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Copyright Law Creates Difficulties for Young Students in the Modern Classroom
Chris A. Quarrie
Young students at the Grade 8-10 level in the todays classrooms spend so much time trying to
adhere to copyright guidelines when completing projects, that they are often left confused and
frustrated. Laws regarding the use of copyright materials have changed to meet some of the
needs of schools and classrooms, but further lifting of restrictions would provide benefits to
students and teachers, and have little to no impact on the creators of cultural artefacts. Students
creativity can be stifled, and much of the time spent citing sources by following the fine points of
different complicated regulations is time wasted. Projects and assignments created in this context
suffer as a result. This is especially true in the case I will present, where young students are
under time constraints and their knowledge of technology, culture, and the law may be limited.
The point these students are trying to convey with their work is often lost when they are limited
as to which multimedia artefacts they are allowed to show in class, and even the most careful of
students may find themselves in a legal grey area, through no fault of their own.
This paper will concentrate specifically on presentations that students at the Grade 8 level give in
my science classes. They are instructed to research, and then present a topic on Water Systems
to the class, using multimedia including text, imagery and videos obtained mainly from the
Internet. They are told to follow the laws and guidelines given to them according to current
copyright law, particularly Fair Use guidelines, which I will summarize. The problem, from a
student perspective, is that this law is confusing, contradictory, and flies in the face of common
sense. Why is it that projecting a particular protected video on screen to the class is illegal, but
simply picking up a phone and finding the video on YouTube in seconds is not? I wish to address
these and other concerns, and propose an alternative set of rules and laws for students who wish
to present multimedia artefacts to supplement their presentations in the classroom one which
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allows students maximum freedom and access, one which is free of confusing and complicated
guidelines, and one that still has little or no financial impact on the owners and creators of these
artefacts.
Students should be made aware that there are laws that dictate the use of materials to avoid
breaking copyright law. This section summarizes what the current laws say regarding the use of
The Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) published a document in Sept 2013 that
outlines Fair Dealing Guidelines. The paper dictates that, Teachers, instructors, professors, and
staff members in non-profit educational institutions may communicate and reproduce, in paper or
electronic form, short excerpts from a copyright-protected work for the purposes of research,
private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire, and parody. Short excerpts
are here defined as, a) up to 10 per cent of a copyright-protected work (including a literary
work, musical score, sound recording, and an audio-visual work) Many ambiguities and
multiple interpretations arise, for example: Do students count as teachers in the instance of my
case study since they are presenting materials, like a teacher, to class? Do private schools such as
the one I teach in count as schools for-profit, and therefore dont fall under this law? What is a
short excerpt of a photograph? What is a short excerpt of a 3-minute YouTube clip? The
CMEC also that, Teachers can show audio-visual works purchased or rented from a retail store,
a copy borrowed from the library, a copy borrowed from a friend, and a YouTube video
(Copyright Matters!, 2012). Here is a contradiction YouTube videos often contain 100% of a
copyright work (entire movies). But you are only permitted to view 10%! Here is one of many
contradictions. Teachers and students are permitted to use an entire artistic work (including a
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painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected
work containing other artistic works (Copyright Matters!, 2012). How are students to know
when an item is discovered online, whether or not a work is a work containing other works?
Google searches for multimedia items are often self-contained, so its hard to know how much
of the original work you are actually looking at. Students commonly use Googles Image
Search to find pictures for their projects, and while it is possible to filter out image results that
are not permitted for use, whats left after filtering often doesnt work well with the concept they
are attempting to convey. The guide goes on to mention that all works must be cited, which does
not present a problem. But many times it is hard to know which website should be referenced, as
it is often being displayed on a website as a copy of the original in the first place, so students end
up referencing a reference. An obvious example is the use of Wikipedia: students reference the
Wikipedia page that information is pulled from, rather than the original source that Wikipedia is
The Fair Use Guidelines prescribe that these short excerpts may be, provided or
(Copyright Matters!, 2012). This can be confusing from a student perspective; they are not
building a course, they are merely presenting a topic to the class. Where do slideshows like
PowerPoint fall in this rule? They are not handouts. Also, many students in my class use online
presentation websites like Prezi, or Pixton to create their own YouTube videos, which are not
password-protected. While it may be possible to protect these sites so that they are only viewable
within an institution, Grade 8 students may not have the technical know-how for adjusting these
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settings. If they are not private, are they breaking copyright law by posting their non-password
protected presentations online? It is not entirely clear one way or the other, as it may depend on
the materials within these presentations. Additionally, the guidelines from Fair Dealing indicate
that, Copying or communicating multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected
work, with the intention of copying or communicating substantially the entire work, is
prohibited (Copyright Matters!, 2012, my italics). Students attempting to complete this project
are often using multiple short excerpts from one source usually the Science 8 textbook to
convey their message. Is this prohibited or not? They may even do this unintentionally, when
they lift several images from what they believe to be multiple sources, since they are found on
separate websites, but may in fact be multiple short excerpts from a single work. It should be
clear that though the laws have been modified to allow for greater freedom in educational
institutions, confusing, contradictory and often misleading information remains, particularly for
young students.
