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Fall 1999
1999 - 00 Educational Policies
Committee
Hoke Simpson, Chair, Grossmont College
Lacy Barnes-Mileham, Reedley College
Kate Clark, Irvine Valley College
Dan Baxley, College of the Desert, CIO Representative
Elton Hall, Moorpark College
Robert Porter, Saddleback College, Student Representative
Mary Rider, Grossmont College
Ian Walton, Mission College
1998 - 99 Educational Policies
Committee
Janis Perry, Chair, Santiago Canyon College
Linda Collins, Los Medanos College
Eva Conrad, Moorpark College, CIO Representative
Elton Hall, Moorpark College
Mary Rider, Grossmont College
Hoke Simpson, Grossmont College
Kathy Sproles, Hartnell College
Ian Walton, Mission College
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Academic Freedom and Privacy
Copyright and Fair Use Issues
Privacy, Property Rights, and Fair Use: the Philosophical
Background
Recommendations for Local Senates
An Alternative Thought for Individual Faculty
Annotated Bibliography
Abstract
This position paper of the Academic Senate for California
Community Colleges examines the increasing use of technology in
education and the fundamental, academic implications of this increase
for the traditional understanding of academic freedom, privacy,
copyright and fair use. It is third in a series of four related
papers that have already discussed academic freedom in a more general
setting and instructor-student contact in distance education. The
fourth paper will discuss more specific details of technology implementation
in both the academic and the collective bargaining setting.
The widespread use of computer Email systems for both
faculty and student communication, and of websites and the Internet
for research, teaching and dissemination, has raised new concerns
regarding the protection of academic freedom. This paper examines
a variety of educational computer use policies and makes recommendations
for good practice in this area. In addition, the paper discusses
evolving interpretations of copyright and fair use in light of the
availability of digital material, and makes recommendations to both
authors and users of this material. Finally it provides a philosophical
setting for discussions of intellectual property issues. Specific
recommendations for involvement and action of local academic senates
are included, as well as suggestions to faculty in general. The
paper also provides an annotated bibliography of currently available
reference material.
Introduction
For many years, the Academic Senate for California Community
Colleges has played a leading role in the successful development
and introduction of technology into the curriculum. The increasing
use of technology in teaching has resulted in significant changes
in the ways that faculty and students work. Email has become a routine
means of scholarly communication while websites and the Internet
have become a major vehicle for research, dissemination and delivery
of course material. Students have participated in these changes
through technology mediated instruction, use of multimedia, Email
and other Internet activities.
The Academic Senate has helped to shape this change
with a series of position papers on the curriculum and on pedagogical
issues involved in technology and distance learning:
November 1993, "Distance Education in the California
Community Colleges: An Academic Senate Review of the Social, Fiscal
and Educational Issues,"
November 1995, "Curriculum Committee Review of Distance
Learning Courses and Sections,"
November 1997, "Guidelines for Good Practice: Technology
Mediated Instruction,"
April 1999, "Guidelines for Good Practice: Effective
Instructor-Student Contact in Distance Learning.
However, in parallel with this rise in the use of technology has
come an increasing concern regarding the related issues of academic
freedom, copyright and fair use in an electronic environment. The
Academic Senate's Spring 1998 position paper, "Academic Freedom
and Tenure: A Faculty Perspective," reiterated the Academic Senate's
traditional support for academic freedom in research and teaching,
but did not address changes caused by the development of electronic
communication. This paper will examine some of these recent academic
and philosophical issues, as directed by the following resolution
from the Spring 1998 Plenary Session:
S98 11.01 Internet-based Instruction
Whereas faculty are increasingly involved in development
and use of electronic material, and
Whereas expansion of Internet-based instruction and
communication via e-mail has created new venues for the use of
such electronic material, and
Whereas protection of faculty rights to their own materials
and the fair use of materials developed by others has both academic
and workload implications,
Therefore be it resolved that the Academic Senate for
Community Colleges, in conjunction with faculty union leadership,
develop and disseminate a position paper on intellectual property
rights, privacy rights, and copyright as they apply to electronic
media, especially e-mail, multimedia, and use of the Internet.
Prompted by an additional resolution from the Spring
1999 Plenary session, a later paper in the series will examine the
"nuts and bolts" issues of technology and teaching, from both a
curriculum and a collective bargaining standpoint.
S99 11.01 Effective Instructor-Student
Contact in Distance Learning
Whereas there are issues related to distance learning that are
properly the purview of collective bargaining and some areas that
are relevant to pedagogy and academic and professional issues,
Therefore be it resolved that the Academic Senate for Community
Colleges direct the Executive Committee to develop a paper, in
collaboration with our collective bargaining colleagues, covering
such areas as faculty load, class size, compensation and related
issues, with regard to distance learning and teaching
In the last few years, there has been considerable
interest and public discussion of many of these issues: the United
States Congress has worked on copyright and Internet issues; Email
privacy has been a contentious legal issue in private industry;
copyright and fair use have been a growing concern as faculty implement
distance education and multimedia enhancements of course material.
As the National Education Association Technology Brief "Distance
Education: Challenges and Opportunities" states:
As the financial stakes are raised, intellectual property
rights and faculty rights increasingly become intertwined. Institutions
that previously asserted no ownership claim to a scholarly book
are rethinking their policies on intellectual property rights.
However, most of this discussion, particularly in
the privacy area, has been of a legal nature and has taken place
in the private sector rather than within higher education.
The Fall 1998 Plenary Session of the Academic Senate
featured a breakout session to collect faculty concerns in preparation
for this position paper. Those present at the breakout were most
immediately concerned with academic freedom and its most visible
manifestation in the shape of Email privacy. The breakout discussed
three interconnected aspects of the larger issue:
Academic freedom to teach, research, communicate
and publish in a technological environment.
User considerations in copyright, fair use and availability
of material from the Internet.
Author considerations of property rights, compensation
and use in distance education and technology mediated instruction.
This paper will present a limited examination of these
interconnected issues. It makes no claim to provide definitive legal
answers in a situation that changes almost daily. For example, at
the time of writing, Pamela Mendels in the New York Times reports
that a federal appeals court in Virginia has just upheld a law restricting
computer access for state employees. The law had been challenged
by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of six professors
at state universities and colleges. On another front, Wendy Grossman
in Scientific American reports that American companies may soon
experience difficulty because a European Union's legally binding
privacy directive prohibits exchange of data with countries that
do not have equivalent levels of privacy protection.
Despite the complex and rapidly changing situation,
this paper provides a brief examination of copyright issues and
practice. Several of the documents listed in the bibliography perform
a more comprehensive analysis. Rather, this paper will make a principled
examination of the current situation, from a faculty point of view,
and make recommendations for involvement of local academic senates.
Academic Freedom and Privacy
The Academic Senate's interest in privacy, copyright and
fair use issues differs in two major respects from much of the debate
that has been taking place in private industry, and that has resulted
in several lawsuits and congressional proposals for legislation.
In the first place, the Academic Senate's discussion takes place
in the different and more general context of academic freedom in
higher education institutions. There is long-standing protection
for the right of free inquiry, the right of free expression and
the concept of no prior restraint. Furthermore, student right-to-privacy
requirements impose a significantly higher standard on the confidentiality
of communications in an educational setting (see discussion of FERPA
(Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and Counseling Ethics
in the following Email privacy section).
The traditional background for academic freedom is
based on the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
"1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure." A
much more recent AAUP report, "Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications,"
provides an excellent framework for the current discussion.
Particularly relevant is the report's statement that:
One overriding principle should govern such inquiry:
Freedom of expression and academic freedom should be limited to
no greater degree in electronic format than in printed or oral communication,
unless and to the degree that unique conditions of the new media
warrant different treatment.
Computer/Electronic Use Policies
The same AAUP report comments that this principle of freedom
must include several parts:
Freedom of research, including access to information
in electronic format.
Freedom of publication, including the ability to
post controversial material.
Freedom of teaching, including the extended classroom
produced by distance education.
Access to computers and electronic networks is now
an important component of research, publication, and teaching. This
access and communication is largely controlled by an institution's
computer/electronic use policy. Therefore an obvious place to start
an examination of this principle is the electronic use policies
at various higher educational institutions in California. In developing
or reviewing policy language, local academic senates may find the
following examples useful in developing a sufficiently strong statement
of their own. Local computer use policies can affect academic freedom
in many of the areas that they address, including Email, Internet
access, websites and permissible uses.
