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TEACH vs. DMCA Showdown Looming

Posted by timothy on from the shuttle-at-the-ready dept.

TVmisGuided writes "A copyright showdown between the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and the Teach (Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization) Act is brewing that will have serious implications on the future of higher education on-line. The article from Chronicle.com spells out the upcoming brouhaha. IMO, this will be one of the strongest litmus tests of the DMCA since it was signed into law in the U.S."

3 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. More about the teach act by Palos · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act This site gives a bit more background into why it was considered necessary, as well as examples of how it is to be implemented.

  2. What would be nice by mesach · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since we all know what the DMCA is, would be to have a link or two to the TEACH act for those of us who dont know what its about

    The house...
    www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html

    Couldnt find a good senate one... but thats a start

    --
    moo.
  3. Re:Lawless Teacher by Olinator · · Score: 4, Informative
    Blockpoth the quoster:
    [...] Technically I am circumventing copyright protection [...]
    I could be wrong, but if I remember my reading properly, you are not in violation of any law doing what you are doing. [...]

    In fact, technically that is breaking the law, and it's the reason we get all worked up about it. The DMCA makes it a crime to "[...] circumvent a technical protection measure that [...] protects a copyrighted work". Nowhere does the DMCA say that the crime occurs only when the subsequent use of the work would constitute copyright infringement. (It does make a limited exception for enumerated classes of works; such enumeration is the province of the Librarian of Congress, and so far that office has not granted many exceptions. DVDs are definitely not within the exception to date.)


    "But what about Fair Use?"
    Fair use is a defense only to an accusation of copyright infringement. Since infringement doesn't have to be alleged in a DMCA case, you never get to raise the issue of fair use.

    IANAL either, but I have spent an enormous amount of time discussing this on the DVD-discuss list.

    Ole
    --
    Need a UNIX/Linux/network guru in the Boulde