Comment on the New DMCA Exemptions

Just over two years ago, Kathleen wrote about the DMCA exemptions issued by the Library of Congress.

Last week, the U.S. Copyright Office published an updated rule with DMCA exemptions (it went into effect on October 28), and the changes aren’t all good. To get a quick overview of the new exemptions, I’d recommend reading this piece at ArsTechnica and this one at readwrite hack.

Some of what’s in the new rule is perfectly sensible. As Timothy B. Lee points out, ebook access for the disabled should now be easier, since the exemption no longer requires that “’all existing e-book editions of the work contain access controls’ that inhibit disabled access” before it’s legal to circumvent DRM. Thus, users need no longer incur the expense of owning multiple ebook readers in order to circumvent DRM legally. This is a good thing!

But other parts of the rule cry out for a …

Talking About Fair Use in the Classroom

Recently at ProfHacker, in his post about intellectual property, George Williams noted “it would be in our best interest as teachers and scholars to start being more assertive about the doctrine of our Fair Use rights.” I couldn’t agree more, but as anyone who isn’t a lawyer knows, Fair Use is a complex issue. Furthermore, it’s an issue relevant not only to teachers but also to scholars at any level—and that includes first-year students who might be using copyrighted material in essays or presentations. So how do we go about talking about Fair Use in the classroom, and when should we?

The answer to “when should we” obviously depends on the type of course you’re teaching, and the extent to which students might have occasion to use copyrighted materials as part of their work. I’ve taught courses in composition, professional & technical writing, literature…