The article I read is “Copyright in the networked world: copyright police”. This article is about copyright enforcement and digital collections. It addresses the role of the police, private organizations and libraries. We must consider enforcement of copyright issues and how it affects both the digital material and the persons involved.
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is working with private rights holders to change the behavior of the general public by threatening to bring lawsuits against large numbers of citizens. Although many of these cases settle out of court there is still some concern that “fair use” (17 USC 107) statute is being overlooked in some cases.
In a study to see if more monitoring keeps people honest it was determined that it works for some and not others. In another study Universities that offered alternatives to pirating music saw little change in the pirating behavior of students. Universities also have to worry about in loco parentis although they believe students are responsible because they signed a user-agreement. Sony tried to police piracy by adding hidden software but got into hot water with “fair use” (17 USC 107) statute. Libraries need to be part of the solution because they understand copyright protection and its ramifications.
This issue rings a cord with me because as an elementary school librarian I have a hard time getting students and teachers to follow copyright rules. It did not surprise me that very little monitoring makes the biggest difference because I believe that most people want to be honest and upstanding. This is an important issue because as the librarian I feel it is my position to inform and educate the teachers and students. Knowing that people want to be honest gives me courage to continue teaching the copyright skills that I do. I am interested in seeing how this issue plays itself out as the internet becomes more main stream.
Michael Seadle, (2006) "Copyright in the networked world: copyright police", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 24 Iss: 1, pp.153 - 159
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