The following excerpts from the University of California
"Electronic Mail Policy" make a strong statement of principle by
explicitly recognizing academic freedom and the role of the academic
senate in implementing effective procedures.
The University recognizes that principles of academic
freedom and shared governance, freedom of speech, and privacy of
information hold important implications for electronic mail and
electronic mail services. The University affords electronic mail
privacy protections comparable to that which it traditionally affords
paper mail and telephone communications. This Policy reflects these
firmly-held principles within the context of legal and other obligations
. . .
. . . Where the inspection, monitoring, or disclosure
of e-mail held by faculty is involved, the advice of the Campus
Academic Senate shall be sought in writing in advance.
In contrast, one California community college district's
"Computer and Technology Use" policy contains a statement that is
perhaps realistic but lacks any support for academic freedom. It
simply gives a warning about technical constraints but makes no
statement of basic principles. It is important that both principle
and caution be present.
The systems have the ability to read your mail: your
own account, and the system administrator account. While reasonable
attempts have been made to ensure the privacy of your accounts and
your electronic mail, this is no guarantee that your accounts or
your electronic mail is private. The systems are not secure, nor
are they connected to a secure network.
This final example from the California State University
Office of the Chancellor "Internet Use Policy" uses precisely the
broad language that the AAUP report warns against when it comments
that colleges and universities often try to restrict electronic
access to material that would rarely be restricted in print format.
AAUP suggests that only material that would be unlawful in print
should be banned or removed from computer systems.
Chancellor's Office personnel are prohibited from
utilizing California State University information resources for
any unlawful, unethical, or unprofessional purpose or activity.
Examples of prohibited uses include but are not limited to:
. . . intentional access or dissemination of materials
which can be considered pornographic.
Such broad language fails to protect academic freedom,
and suggests anonymous censorship that would not be acceptable for
print material in a college library.
Another disturbing feature of many electronic use
policies is the suggestion that the right to computer access has
a low priority. Computer access is often portrayed as a privilege
that may be suspended or terminated for perceived violations of
use policy; note this example from a California community college
"Rules for Internet Use":
An individual's computer use privileges may be suspended
immediately upon the discovery of a possible violation of these
rules. Such suspected violations will be confidentially reported
to the appropriate system administrator.
The AAUP report comments that restrictions on library
access and publication are highly unusual and that restrictions
on computer access should have a comparable process and meet comparable
standards to any library access policy. Theoretical perceptions
of possible abuse should not drive the creation of use policies.
In summary, since research, publication and teaching
now make intensive use of electronic media, the well established
reasons for academic freedom must be applied in these new areas.
Academic freedom provides the strong moral argument for educational
institutions to extend equivalent protections from the print setting
into the electronic environment even if clear legal requirements
do not yet exist. The latest information from the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act is reviewed in the second part of this paper. It is
the position of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
that local academic senates should use the principle of academic
freedom to guide the development and review of their local computer
use policies.
Email Privacy
Another area which local academic senates should address
is the security of Email correspondence, both as it is used between
faculty, and, increasingly with the growth of distance education,
as it is used for instructor-student communications. Guidelines
for effective instructor-student contact encourage a rich variety
of technological communication. This poses a practical dilemma.
Such instructor-student communication might inadvertently involve
advising or other confidential information. Avoidance is the safest
solution but may inhibit the very richness of communication that
we strive to provide. Under the 1974 Federal Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), colleges are required to protect
the confidentiality of basic student records and data. Even more
important is to protect the confidentiality of faculty-student communication
and counselor-student advising as described in the ethical standards
for counselors laid out in the American Counseling Association Code
of Ethics and Standards of Practice (1997), which states:
Respect for Privacy. Counselors respect their clients'
right to privacy and avoid illegal and unwarranted disclosures of
confidential information.
Thus colleges that use technology and distance education
must be able to provide adequate student services in a secure, confidential
environment. Since any deliberate Email surveillance is almost guaranteed
to involve student interactions, a college's difficulty in protecting
faculty-student Email could possibly jeopardize the whole concept
of technology mediated distance learning as practiced by a rapidly
increasing number of colleges.
However, most use policies make the comment that electronic
communication and especially the Internet tend to be public mediums
and warn users that it is virtually impossible to guarantee privacy.
Faculty should clearly exercise considerable caution. The Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse document "Privacy in Cyberspace: Rules of the
Road for the Information Superhighway" states:
There are virtually no online activities or services
that guarantee an absolute right of privacy.
But the a priori assumption of confidentiality as
quoted earlier from the University of California policy is clearly
a principle worth stating. The argument laid out above for protection
of faculty-student Email could, in practice, extend to the protection
of all Email, including faculty-faculty Email. But there is an additional
argument for protection of faculty-faculty Email in the academic
freedom setting. It is a long accepted educational position that
students in large part gain their own academic freedom by observing
the example set by the faculty. This tradition of teaching by example
would be rendered ineffective here if the faculty themselves could
not demonstrate adequate protection.
The lack of adequate protection can also lead to a
significant negative effect on campus climate and employee morale.
This effect has already been observed on at least two different
occasions when the administration at a California community college
searched the Email records or computer files of faculty. In one
case the college later adopted a comprehensive privacy and access
policy.
In the private sector, court cases have generally
held that internal Email systems belong to the employer and that
message interception is therefore acceptable. In "E-mail Privacy:
What Are Your Rights?" Jonathan Wallace describes a classic case
involving a Pillsbury employee who was fired for sending Email critical
of the company.
In contrast, in higher education, there is little
clear legal precedent on Email privacy. It should be forcefully
argued that, in light of academic freedom, different standards and
ethics must prevail in higher education. While Title I of the Electronics
Communications Privacy Act prohibits intentional, unauthorized interception
of electronic communication in transit, it then proceeds to authorize
interception either by the provider of the service, or if prior
consent has been given. Sipior and Ward, in "The Ethical and Legal
Quandary of e-mail Privacy," provided a fairly detailed analysis
of the legal issues surrounding Email from both the employee and
the employer perspective, but they do not specifically address the
higher education sector.
Many electronic use policies effectively require advance
consent for interception as a condition of access, and make no acknowledgment
of principles of privacy. For example, one California community
college district's "Technology Use Policy" contains this disturbingly
broad language:
The District shall have the right to access all communication
systems to ensure integrity and security.
In contrast, another California community college
district's "Procedures and Guidelines for Telecommunications Access
and Use" starts with a strong statement of principle on Email:
The District considers Email transmitted using District
resources to be private correspondence between the sender and recipient
and will not monitor it for content.
Local academic senates should urge inclusion of a
similar statement of principle in their local computer use policies,
even though absolute privacy cannot be guaranteed.
In 1999, California State Senate Bill 1016 (Bowen),
would have prohibited an employer from secretly monitoring the electronic
mail or other personal computer records generated by an employee.
Although the bill was passed by both the Senate and the Assembly
it was vetoed by Governor Davis in October 1999.
In an educational environment, it is clearly valuable
for the institution to state the principled belief that there is
a strong initial presumption of privacy, (notwithstanding technical
difficulties). To violate that initial expectation requires exceptional
circumstances, and there must be a clearly defined process that
involves the local academic senate (as in the University of California
"Electronic Mail Policy," mentioned above). The National Education
Association brief "E-mail and Privacy" suggests that, absent strong
federal or state statutes protecting Email communications in the
educational setting, the best safeguard is to negotiate strong collective
bargaining contract language in this area. The most recent position
in the AAUP September 1999 issue of Academe reflects the dual recommendations
of this paper: make a statement of principle, but also urge caution.
Author Jonathan Alger states "In an era in which colleges are encouraging
faculty members to teach, conduct research, and communicate with
students on-line, they can best protect academic freedom and the
integrity of their institutional mission by respecting the privacy
of these communications."
While it is important to avoid greater restrictions
on electronic communication than those extended to spoken or written
communication, it must also be recognized that there are traditional
individual responsibilities of faculty and students that accompany
academic freedom in any medium. The 1940 Statement of Principles
on Academic Freedom and Tenure observes that faculty must "exercise
appropriate restraint", "respect the opinions of others", and "indicate
when they are not speaking for the institution". These responsibilities
are perhaps especially important owing to the immediacy of much
electronic communication and the lack of opportunity for contemplation.
