any spine, the DMCA would be history and infringements of fair-use rights would carry penalties every bit as severe as infringements of copyright.
Fine with me.
My mom, when she was teaching Shakespeare to our homeschool co-op, would try to find a really good production of the play to pass around halfway through the class. When we did “Much Ado About Nothing” she used the really excellent Kenneth Branagh version but had to find someone to edit the video for her to remove two brief scenes with nudity and similar stuff not entirely appropriate for 14 year old homeschool kids.
I could see a similar use in a classroom, maybe, but that’s about it.
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