Technology Makes Breaking the Law Easier than Ever Before

by Sydney Stapleton

Technology advancements have created the ability to share information within seconds. New high speeds of data, Wi-Fi in nearly every building, and more technology available than ever before allows everyone to publish and distribute content. This generates the perfect storm for violating copyright and fair use laws. Educators need to educate themselves in order to protect them and their school from getting involved in lawsuits and paying large fines.

This week in class, I was taught, for the first time, the rules and vital fine print statements pertaining to copyright and fair use laws. Before reading any information on copyright, I assumed it was similar to how you must cite your sources to avoid plagiarism. While some aspects, like citing the source, are still relevant there is much more to it than that.

While discussing during class, it was clear there are many misconceptions surrounding what is permissible without breaking laws. The fair use doctrine can cause confusion, due to the fact that it permits unlicensed use of copyright works in certain circumstances. The doctrine is beneficial to educators since the instructional purpose within a classroom falls under an acceptable circumstance. An important tip is that the instructional purpose must be applicable to the content the students are learning, factual, and only presented to the students in the classroom. As a general rule of thumb, as with most things, you should always error on the safe side and never use somebody’s work without their permission.

Why are students not being taught proper copyright laws from the time they are able to use works of any sort from the internet? Explaining and showing students why it is important to apply the creative commons licenses tool when searching for images on the internet is a prime example of an introduction to copyrights even elementary kids can understand and implement. I have stated that educators face the responsibility of preventing misuse of copyright works, but so does nearly every employment position in any job. This means that students have a right and responsibility to know copyright laws and should be taught and then held accountable for not breaking them.

In the long run, technology is going to be more and more a part of the learning experience at any education level. My guess is that the ability to break copyright laws will go up hand and hand with advancing technology. It is important that educators and curriculums find a way to educate students on what copyright is and how to protect not only others’ work, but theirs as well.