Recommendations on Academic Freedom
and Privacy
Since there is so much concern in the area of academic freedom
and privacy and so many examples of strong and weak policy language
it is recommended that local academic senates play a major role
when developing policies and procedures:
To ensure that local electronic/computer use policies
include a statement of the fundamental principle of academic freedom
in the electronic medium, including Email, websites and online courses.
To ensure that local electronic/computer use policies
include a statement of the fundamental principle of the confidentiality
of Email communications, while acknowledging the inherent lack of
absolute security.
To ensure that local electronic/computer use policies
guarantee appropriate access to computers and networks for faculty
and students.
To actively involve each local academic senate in
creating and implementing the process that deals with possible exceptions
or violations of academic freedom and privacy.
To consult with collective bargaining colleagues
to ensure contract language creating and implementing the process
that deals with confidentiality and with possible exceptions and
technical safeguards or limitations.
Copyright and Fair Use Issues
Traditionally, intellectual property rights have been preserved
and protected by three mechanisms: copyrights, trademarks and patents.
After distinguishing between these three forms of protection, this
section will focus primarily on copyrights. Fair use is discussed
in the section entitled "Standpoint of the User."
Copyrights protect the development of ideas that are
original or are expressed in original ways. Books and newspapers
are copyrighted and copyrights can apply to all written materials,
including poems, short texts, pamphlets and syllabi, in short anything
that might be published. With the advent of television, copyrights
were extended to programs: news broadcasts commonly end with an
indication of copyright ownership.
Trademarks apply to brand names that associate a company
with a particular product. Perhaps the most famous trademark change
in the last few decades is that of a major oil company concerned
about the number of non-company products being sold around the world
sporting the company's name and logo. Computers were used to search
for a name that was not used anywhere in the world by anyone, no
matter what the product. The result was EXXON. This exercise showed
the protective nature of trademarks: they aim to prevent imitations
being sold as the known product.
Patents apply to inventions from machines to medicines,
and by extension to procedures and manipulations of nature (such
as systematically mutating plant DNA for developing vegetables resistant
to insects). Patents, like copyrights and trademarks, allow the
creators to profit from their work.
Although patent issues are crucial to individuals
involved in research institutions, including major universities,
community college teachers are most likely to find themselves concerned
with copyrights. Trademarks will be a concern when faculty develop
multimedia materials that may contain company logos, names and products.
Historically, there has been an understanding among
teachers: their syllabus and the course materials that they generate
are their own. It is also understood that the course outline of
record, on file at the college, belongs to the college, though departmental
staff is usually responsible for generating and updating it. In
the days of dittos and mimeographed handouts, this understanding,
vague as it might be, was perhaps sufficient. With the advent and
exponential growth of current technologies from Email to online
courses, multimedia course materials, and computing work as part
of interactive education, the old understanding is seriously deficient.
Teachers (and students) are not adequately protected in two ways:
they may not be able to preserve their own original work and they
risk violating the protections of others when they use others' works.
Copyright Law
Copyright law applies to any work or production immediately
upon its expression in any tangible medium. Copyright law protects
original work without the need for any positive action by the author.
It does not protect ideas or processes, though it does cover expression
of those ideas and accounts of processes. Copyrights law protects
the creator who brings ideas to fruition as books, poems, drawings,
plays, cartoons and other publishable or performable material, including
music and works of art. It also provides those who do not possess
the copyright to materials fair use access to them. Copyright issues
thus affect anyone who produces or uses copyrighted material. There
are, then, two perspectives to take into account—that of the individual
who holds the copyright and that of the individual who wishes to
make use of copyrighted material. Both points of view are addressed
in a variety of sources (see the reference list in this paper).
The three most relevant bodies of law on copyright are The U.S.
Copyright Act of 1976 amended, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension
Act of 1998, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of
1998. The DMCA attempted to bring United States law in line with
the 1996 treaty of the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO).
The essential source for copyright information is
the United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 101 Independence
Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20559-6000. Its Public Information
Office phone number is (202) 707-3000. The U.S. Copyright Office
maintains a comprehensive website at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright
that includes a frequently asked questions section, as well
as full texts of copyright laws, legislative updates, international
laws and some current analyses and interpretations of law. Within
the answers provided to the questions section, there are links to
U.S. Copyright Office circulars that analyze a variety of issues
in detail.
Among useful secondary sources, several cover all
forms of copyright: "Fair Use Guidelines for Educators," compiled
by Linda K. Enghagen, includes wording from the copyright law of
1976. "Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia" suggests
guidelines for multimedia use of material in an instructional setting.
In addition, the California Department of Education has issued "Suggested
Copyright Policy and Guidelines for California's School Districts"
a set of guidelines that local boards might use in formulating school
district policies. While there is general agreement in the guidelines
these documents offer, they all urge teachers and users of copyrighted
material to seek legal advice tailored to their distinctive conditions.
As described in "Fair Use Guidelines for Educators,"
copyright gives the holder or owner exclusive control, (but see
also fair use), of the copyrighted work, including the right to
reproduce it and to create derivative works based on it, the right
to publish it (including selling, renting, leasing and lending),
the right to perform it publicly and the right to display it in
public. Infringement of copyright occurs when someone violates this
exclusive control. Fair use covers those instances when an individual
may use copyrighted work without obtaining prior permission and
without infringing copyright. The Copyright Act of 1976 allows for
fair use, including quotation for purposes of criticism, comment
or news reporting, and for teaching purposes, scholarship and research.
The various guidelines referenced above attempt to clarify the lines
between fair use and infringement. These guidelines will be discussed
in this paper under the heading "Standpoint of the User."
Standpoint of the Creator
Individuals will have differing points of view regarding
their work. Teachers are justly famous for exchanging materials
and teaching techniques, often in the form of educational components
that are effective in the classroom setting. Some writers believe
that scholarly and other materials should be available to anyone
who uses them. Others recognize both "pros and cons" of protecting
their work: wanting to hold the copyright on published essays and
creative writing while insisting that what appears on the Internet—contributions
to chat rooms, interest groups and bulletin boards, Email exchanges,
and original material posted on websites—should be "public domain"
in the sense that anyone should be able to use and reproduce what
appears there. Still others wish to have their creative expression
protected, either so that it cannot be used in ways the creator
would not approve or for potential profit of others.
Though law is clear that the creator of a copyrightable
work is automatically the holder of the copyright to that work,
(or determines the holder), once the work takes tangible form, there
is an important exception to this principle regarding works made
for hire. When a work is "made for hire" (in the language of the
Copyright Act), it is the property of the employer which can be
a firm, organization or an individual. The "complex concept of a
work made for hire" requires a review of the statutory definition
in the Copyright Act and a survey of court interpretations. (See
"Circular 9: Works Made for Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act,"
U.S. Copyright Office.) In the case of a work made for hire, the
employer is the legal "author" of work. In CCNV vs. Reid, the Supreme
Court set out three factors that characterize an employer-employee
relationship in which works are made for hire. The first characteristic
is the control of the work by the employer, which includes determining
how the work is done, whether the work is done at the employer's
location and whether the employer's equipment or other means of
production is used. The second characteristic deals with control
of the employer over the employee, including scheduling the employee's
time, giving the employee other assignments outside the production
of the work, setting the method of payment and holding the right
to hire the employee's assistants. The third characteristic concerns
the status and conduct of the employer, such as whether the employer
is in business to produce such works and whether the employer provides
benefits to the employee and/or withholds taxes from payment for
the work.
Circular 9 provides some rather obvious examples of
employer ownership of copyright: the creation of a software program
as part of a staff programmer's duties; a musical arrangement produced
for a company by a salaried arranger on its staff; a sound recording
made by a salaried staff member of a record company. Perhaps the
most significant example for teachers is the following: "A newspaper
article written by a staff journalist for publication in the newspaper
that employs him" (Circular 9, p. 2). This example suggests that
course materials and other documents and materials created in the
line of teaching courses have an ambiguous status. The need for
institutional policies and agreements regarding copyright ownership
is clear.
Authors who publish articles in professional journals
well know the difficulties of maintaining copyright control of their
work. Many journals demand copyright ownership as the condition
for publishing an article. A quick look behind the title pages of
books show that books written for a wide audience are often copyright
by the writer, but university and specialized presses just as often
hold the copyright. Publication in professional journals and through
specialized presses is seldom work for hire as discussed above.
