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MPAA Says Teachers Should Camcord For Fair Use
unlametheweak recommends an Ars Technica piece detailing the convoluted lengths to which the MPAA will go in order to keep anybody from ripping a DVD, ever. The organization showed a film to the US Copyright Office, in the triennial hearing to spell out exemptions to the DMCA, giving instructions for how a teacher could use a camcorder to record a low-quality clip of a DVD for educational use — even though such a purpose is solidly established in law as fair use. "Never mind that this solution results in video of questionable quality and requires teachers to learn even more tech in order to get the job done. It also requires schools (or, given the way most schools are run, the teachers themselves) to incur additional costs to purchase camcorders and videotapes if they don't have them already. Add in the extra time involved, and this 'solution' is a laughably convoluted alternative to simply ripping a clip from a DVD."
Sorry about double-posting, but I just remembered something else: how would the teacher's union react to this? I'm not very fond of unions, but this time it would be a good thing to have on our side. The teachers union holds quite a bit of clout in government and they probably wouldn't put up with BS like this. Their argument would probably be something along the lines of that teachers are [rightfully] too busy to waste their time recording movies with a camcorder just to please the movie industry. The MPAA would probably back down even if they got their way and then had to take on the unions.
"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."
Teachers may also make partial copies of a CD for education purposes by recording to a vinyl record and playing it back on a phonograph.
It appears that part of the rationale behind the MPAA doing this is:
1) To keep any copies (copied fair-use clips, no less) of marginal quality so as to increase the (theoretical) value of an actual DVD. Dubious logic here, if that is part of the reasoning. If that were the case they could more logically argue to keep low quality copies (in general) of MPAA IP legal for educational purposes, no matter how it is derived (from ripping software or through cam-cording).
2) Try and prevent the spread of DVD-circumvention devices. Dubious logic again since it would probably be more efficient to by an extra DVD (or use the original if possible) and just bookmark the appropriate scenes for classroom viewing rather than to buy blank tape and maintain video equipment. Of course you can't un-invent DeCSS, nor can the MPAA go back in time and assassinate DVD Jon or people like him, so trying to stop DVD copying is fruitless and will only punish people and hinder schools, etc from making back-ups, fair-use clips, etc. The logic here is as senseless as the people who want to fight the War on Drugs.
3) They've already argued against cam-cording in non-educational settings (like movie-theaters), so it seems like they just have too much time and money on there hands and just want to be difficult. These are people who have power, and want to get as much out of it as they can. They seem to be enjoying themselves. My two cents here.
Actually, it's the DMCA that's the issue, not Fair Use.
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