Fair is Fair?
In Fair Use of Images in the Classroom: How Far is Fair? Christine L. Sundt contended:
In the classroom, one would assume that since education is such a noble enterprise,
whatever we do in the name of promoting the progress of science and the useful arts
should be acceptable under the law and permitted without boundaries Unfortunately
thats wishful thinking. Laws are complex.... What may look like copyright issues on the
surface often turn out to be laced with license and contract law as well as property and
even personality rights. Therefore asking what is fair under copyright is unfortunately
only a small part of the larger question Suppose you want to post your lecture on the
web so your students can review it to prepare for their exam. Of course, you will want to
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include the images you scanned from your departments slide collection or from books in
the library. Some of the other images are your own -- shot on site while doing research --
while other came from the web from websites whose owners you dont know but who
have made access simple and seemingly unrestricted (you can still right-click and
download!). Some of these images must surely be long past copyright restrictions, if
copyright even applies. That image of Mona Lisa cant still be under Leonardos
copyright but can the Louvre claim rights or does the right belong to Jean-Paul
somebody who took the picture and posted it on the web? (Fair Use of Images in the
My students frequently download and use photos for their presentations obtained through Google
Image Search. While this may be legal for password-protected websites only available within the
school, it is not entirely clear whether they are permitted to display these photos (with or without
citations), on publically available presentation websites like Prezi. Whom does the original photo
belong to? Sundt argued, If you are unable to articulate why your use should or could be fair,
then you cant expect the rights owner to help you. Rights holders, like contracting providers,
will seek the most benefit and give away as little as possible (Fair Use of Images in the
Classroom: How Far is Fair?, 2004). Can we really expect a 13-year-old girl to make these
articulations? Students use YouTube clips to compliment their presentations with music, but
when they download this YouTube video into an mp3, are they breaking the law? Molly
McHugh warned that, MP3 ripping lives in a legal grey area, where technically its legal
although the powers that be are trying to change that (Major YouTube ripper loses court case
for archiving MP3s, but wont be closing shop, 2014). Could a young student be held liable for
copyright infringement for simply presenting a topic to class that contains a YouTube clip, or a
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copyrighted photograph? Its not clear one way or another. Does it matter where the owner
resides? Feng and Petrina (2014) warned us that, There are copyright agreements that are
binding among many countries. Nonetheless, works copyrighted in Canada have no guarantee of
protection in other countries, and vice versa. Cyberlibertarians remind us that that borders and
jurisdictions are thrown into question in cyberspace. Nevertheless, for Canadian works in
Lawrence Lessig made a strong case that current copyright law is outdated and needs to be
replaced by a new model. He has called for a complete paradigm shift. When students conduct
research, they are presented with, a vast amount of creative work spread across the Internet. But
as the law is currently crafted, this work is presumptively illegal (Lessig, 2004, p. 184). Even
though we are concerned with a group of students in a science classroom, it could be argued that
the control of content online and the administration of copyright law on such a small scale can be
seen an instrument of silencing dissent and abusing power. Copyright is the best international
instrument for shutting people up when they threaten the status quo (Barlow, 1998). This is
There is already a huge disjuncture between what is legal and what is socially acceptable
in this area. When I speak to audiences about copyright, I always ask how many present
can claim to have no unauthorized software on their hard disks. Even when I'm asking
this question of publishers, record executives, or copyright lawyers, I never see more than
10 percent of the hands go up (and I suspect that some significant number of these are
How can copyright laws be justified in a classroom full of 13-year-olds when the stakeholders
who have an interest in protecting their work are not even following the law? Even so, there
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are many moves presently underway by the world's information mongers -- the publishers, the
licensors, and the distributors -- to seriously criminalize the reproduction of all copyrighted
These rules and laws make it very difficult for teachers to to drum up enthusiasm and interest in
the subject matter, and make the project a positive learning experience. Students see the exercise
as a mindless, tedious task that they have to do and it provides no learning benefit or relevance
in relation to the Water Systems project. Students are only interested in producing an engaging
multimedia presentation that will wow their classmates. This often means using presentations
that are accompanied by multimedia: images, music and video. Should a presentation be dulled
down and be made to adhere stringently to copyright law? Students end up spending more time
Harsh Penalties
Capturing and sharing has always been integral to our cultureYet this is possible only
if the activity is presumptively legal. There is a vast amount of creative work spread across the
Internet. But as the law is currently crafted, this work is presumptively illegal. (Lessig, 2004, p
184-185). The work of my Grade 8 science students could be included in this description.