Copyright ownership in such cases is an issue deserving close attention
of the author.
Although an individual may refuse to exercise any
copyright, it remains in place unless specifically renounced by
the holder. That release may be whole or partial. For example, in
the case of the "Suggested Copyright Policy and Guidelines for California's
School Districts" referenced above, the California Department of
Education stipulated on the copyright page that "School Districts
in California may freely copy all or part of this publication for
distribution to their staffs." This is a doubly restricted release
of copyright. It implies that only school districts in California
may copy this text without permission and then only for distribution
to their own staffs. If a school district outside California wanted
to reproduce this material, (other than in a fair use context),
it would have to seek permission of the California Department of
Education. And if a California school district wanted to reproduce
this text for individuals other than its staff—for a community conference,
for example—it would have to seek permission.
It is unlikely, of course, that the Department of
Education is closely scrutinizing the reproduction of this document,
but the restriction is clear. If parties others than those granted
blanket permission were to reproduce the text, they could find themselves
in court. Restrictions of this kind serve to reserve the right to
seek remuneration from those not included in the blanket permission
and to seek legal means of halting reproduction beyond this permission.
By insisting that others seek permission, the copyright holder can
get an idea of where the text is disseminated and by whom.
Even if an individual wanted to preserve all rights
under a copyright, all a copyright itself can do is establish the
foundation for seeking legal or other redress for violations. The
listing of a copyright in a text or at the end of a film broadcast
or production establishes this foundation and indicates where permission
for use is to be sought. Notice though, that written copyright notice
is not required.
Those who do not believe that their work should be
copyrighted are in something of a quandary. They want the whole
world to have access without fuss. If they renounce their copyrights,
others may copyright and then restrict the reproduction of the material
in question. Perhaps the preferred route for those who support the
free flow of expressed ideas is to indicate copyright and then give
blanket permission for reproduction as long as the source is acknowledged.
In the example above, the Department of Education gave blanket permission
to a defined group, but an individual or an institution could give
that permission to any interested party. This approach prevents
anyone else from copyrighting the material, since it is already
copyrighted, and therefore from restricting distribution.
Standpoint of the User
Both the Copyright Act and fair use guidelines serve to:
(1) protect the copyright holder from infringement, and (2) protect
the user from accidentally or unintentionally infringing the owner's
rights. There is one cardinal principle that applies to all fair
use, and that is that full credit must be given to the copyright
holder, including owner, publisher or producer, dates and places
of publication or performance.
The Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107, gives a general
characterization of fair use:
Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 106, the
fair use of copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction
in copies of phonorecords or by any other means specified by that
section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship,
or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining
whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair
use the factors to be considered shall include:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational
purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used
in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market
for or value of the copyrighted work.
Even a brief analysis reveals that the Act leaves
much room for ambiguity. The factors to be considered are not deemed
to be exhaustive, but other factors are not listed. While these
factors are to be considered, how are they to be considered? Listing
a factor as "the nature of the copyrighted work" provides no direction
in considering that work. Fair use as established by the Act requires
guidelines and is open to legal interpretation by courts.
The need to clarify the meaning and scope of fair
use was recognized from the moment the Act became law. The Authors
League of America, the Association of American Publishers, and a
congressional committee, called the Ad Hoc Committee on Copyright
Law Revision, reached agreement in 1976 on the meaning of "fair
use" regarding books and periodicals. The same congressional committee
joined music organizations representing publishers, teachers and
institutions to issue fair use guidelines in respect to music, also
in 1976. In 1979 a congressional subcommittee worked with various
television organizations to produce guidelines for off-air recording
of broadcast programming for educational purposes. Only in 1996
did the Council on Fair Use (CONFU) adopt guidelines for multimedia
education. CONFU has proposed guidelines for distance learning and
for educational fair use for digital images. In addition, CONFU,
working with a variety of organizations, issued a statement on the
use of copyrighted computer programs (software) in libraries. (All
these guidelines may be found in "Fair Use: Guidelines for Educators,"
compiled by Linda K. Enghagen, J.D., National Education Association,
1997.)
Guidelines, whether agreed to by a congressional subcommittee
or proposed by CONFU and organizations working with it, are not
laws. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on the U.S.
Copyright Office's website makes this plain:
Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright
statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including
quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting,
and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use
of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes,
or percentages of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as
fair use depends on all the circumstances. (Question 47, italics
are this paper's.)
Repeating all the guidelines in this paper is not
feasible, but for purposes of illustration, the guidelines for reproducing
work published in journals and books can be stated.
A teacher who is conducting scholarly research or
teaching a class may, under fair use guidelines, make a single copy
of a chapter of a book; an article from a periodical or newspaper;
a short story, short essay or short poem; a chart, graph, diagram,
drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.
A teacher may make copies of a work for a course,
providing that the number of copies made does not exceed one copy
per student in that course, and providing that the copying meets
tests of brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative effect, and that notice
of copyright is on each copy.
Brevity is defined in the guidelines as: a poem of
not more than 250 words (if on no more than two pages), a portion
of a poem not to exceed 250 words; an article, story or essay of
not more than 2500 words, or an excerpt from any prose work of not
more than 1000 words or 10% of the work, whichever is less; one
chart, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture per book or per periodical
issue. Special works, like children's books, may contain prose and
pictures and not equal 2500 words. These may not be reproduced in
their entirety. Rather, a maximum of two pages may copied, provided
that this is not more than 10% of the words found in the text.
Spontaneity is copying at the instance and inspiration
of the individual teacher and that the time between the decision
to copy the work and its use in class is so short as to make seeking
permission unreasonable.
Cumulative effect includes copying for one course
in the school only. No more than one piece or two excerpts may be
copied from the same author and not more than three from the same
periodical or collection during one class term. And there can be
no more than nine instances of such copying during one class term.
Besides these strictures, there are further prohibitions
in the guidelines. Copying cannot be used to create or substitute
for anthologies, compilations or collective works. Consumable items,
such as test booklets, standardized tests, exercises and workbooks
cannot be copied. Copying cannot substitute for the purchase of
books, publishers' reprints or periodicals. Copying cannot be directed
by an authority higher than the teacher and cannot be repeated in
respect to the same item from term to term. Finally, students cannot
be charged more than the cost of copying.
The guidelines for copying music, television programs,
digital images and multimedia, and for use in distance learning,
are all as or more complex than those for book and periodical material.
Sheet music may be copied for a performance when it
cannot be purchased in time for that performance, but it must be
replaced by purchased copies in a reasonable time. Programs and
performances may be taped for use but must be destroyed within a
stated length of time. (The length of time involved depends upon
what is copied and the uses to which it is put.) As a cautionary
example, taping a television program for later viewing is permissible;
keeping the tape more than 45 days is not. Fair use rules for computer
software and for library use are even less clear than for individuals.
The Internet and Email, as well as digital artwork,
constitute a new and evolving challenge to copyright law and fair
use guidelines. The Internet has allowed for a rich and even fantastic
exchange of information and views, and so far the mood and sense
of both individuals and government has been to allow the Internet
to be "open" and relatively uncontrolled. In practice that means
that material placed on the Internet may be accessed and downloaded
in ways that make copyright control virtually impossible. The creator
of material should keep this fact in mind and note that laws may
not prevent free use by others. Material already copyrighted would
be subject to law, of course, but enforcement of an individual's
copyright claims are even more difficult when that material has
appeared on the Internet than it has been with the advent of copier
machines. The "Fair Use of Copyrighted Works" comments that fair
use limits for materials found on the Internet are essentially the
same as for other media, while also observing that images are particularly
problematic because their use normally involves using the entire
work.
Recent Developments
Two important congressional acts have been signed into law
in the last few years. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
of 1998 generally extends all copyright protections by 20 years.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1988 (DMCA) implements two
1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties -
the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms
Treaty.
Provisions regarding online service provider liability
may be of interest to colleges. The new law provides that a college
providing chat rooms, sponsoring websites or allowing students and
faculty to post material on their network could be considered an
online service provider and, as such, liable for third-party copyright
infringements. Colleges can avoid liability if they were not involved
in creating and posting the infringing content, did not select who
received it and blocked access immediately upon receiving notice
of copyright violation. However, in creating takedown policies to
respond to copyright problems, colleges must also avoid violations
of academic freedom and disruption of online courses.
