Some on this thread have expressed the idea that there is no "need" for the use of video in the classroom, or that the educational process would be "better" if such video were excluded from the classroom altogether. For every "lazy" teacher that misuses such tools, there are probably more that are good teachers who want to enhance the learning experience of their students by embracing technology, and using it to engage the students, stimulate participative learning, and illustrate concepts in a way that makes them memorable.
The topic of discussion, as always happens, has deviated from the start point. On the original point, the MPAA is always trying to over limit people’s ability to make copies of stuff, usually to down right psychotic levels.
I’m in the crowd that says there’s no need for video in the classroom. In my schooling experience (which was admittedly a long time ago) the lazy (no quotes that’s the simple reality) teachers misusing video FAR FAR out number the good teachers enhancing the learning experience, I was being very generous by giving good video usage a 10% probability. Most don’t use it to engage the student, stimulate participative learning, or illustrate anything, they use it to get to sit down and not talk. All the way through schooling AV, even when AV was a film strip and cassette, was basically used as teacher vacation day.