Penalties for breaking copyright laws have been high and harsh, and students should be made to
understand these consequences. These penalties could also reflect poorly on the school, the
administration, and the teaching staff. Could my job as a teacher be at risk if a students work is
Proposed Solutions
John Perry Barlow argued, as a creator of content himself, at an e-G8 meeting in 2011:
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I may be one of very few people in this room who actually makes his living personally by
creating what these gentlemen are pleased to call intellectual property. I dont regard
my expression as a form of property. Property is something that can be taken from me. If
I dont have it, somebody else does. Expression is not like that. The notion that
transporting it around, which was necessary before there was the Internet, which has the
If this view is shared by those who would publish their works for education of young people,
what is the point in punishing them when they choose to assist in its dissemination? Laws need
to be eased to allow for clear boundaries that are simple, fair, and provide maximum benefit to
students and owners alike. The Digital Consumer's Bill of Rights was crafted in response to
encroachments on rights to privacy, and rights to freely generate, use and share information. This
bill is the consumers' solution to the U.S.s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), both of which are overly sympathetic to
corporate intellectual property (IP) rights (Feng and Petrina, 2014). This proposed set of rights
would make it much easier for students to use and share legally-acquired materials (such as
through Google or YouTube search the primary method for obtaining materials). Richard
Stallman of the GNU project proposes limiting the time in which a copyrighted work is
protected:
The natural first step in reducing this dimension of copyright power is to permit
individuals. This would eliminate the intrusion of the copyright police into people's
private lives, but would probably have little effect on the sales of published works The
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experience of Napster shows that we should also permit non-commercial verbatim
redistribution to the general publicwhen so many of the public want to copy and share,
and find it so useful, only draconian measures will stop them, and the public deserves to
I would go a step further and propose that any works published to the Internet and obtained for
educational purposes are instantly allowed for free use, copying, and distribution. Students in
Grade 8 are not seeking this media (I am mainly referring here to images and videos) for
monetary gain. They will still be using best practises when it comes to citing sources. They
simply want to collect information that is already available to everyone else, simply by doing a
cursory Google search, and put it together in the form of a rudimentary presentation for class.
Conclusion
It is clear that the legal impediments to employing any and all information that is available to
them harms student learning. Students are not causing any loss, monetary or otherwise, by
publicly on a presentation website like Prezi. Therefore these proposals will go a long way in
helping young students become enlightened on topics of interest to both schools and students,
and clear the way for best pedagogical practice without the fear of legal reprisal.
Petrina and Feng (2014) concluded that, Digital theorists note that the preventive measures are
too little too late. We cannot contain digital data the way we were able to with analog data. Not
only have the rules of the game changed; the game itself has changed. If the law doesnt catch
up to the 21st Century classroom a revolution of sorts may be in order. Hopefully it will not come
to that.
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References
Barlow, J. P. (1998). Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Copyright?. TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved
Copyright Information for Teachers (2013, September). Retrieved November 10, 2014 from
http://www.cmec.ca/466/Programs-and-Initiatives/Copyright/Copyright-Information-for-
Teachers/index.html
http://cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/291/Copyright_Matters.pdf
Feng, F., & Petrina, S. (2014). Copyright Primer. Retrieved September 30, 2014 from
http://blogs.ubc.ca/educ500/files/2012/07/etec531copyrightprimer.pdf
Lessig, L. (2004). Free Culture. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.
Masnick, M. (2011) John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The
http://www.digitaltrends.com
McHugh, M. (2014). Major YouTube ripper loses court case for archiving MP3s, but wont be
http://www.digitaltrends.com
Stallman, R. Misinterpreting CopyrightA Series of Errors. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html
Sundt, C. (2004). Fair Use of Images in the Classroom: How Far is Fair? Retrieved November