In addition, the DMCA creates an exemption for making
a copy of software for purposes of computer maintenance or repair
and addresses a number of issues regarding distance education, libraries,
making ephemeral recordings and "webcasting" sound recordings on
the Internet, among other items not of relevance here.
The U.S. Copyright Office website has an 18-page summary
of the DMCA, though that summary warns that "A complete understanding
of any provision of the DMCA requires reference to the text of the
legislation itself." That text is on the same website.
In respect to distance education, the DMCA does not
alter preexisting copyright law, nor does it clarify fair use issues.
Rather, it recognizes the need to consider distance education for
exemption from some restrictions and calls for a study of the issues
involved with the aim of making recommendations to Congress. The
DMCA does not address Email issues.
Issues and Questions
Views differ on what and whether an individual's original
ideas should be protected and preserved. Recall that by default,
original work is protected by copyright without the need for any
positive action by the author. If a teacher writes a textbook, for
example, that work will most likely be copyrighted, if not by the
individual then certainly by the publisher. Here copyright ownership
is part of an agreed to mechanism for compensation. Perhaps the
overwhelming majority of teachers do not copyright their syllabi
and class handouts, simply because the issue of compensation does
not arise. Two considerations regarding such materials need to be
considered.
(1) Such materials may be reproduced by a college
or local printer. The California Education Code (§76365) and Title
5 Regulations on instructional materials (§§59400-59408) place conditions
on the sale of such materials. If a college prints such materials
and they are unique to the district in which they are produced,
the campus bookstore can be the exclusive seller of the material,
but the bookstore and/or district cannot make a profit from their
sales. However, a faculty author can choose to make a profit by
having the bookstore purchase the material from a "vanity publisher."
(2) The author or creator does not want someone
else to assert a copyright on his or her work and thereby make it
subject to fair use restrictions for the very people for whom it
was written or created. Even if the author or creator does not wish
to restrict distribution of his or her work, copyrights can assure
the producer of universal access to the production. One way to accomplish
this is the inclusion of a statement granting unrestricted use of
the material provided that the source is acknowledged.
Plagiarism has long plagued institutions of higher
learning, and the Internet is now filled with sites offering to
produce "term papers" on virtually any topic for a price. Teachers
cannot be expected to monitor all these sites or to detect every
time a student's work is actually lifted from a website. When copyright
issues are involved, as they can be for both teachers and students,
the issue of plagiarism becomes fuzzy in itself and may bleed into
issues of infringement. Take, for example, the case of an artfully
produced multimedia presentation. It may contain text, graphics,
bits of film or video footage, music, recorded speech. In that mix,
one might find a trademarked logo, a bit of Martin Luther King,
Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, a few bars of music from Philip Glass,
a touch of footage from a current film or news program. Has plagiarism
occurred? Although the sources may be obvious, must they be cited?
Which bits are copyrighted or trademarked? Must permission be sought
(and use fees paid) for everything in the presentation? How does
one decided what can and cannot be used without seeking permission?
It is easy to imagine that more time and energy might go into sorting
out the issues raised in these questions than was absorbed in creating
the educational presentation itself. Of course, expediency cannot
justify copyright violation.
Despite, and in part because of, emerging technologies
and the attempt of law to catch up with and cover new forms of communication,
courts and legislators are as confused by expanding technologies
and expanded use of current technologies as citizens and teachers
are. Despite the guidelines referenced and discussed above, there
is no clear national or state consensus on how to apply copyright
and trademark law to the classroom. The increase in distance education
and technology mediated instruction exacerbated questions of copyright
ownership, copyright protection and fair use. As the Internet becomes
available to almost everyone and Email becomes the preferred mode
of communication, copyright concerns fade into the murky territory
of privacy rights. Just as copyright control may be little more
than a fantasy on the Internet, the privacy of a person's Email
communications may be just as unlikely.
Recommendations on Copyright
and Fair Use
Individuals creating original materials should copyright
those materials regardless of what they wish to do in regard to
their dissemination and use. While a work is automatically copyrighted
the instant it is produced, individuals should consider registering
a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. (Forms for doing so
are available by phone and on the website.)
Individuals creating original materials should review
the copyright laws and CONFU guidelines in respect to ownership,
especially in regard to issues of making works for hire.
Users of copyrighted material should carefully review
fair use guidelines. Where the guidelines are not absolutely clear,
seek permission of the copyright owner for the use desired. For
any complex fair use concerns, consult a lawyer with expertise in
copyright laws.
Individuals and institutions should be cognizant
of state educational models regarding fair use of copyrighted material.
Local academic senates should seek to establish
through the collaborative consultation process policies on both
copyright and fair use. Such policies should be developed in consultation
and cooperation with appropriate bargaining agents, since some issues
may involve working conditions (e.g., compensation, released time
for creation of materials, load factors, assignment of copyright
for multimedia materials created by using college/district equipment
and facilities). Both owner and user need to be taken into account
in such policies.
Privacy, Property Rights, And
Fair Use: The Philosophical Background
As has been seen so far, legal standards in cyberspace are
in a state of flux. Efforts to apply standards which have been developed
for the world of print result in a questionable fit in the new electronic
media, for even when the old rules seem applicable, their enforceability
is problematic. This makes it difficult to provide secure guidelines
for faculty, for whom issues of ownership and privacy become critical
as Email becomes a principal mode of communication and as more and
more instructors develop online materials.
At such a juncture, it might prove useful to seek
clarification in a direction other than the legal, namely, the moral.
For whatever legal standards ultimately prevail in an electronically
networked world, those standards will—or certainly should—rest on
a moral foundation. Laws will be drafted and, more importantly,
obeyed, because they are perceived as reflecting a sense of the
right ways for human beings to behave toward one another.
Whether faculty ever actually argue their case on moral grounds
(and it might not be a bad idea to do so), it will at least be helpful
to get clear about the ethical commitments upon which their arguments
might ultimately rest.
Moral Foundations
In entering the territory of ethical or moral thought, it
is useful to recognize that one is crossing the boundary of the
discipline of philosophy, and locating oneself within the province
of philosophy known as "ethics." It is commonplace for philosophers
today to recognize three levels or kinds of ethical thinking.
Metaethics: Metaethics is concerned with an examination of the
meaning or significance of ethical statements. If one says that
a behavior is "right" or "good," for example, is one saying something
about the way the world actually is, or is one imposing one's
own private predilections upon a morally neutral reality? The
metaethical view called objectivism maintains the former; the
latter position is known as subjectivism. It would seem very important
for those debating competing ethical claims ("It is always good
to respect peoples' privacy;" "No, it is frequently good to deny
peoples' privacy") to agree about the significance of ethical
claims in general. Otherwise, wouldn't they just be talking past
each other? In fact, it is often the case that people with apparently
antithetical metaethical positions are nevertheless in complete
agreement about particular values. It is quite possible, to use
the sample positions cited, for an objectivist to value privacy
because she believes that the world (or God, or the State) requires
it, and for a subjectivist to value privacy as a requirement of
his own conscience. For the purposes of the current discussion,
the important point is that it is possible for those with very
different and even contradictory metaethical viewpoints to share
common values.
Normative Ethics: Normative ethics involves an examination of
the general principles which constitute the foundations of moral
judgments. Every individual holds a host of views about the moral
worth of a wide variety of things. The normative ethicist searches
for the common denominator in all these views. What principle
knits together one's views that "privacy is good," that "murder
is wrong," and that "education is good"? Is it that subscribing
to these views is conducive to human happiness? Or is it that
they all accord with God's will as expressed in scripture? Or
is it that acting on the contrary views would disrupt the orderly
processes of nature? Any one of these could, and at times has,
served as a normative ethical principle. To the extent that one's
moral views have such a common denominator, one is said to have
a "system" of values, and one's ethical thinking is thought to
be clear and coherent. The absence of such a unifying principle
or, worse, the appeal to contradictory principles, is taken as
a mark of ethical confusion. Again, the important point for the
current discussion is that individuals with very different normative
viewpoints can in fact agree on common values. Two people might
both hold the value that murder is wrong, for example, one on
the normative ground that this view is conducive to human happiness,
the other on the ground that this view is a commandment of God.
Applied Ethics: Applied ethics involves an examination of the
moral standards that apply in a specific field of human endeavor
or area of human concern. Examples abound: business ethics, legal
ethics, medical ethics, sexual ethics, research ethics, environmental
ethics, and computer ethics are all instances of applied ethics,
as are the statements of "professional standards" that are formulated
by those belonging to associations based on their field of employment.
