[LM_NET] Copyright and subversion

[Doug Johnson <doug0077@GMAIL.COM>]

Hi folks,

Barbara's posting below has triggered a little rant. Barbara, I love ya -
don't take this personally.

I say go ahead and downloads YouTube videos regardless of what the "terms"
say. Here is why:

1. I sincerely doubt there is any case law existing that would indicate
whether YouTube's statement holds any legal water. When such a condition
exists, you should ask yourself if it is any harder to ask forgiveness than
permission when making a decision that is questionable. If you are abiding
by _most_ of the fair use indicators and it leads to a better educational
experience, don't wait for permission. Just do it. (Jamie, don't be a wimp!)

2. We should stop wasting our time fussing about this petty ante stuff.
Downloading a YouTube video has about the same degree of criminality as
stealing a sugar packet from a restaurant or driving 2 miles over the speed
limit. Yeah, technically it may not be legal - but who really cares except
those folks who never left Kohlberg's Law and Order stage of moral
development. How is a kid downloading a illegal song any different from us
stealing an apple from a neighbor's tree when we were young? - other than
the fact we were simply mischievous and today's kids are criminals!

I am growing more and more convinced that we are simply tying ourselves in
knots worrying about what people shouldn't be doing - especially on petty
matters. (Who exactly suffers if a movie is shown in school as a reward
rather than in direct F2F instruction? Perhaps we should approach copyright
from teaching people what rights they do have, about what things we don't
know are legal or illegal, and about using the morality of a situation
rather than the legality. Ask me, we are genuinely in danger of creating a
bunch of scofflaws out of our kids and teachers.

OK, have at me. Strip me of my library epaulets. Drum me off LM_Net. But I
said it and feel better for it.

All the best,

Doug


Doug Johnson
Director of Media and Technology
Mankato Area Public Schools
Box 8713, 1351 S Riverfront Dr.
Mankato MN 56001-8714
Phone: 507-387-7698 x 473
E-mail: doug0077@gmail.com
Web: www.doug-johnson.com
Blue Skunk Blog: http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/

³Thou shalt not² might reach the head, but it takes ³Once upon a time² to
reach the heart. Philip Pullman






Dear Suzanne
This has been the subject of a lot of discussion on the Australian list
because, according to the Terms and Conditions of Use, you cannot do this
without the express permission of the video owner.

This is from the Terms of Use website http://www.youtube.com/t/terms
"You may access User Submissions solely: for your information and personal
use; as intended through the normal functionality of the YouTube Service;
and for Streaming. "Streaming" means a contemporaneous digital transmission
of an audiovisual work via the Internet from the YouTube Service to a user's
device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and
not intended to be copied, stored, permanently downloaded, or redistributed
by the user. Accessing User Videos for any purpose or in any manner other
than Streaming is expressly prohibited."

This was brought to our notice here when one of our members noticed that
Jamie McKenzie was advocating downloading clips in an article he had
written, so she wrote to him and he changed what he had written!

Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA

E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other

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