Re: copyright under stress

On Fri, Jun 16, 2000, Marty Hayes <9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> wrote:
>
> [...]
> Whether it's licensing schemes, goods and services, private education
> or any other thing... all come with a price. As a consumer, it's up
> to me to assess the relative value of a thing against the price that
> I will pay for it. It's up to me to determine if I can afford it or
> not. If I cannot afford it or if I don't believe its value is worth
> the asking price, then I have to find a workable alternative.

So do you think FAIR USE in distance education should also come at a price? The price to be negotiated between the consumer and the producer, or part of a separate understood bargain at time of purchase (or rental under a license)?  

This is the real question. When the DMCA is being applied to digital works in distance education, it seems to prevent any fair use of the work -- fair use, that if the work were not digital, not encrypted, and not protected by the DMCA, would automatically be free and part of conventional practice. As Jack Valenti maintains, the DMCA makes any decryption or circumvention, for any reason, illegal.

Some of us are trying to point out that the DMCA does change the nature of the bargain when using copyrighted material in distance education. And no doubt Congress agreed with that testimony by educators and librarians, because it specifically asked the Librarian of Congress to come up with a solution. And some us have testified to the Librarian that there is no way out: the DMCA denies all fair use and there is no way to escape it other than to throw out the DMCA. Already we see indications that the Librarian will not agree with us. Then the situation will indeed be as you state, any use must be paid for, and of course the poor teacher will be in a weak bargaining position.

-- 
"Eric"  Eric Eldred  Eldritch Press
mailto:Eldred[_at_]EldritchPress.org
http://www.eldritchpress.org/EricEldred.vcf