Such statements of standards are often little more than a list
of "Thou shalts" and "Thou shalt nots." They are of course useful
in letting those inside the profession know what is expected of
them, and those outside, what they might expect in utilizing their
services. However, applied ethics at this level often involves
little or no concern with general normative principles (and virtually
never a concern with metaethical matters). This lack of more abstract
levels of reflection has led in the past to considerable disdain
for applied ethics among professional philosophers. Today, though,
applied ethics has become a staple in philosophy curricula, involving
for the most part the application of normative principles to specific
fields, such as medicine, law and technology. In sum, the current
discussion is an exercise in applied ethics. In seeking to find
the moral standards to which faculty might appeal in their efforts
to claim online property and privacy rights, one enters the territory
of philosophy, crosses into the province of ethics, and finds
that "applied ethics" is the name of the piece of earth upon which
one finally stands.
The question again is how can property and privacy
be defended. The pattern used by the AAUP in defending academic
freedom can be instructive. The AAUP rests their argument on the
value of truth: "The common good depends upon the free search for
truth and its free exposition" (1940 Statement of Principles on
Academic Freedom and Tenure). The truth is a good, therefore seeking
the truth is a form of right action, and anything which impedes
the pursuit of truth is morally wrong, or evil. Academic freedom
is then nothing more than the condition for, or of, the unimpeded
pursuit of truth. The AAUP does not argue explicitly for the value
of truth; rather, it is implied that truth is an ultimate value
and that the rightness of seeking the truth is something upon which
all people will simply agree. Certainly the AAUP seems to have been
largely correct, as few have joined Dostoyevsky's Grand Inquisitor
in taking exception to their assumption.
Truth, it would seem, is for most an "end in itself,"
that is, something so self-evidently valuable that no further argument
is required in its support. The same is not the case for "privacy"
and "property." In arguing one's case for the right to privacy and
to intellectual property, one is going to have to find a value upon
which there is the same sort of consensus as there is for the value
of truth.
As a matter of fact, the arguments for privacy and
property rights (intellectual and otherwise), often contain implicit
appeals to normative ethical principles, which are readily recognizable,
at least to professional philosophers. The individual's right to
privacy in the workplace, for example, is often supported on "utilitarian"
grounds. Utilitarianism is the appellation of the ethics chiefly
associated with the late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British
philosophers, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Bentham and Mill
felt that the rightness of conduct should be judged by its consequences,
particularly its effects on human happiness. Thus they expressed
their view in the normative ethical maxim, "Always act so as to
produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number." So when
one argues against policies of Email surveillance or phone monitoring
on the ground that this has the effect of producing unhappy workers,
one is appealing to the Principle of Utility. Interestingly, companies
often defend their policies by appeal to the same principle, arguing
that their customers far outnumber their employees, and thus it
is all right to have a few unhappy employees if this results in
a large number of satisfied clients.
The eighteenth-century German philosopher, Immanuel
Kant, believed that right conduct had nothing to do with its consequences;
rather, it had everything to do with one's motive, or the goodness
of one's will. One cannot control the consequences of one's actions,
Kant maintained, but one can control one's intentions. What makes
one's will good, for Kant, was its conformity to a normative maxim,
which he called the "Categorical Imperative," and which went, in
one of its formulations, "Always treat other human beings as ends
and never as means." One hears an implicit appeal to this principle
in many arguments against corporate surveillance. It is sometimes
argued, for example, that the use of technology to monitor productivity
involves treating people like machines, and not as persons. Clearly,
this translates readily into the assertion that the employer's actions
fail to conform to Kant's maxim.
Virtually all defenses of property rights in the West
appeal to principles established by the seventeenth-century British
philosopher John Locke. Locke took as axiomatic the view that one's
body is one's own property, or that "each man possesses himself
absolutely." When one engages in labor, one "joins" the material
labored upon to one's body, and the right of ownership becomes extended
from one's body to the object of one's labor. "Labour being the
unquestionable Property of the Labourer, no Man but he can have
a right to what that is once joyned to …." Thus to assert that the
book or the painting is mine because I made it is to claim ownership
on Lockean grounds.
A little reflection shows that neither the Principle
of Utility nor Locke's assertion of one's right to ownership of
the extensions of one's body is capable of standing on its own.
The Principle of Utility, after all, could be used to justify torture
on the ground that the pain of one person is more than offset by
the happiness of many. Locke's principle, too, is in need of serious
qualification: If one pours a jar of food dye into the ocean in
an effort to improve its appearance, does one then own the ocean?
And whatever debt a patient might owe to a surgeon, does it extend
to becoming her property? Clearly there must be limits to one's
obligation to produce happiness and to one's right to the fruits
of one's labor.
In fact, both Mill's and Locke's principles are salvaged
by combining them with Kant's Imperative, for what is missing from
both the Utilitarians and Locke is an assertion of the absolute
intrinsic worth of each human being. And it is precisely this to
which Kant calls attention in his Categorical Imperative. The requirement
that human beings always be treated as ends in themselves and never
as means to some further end calls attention to one's common humanity,
the link that bonds one with all others, a bond from which flows
the value that must inform all human interaction.
The Categorical Imperative does indeed set the proper
limit upon the exercise of the Principle of Utility. One can no
longer justify torture on the ground of producing "greater happiness,"
for torture violates the sanctity of personhood. Similarly, the
employer who would justify employee surveillance as conducive to
the "greater good," is answered that such conduct treats employees
as means, and not as members of "the kingdom of ends."
So, too, the recognition of personhood as a "good
in itself" gives definition and substance to Locke. The surgeon
cannot own her patient, because the objectification involved in
ownership violates the subjectively experienced sense of freedom
that is such an essential feature of being human. More importantly
for the current discussion, Kant's principle helps in determining
when ownership of objects—books, paintings, artifacts—does and does
not make sense: An artifact becomes one's property at the point
at which one's self is invested in it. It is not enough that it
have been produced by one's labor, as the example of the ocean-dyer
illustrates; rather, it is necessary that the labor be an act of
true "self-expression." Why would it be wrong to purchase a painting,
only to burn it? Clearly the offensiveness of such an action springs
from the perception that this would be an act of violence, not against
a collection of inanimate materials, but against the artist him-
or herself. Once the self, then, with its inviolable value, is invested
in the work, one has a "right" to it as one's property, but not
until then.
Earlier it was pointed out that the value of truth
is a matter of virtually universal consensus, and thus provides
a secure moral foundation for one's advocacy for academic freedom.
It would seem now that a recognition of the inherent worth of the
individual might provide a similarly secure basis for one's case
for privacy and for intellectual property rights. In arguing against
an employer's surveillance of Email, one ought to be able to say,
"By invading my privacy, you diminish me." And in making a claim
to one's intellectual property, it should suffice to say, "That
book is mine in the same way that I own my hand or my eye." Once
it is clear that one's right to privacy and to the fruits of one's
intellectual labor are grounded in a recognition of the inherent
worth of each human being, there should be no further need for argument.
And there will not be, except when dealing with those who are accustomed
to treating other people as means to their ends, rather than as
ends in themselves.
Recommendations For Local Academic
Senates
The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges endorses
the principle that academic freedom applies equally to material
in electronic format as to traditional print material, and therefore
recommends to local academic senates that:
Each local academic senate ensures that their local
electronic/computer use policy includes a statement of the fundamental
principle of academic freedom in the electronic medium.
Each local academic senate is involved in creating
and implementing the process that deals with possible exceptions
or violations.
The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
endorses both the fundamental principle that Email communication
between faculty members and between faculty and students is confidential,
and the practical acknowledgment that Email is an insecure medium,
and therefore recommends to local academic senates that:
Each local academic senate ensures that their local
electronic/computer use policy includes a statement of the fundamental
principle of the confidentiality of Email communications, while
urging practical caution regarding the inherent lack of absolute
security.
Each local academic senate works with collective
bargaining colleagues to create contract language creating and implementing
the process that deals with confidentiality and with possible exceptions
and technical safeguards or limitations.
The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
encourages local academic senates to urge individual faculty members
to carefully consider issues of copyright and fair use, and therefore
recommends that:
Individuals creating original materials should copyright
those materials regardless of what they wish to do in regard to
their dissemination and use. While a work is copyrighted the instant
it is produced, individuals should consider registering a copyright
with the U.S. Copyright Office. (Forms for doing so are available
by phone and on the website.)
Individuals creating original materials should review
the copyright laws in respect to ownership, especially in regard
to issues of making works for hire.
Users of copyrighted material should carefully review
fair use guidelines. Where the guidelines are not absolutely clear,
seek permission of the copyright owner for the use desired. For
any complex fair use concerns, consult a lawyer with expertise in
copyright laws.
Individuals and institutions should be cognizant
of state educational models regarding fair use of copyrighted material.
Each local academic senate should seek to establish
through the collaborative consultation process policies on both
copyright and fair use. Such policies should be developed in consultation
and cooperation with appropriate bargaining agents, since some issues
may involve working conditions (e.g., compensation, released time
for creation of materials, load factors, assignment of copyright
for multimedia materials created by using college/district equipment
and facilities). Both owner and user need to be taken into account
in such policies.
An Alternative Thought For Individual
Faculty
[Note: The following section is intended as food for serious
thought; it is not proposed, in itself, as a position of the Academic
Senate.]
The earlier sections of this paper describe how to
protect a variety of intellectual property and activities. Some
individual faculty may choose a different solution.
The "Fair Use of Copyrighted Works" states that higher
education's legitimate right to use copyrighted works must be protected
and that processes for this use in electronic format should not
impose a myriad of separate approval transactions.
When faculty come to publishing the fruits of their
intellectual labor on the Internet, their rights to compensation
are essentially whatever they can negotiate. Examples are provided
in Tyner's "Guidelines for Negotiating Distance Education Issues"
and the 1992 "University of California Policy on Copyright Ownership"
which is very detailed but does not mention technology. Perhaps
some individual faculty would value a different philosophical approach.
Marshall McLuhan, author of such works as Understanding
Media and The Medium is the Massage, wrote that "When faced with
a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the
objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present
through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future."
On one level, the reason that it is difficult to give
advice about copyright and fair use on the Internet is because it
involves fitting the rules created for print media to an entirely
different medium, namely a global computer network. The new medium
is sufficiently different that there is no easy fit.
Beyond this, however, it seems possible that the very
concern with intellectual property rights on the Internet is itself
an instance of looking at the present through a rear-view mirror,
of trying to experience the electronic-media world through print-media
eyes. "The alphabet and print technology," McLuhan wrote, "fostered
and encouraged a fragmenting process, a process of specialism and
detachment." Print also made possible the contemporary notion of
"authorship," the commodification of one’s thoughts and ideas, and
fostered "ideas of literary fame and the habit of considering intellectual
effort as private property." "Electric technology," on the other
hand, "fosters and encourages unification and involvement" and marks
the emergence of a single, global consciousness.
The early world of cyberspace was characterized by
a palpable spirit of openness, of freedom, and of sharing the fruits
of one's creative efforts. The medium’s "message" seemed clear:
The global network was a liberating alternative to the world of
"mine" and "yours," of property and the rights to it. This was a
counter to the world of competition for pecuniary gain, offering
instead progress through cooperation. The other side of this same
message seems to be found in the virtual impossibility of ensuring
property rights on the Internet: the medium itself seems positively
hostile to the concept of private property.
McLuhan, again, provides a possible context for understanding
what is going on here. "After three thousand years of explosion,"
he wrote, "by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies,
the Western world is imploding. During the mechanical ages we had
extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of
electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system
itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far
as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase
of the extensions of man—the technological simulation of consciousness,
when the creative process of knowing will be…extended to the whole
of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and
our nerves by the various media." And, he asks, "might not our current
translation of our entire lives into the spiritual form of information
seem to make of the entire globe, and of the human family, a single
consciousness?"
So where does this leave us on the subject of compensation
for intellectual property? Perhaps as salaried educators, we can
recreate and extend the spirit of the early Internet in order to
pursue knowledge and to educate. If successful communication of
knowledge to others is the ultimate reward, perhaps attempts to
control ownership should be abandoned. Within the unity of consciousness
there is no "mine" and "yours." Perhaps for some it is time to start
thinking and acting more like a single, global consciousness, and
less like buyers and sellers.
Annotated Bibliography
Email Privacy, Security, Free Speech
and Computer Use Policies
Alger, Jonathan, "Prying Eyes in Cyberspace", Academe, September-October
1999, American Association of University Professors, Washington
DC.
(An article proposing the same dual recommendations
of principle and caution as the Academic Senate.)
American Association of University Professors, "1940
Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure with 1970
Interpretive Comments", Washington DC.
(The definitive statement on academic freedom, adopted
by many institutions of higher education including the Academic
Senate. Available February 1999 on the world wide web at http://www.aaup.org/1940stat.htm.)
American Association of University Professors, "Academic
Freedom and Electronic Communications", Washington, D.C., June 1997.
(A definitive report on the importance of academic
freedom in the electronic age, produced by a subcommittee of the
AAUP Committee A, on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Available February
1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.aaup.org/statelec.htm.)
American Counseling Association, "Code of Ethics and
Standards of Practice", April 1995, updated 1997.
(Contains statements on expectations of confidentiality
in the counseling process. Available March 1999 on the world wide
web at
http://www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics.htm#eb.)
Brett, Victoria, "Colleges Grapple with Offensive
E-Speech", Community College Week, April 1998.
(Article on a case involving student posting of a threatening Email.)
California State Senate, "Employee Computer Records"
(SB 1016), introduced February 26, 1999 by Senator Bowen
(A bill that would have required employers wishing to monitor employee
computers to distribute a privacy policy in advance. Vetoed by the
Governor 10/10/99. Available October 1999 on the world wide web
at
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/.)
California State University, "Internet Use Policy",
January 1997.
(California State University systemwide Internet use policy that
shows language violating AAUP recommendations on academic freedom.
Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.calstate.edu/tier3/hr-adm/Use_Policy.HTML.)
Grossman, Wendy, "Private Parts", Scientific American,
February 1999.
(An article describing the implications of the new European Union
directive requiring strict privacy standards in digital communications.)
Long Beach Community College District, "Computer/Network
Use Regulations", October 1997
(Interim regulations available April, 1998 on the world wide web
at
http://fm.lbcc.cc.ca.us/aup3.html.)
Long Beach Community College District, " Policy on
Computer and Communications Technology Use", November 1997.
(Community College District computer use policy showing protection
for academic freedom used as an example in the paper.)
Los Angeles Harbor College, "Rules for Internet Use",
December 1996.
(Community College use rules and signature form for student users
used as an example in the paper.)
McCollum, Kelly, "With Computer Hacking on the Rise,
Colleges Seek Ways to Handle Attacks", The Chronicle of Higher Education,
May, 1998.
(Description of some recent attacks on college computer networks
and possible remedies.)
Mendels, Pamela, "Virginia workers sued state over
law", New York Times, printed in the San Jose Mercury News, February
12, 1999.
(A report on a law case challenging computer access restrictions
on state employees in Virginia.)
National Education Association, "E-mail and Privacy",
Technology Brief, 1997 #6.
(Discussion of some workplace issues regarding Email and employer/employee
expectations. Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.nea.org/cet/BRIEFS/brief6.html.)
National Education Association, "Security and Privacy",
Technology Brief, 1997 #1
(Recommendations for school policies on security. Available February
1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.nea.org/cet/BRIEFS/brief1.html.)
Palomar Community College District, "Network and Telecommunications
User Policy", April 1998.
(Community College District computer use policy showing protection
for academic freedom used as an example in the paper.)
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, "Privacy in Cyberspace:
Rules of the Road for the Information Superhighway", San Diego,
December 1996.
(Good discussion of different levels of activity and expectations
of privacy. Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm.)
Sacks, Marleen, "Legal Issues surrounding Employee
and Student Use of Computers and Internet", A workshop for Community
College League of California, November 1997.
(Analysis of privacy, Email, liability and how to control use from
the district's point of view.)
Santa Rosa Junior College, "Privacy and Access Policy",
May 1999
(A comprehensive privacy and access policy that includes references
to computer and Email files. Available September 1999 on the world
wide web at
http://www.santarosa.edu/polman/4person/4.21.html
and
http://www.santarosa.edu/polman/4person/4.21.p.html)
Solano Community College District, "Computer and Communications
Technology Use Policy", March 1998
(Community College District computer use policy showing protection
for academic freedom used as an example in the paper.)
Sipior, Janice and Burke, Ward, "The Ethical and Legal
Quandary of e-mail Privacy", Communications of the ACM, December
1995.
(Extensive analysis of employer and employee privacy and legal protections.
Large reference list. Available February 1999 on the world wide
web at
http://www.acm.org/pubs/citations/journals/cacm/1995-38-12/p48-sipior/.)
University of California, "Electronic Mail Policy",
March 1998
(University of California systemwide electronic mail policy that
shows strong language regarding academic freedom and academic senates.
February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/email/email.html.)
University of North Carolina, " Privacy Issues on
the Internet", December 1995.
(Good analysis of different places where Email can be intercepted.
Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://ils.unc.edu/~caim/privacy.html.)
Wallace, Jonathan, "e-mail Privacy: What are your
Rights?", 1996.
(Description of the Pillsbury Email lawsuit. Available February
1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.uniforum.org/news/html/publications/ufm/aug96/legal.html.)
West Valley-Mission Community College District, "Computer
and Technology Use" , May 1995.
(Community College District computer use policy showing protection
for academic freedom used as an example in the paper. Available
March 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvmccd/use.html.)
Young, Jeffery, "University of Nebraska Suspends Controversial
English Professor", The Chronicle of Higher Education, February
1998.
(Description of incident on posting controversial material.)
Copyright and Fair Use
Blumenstyk, Goldie, "Academic Groups Say Copyright Legislation
in Congress would Impede Scholarship", The Chronicle of Higher Education,
May 1998.
(An article describing academic concerns with pending copyright
legislation.)
Blumenstyk, Goldie, "New Copyright Law Closes Loophole
that let MIT Student Distribute Software Free", The Chronicle of
Higher Education, December 1997.
(Description of new law that removes non-profit loophole from copyright.)
Boettcher, Judith, "Copyright and Intellectual Property",
Syllabus, March 1999.
(Copyright assumes a new dimension in distance education.)
Brinson, Dianne and Radcliffe, Mark, "The Multimedia
Law Handbook", December 1995.
(A practical guide for developers and publishers. Extensive discussion
of copyright with case examples. Available February 1999 on the
world wide web at
http://www.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/multimedia-handbook.)
California Department of Education, "Suggested Copyright
Policy and Guidelines for California's School Districts", 1991
(Extensive descriptions of fair use in different educational situations.)
California Federation of Teachers, "Guidelines for
Negotiating Distance Education Issues".
(Definitions and sample contract language regarding many issues
in distance education including intellectual property rights.)
California State University and California Faculty
Association, "Memorandum of Understanding - Intellectual Property
Rights", January 1997.
(Faculty collective bargaining agreement on intellectual property
rights.)
California State University, Chico, "Intellectual
Property Policy", May 1997
(Preamble and guidelines for allocation of ownership rights to intellectual
property.)
Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, "Sample
Materials on Intellectual Property Rights", April 1995
(A collection of intellectual property rights policies and agreements
from several California community colleges.)
Diotalevi, Robert, "Copyright Law: A Guide for the
New Millennium", Syllabus, April 1999.
( New legal issues created by emerging technology.)
Diotalevi, Robert, "Copyrighting Cyberspace: Unweaving
a Tangled Web", Syllabus, January 1999.
(new legal interpretations of copyright law emerging from Congress.)
Diotalevi, Robert, "Copyright in Cyberspace: Practices
and Procedures in Higher Education", Syllabus, May 1999.
(University guidelines on copyright in cyberspace.)
Enghagen, Linda, "Fair Use Guidelines for Educators",
National Education Association, 1997.
(A discussion of fair use guidelines for educators in specific areas:
books, periodicals, music, broadcasts, multimedia, distance learning,
digital images, software.)
Enghagen, Linda, "Intellectual Property Concerns for
Faculty", National Technological University, 1993.
(Includes discussion of distance education and general technology
transfer.)
Freibrun, Eric, "Intellectual Property Rights in Software:
What they are and how the law protects them", 1993.
(Good description of the differences among patents, copyrights and
trade secrets.)
Harper, Georgia, "Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials",
January 1998.
(Extensive article on educational fair use with many other references.)
Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/INTELLECTUALPROPERTY/copypol2.html.)
House of Representatives, US Congress, "Fair Use Guidelines
for Educational Multimedia", July 1996.
(A nonlegislative report of the subcommittee on courts and intellectual
property committee on an attempt to agree fair use provisions. Available
February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html.)
Lide, Casey, "What Colleges and Universities Need
to Know about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act", Cause/Effect,
1999
(Analysis of the DMCA. Available September 1999 on the world wide
web at
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cem9913.html.)
Mariscal, Richard, " Letter to the Editor", Syllabus,
November/December 1998.
(Letter citing copyright problems as the biggest barrier to web
course development.)
McLuhan, Marshall, Quentin Fiore, Jerome Angel, "The
Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects", 1967.
National Education Association, "Distance Education: Challenges
and Opportunities",
Technology Brief, 1997 #7.
(Brief discussion of new issues in distance education as technology
advances. Available February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.nea.org/cet/BRIEFS/brief7.html.)
National Education Association, "Intellectual
Property Rights", Technology Brief, 1997 #8.
(Good contrast of intellectual property rights in the academic world
compared to private industry. Available February 1999 on the world
wide web at
http://www.nea.org/cet/BRIEFS/brief8.html.)
National Education Association, "Intellectual Property
Rights and Protections", Technology Brief, 1997 #2.
(Discussion of fair use in the college technology setting. Available
February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.nea.org/cet/BRIEFS/brief2.html.)
Tyner, Tom, "Guidelines for Negotiating Distance Education
Issues", Community College Council, California Federation of Teachers.
University of California, "Policy on Copyright Ownership",
1992
(Detailed contract style policy regarding university and faculty
ownership rights - but no mention of technology.)
U.S. Copyright Office
(Web site containing full texts of copyright laws, legislative updates,
international laws and some current analyses and interpretations
including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Available September
1999 on the world wide web at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright.)
Fair Use: the Philosophical Background
Weckert, John and Adeney, Douglas. 1997. Computer and Information
Ethics. Westport, Conn., London: Greenwood Press.
Piest, Sokar, ed. 1957. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism.
New York: Liberal Arts Press.
Locke, John. 1689. Second Treatise of Government.
See Laslett.
Laslett, Peter, ed. John Locke, Two Treatises of Government:
A Critical Edition with an Introduction and Apparatus Criticus.
New York: New American Library.
Kant, Immanuel. 1786. Foundations of the Metaphysics
of Morals. Translated by L. W. Beck. Chicago 1949.
References to Other Resources
Bailey, Charles, "Network Based Publishing of Scholarly Works:
A Select Bibliography", The Public Access Computer Systems Review
#6, 1995.
(A comprehensive list of references to articles on
intellectual property rights and electronic publishing. Available
March 1999 on the world wide web at
http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v6/n1/lcopyr.htm.)
California State University, State University of New
York, City University of New York, "Fair Use of Copyrighted Works",
1995
(A comprehensive examination of fair use issues with case examples
and suggestions for the future.)
Consortium of College and University Media Centers,
"Proceedings of the Fall 1998 Conference", November 1998.
(Session VII contains an update on fair use and copyright with a
large selection of relevant website resources.)
Enghagen, Linda, (editor), "Technology and Higher
Education", National Education Association, 1997.
(A selection of papers on technology in education issues, including
both teaching / learning and legal / contract.)
Tonella, Karla, "Copyright and Multimedia Law for
Webbuilders and Multimedia Authors", University of Iowa, January
1999.
(Links to world wide web sites covering multimedia law. Available
February 1999 on the world wide web at
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/proj/webbuilder/copyright.html.)
Related Academic Senate Position
Papers
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, "Academic
Freedom and Tenure: A Faculty Perspective", Position Paper, April
1998.
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges,
"Curriculum Committee Review of Distance Learning Courses and Sections",
Position Paper, November 1995.
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges,
"Distance Education in the California Community Colleges: An Academic
Senate Review of the Social, Fiscal and Educational Issues", Position
Paper, November 1993.
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges,
"Guidelines for Good Practice: Technology Mediated Instruction",
Position Paper, November 1997.
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges,
"Guidelines for Good Practice: Effective Instructor-Student Contact
in Distance Learning", Draft Position Paper, April 1999.
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