Fair use or foul in the Internet classroom?
File-sharing and online access to copyrighted media may have Hollywood studios and their allies in Congress up in arms, but they indicate just another day in the virtual classroom.
If you're an online student, streamed videos, shared documents and informational websites play an important role in how you learn. But this free-flowing information can have legal obstacles. In January, the federal government took down file hosting service Megaupload and floated two far-reaching Internet copyright protection bills, SOPA and PIPA. In response to the legislation, Wikipedia went dark for a day and Google, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress and thousands of other sites joined the protest.
Could the crackdown on Internet piracy impact your day-to-day online learning? The bills are on hold, for now. And students and instructors can generally use copyrighted material for class projects and learning activities under the Fair Use Act, as long as you follow citation guidelines.
But opponents argue that the proposed legislation could reduce the amount of online information to which you have access and make it more difficult for you and your instructors to share digital files via user-generated media venues like YouTube.
Fair use and you
Fair use gives you limited rights to use copyrighted material for educational purposes such as classroom discussion, research papers and learning projects. Your instructor may show a copyrighted video, you may quote copyrighted articles and your class may use copyrighted images in a class project.
According to the University of Maryland University College, some of the materials that may be fair game under fair use:
- A chapter from a book -- but not the whole book
- A newspaper or magazine article
- A short story or essay
- A chart, graph or diagram
- An image or drawing
There are some restrictions on how you use these materials. An instructor may be prohibited from using the same materials repeatedly, from semester to semester. They can't distribute multiple copies in lieu of having the class buy a copy or access to a site. In the context of an online class, you may be able to post copyrighted content online. If you're posting course material accessible only by students enrolled in the class for a limited time, and no one is charging students for access to it, it's probably acceptable. To be on the safe side, link to your source instead of copying wherever you can.
Your use of copyrighted material is probably fair and legal if:
- You're not making money from the copyrighted work
- You're adding something to it
- You're only using part of it
Because fair use contains a lot of room for interpretation, always check with your professor or school's librarian if you have questions about how you can use copyrighted material.
Giving credit where credit is due: An online citation guide
Even if your use of copyrighted material is considered fair use, you must always cite your source. This applies as much to Internet media -- videos, photos, blogs and websites -- as to traditional print media like books. Citation guidelines for the digital realm include:
- Credit the source. Web sites may not always identify the author. If you don't see a name, credit the organization hosting the site.
- Read and follow the usage guidelines. In many cases, the creator of a blog, video, graphic or photo will tell you how you can use the work. For example, many will let you share away as long as you don't commercially benefit and you link back to the site.
- Link to the site. Many copyright owners welcome the exposure of sharing and may even want their work to travel around the web. Including a link ensures that your use benefits the owner, making it a win-win for both of you.
- Ask for permission. Most sites and media venues like YouTube make it easy for you to email or message the person posting the content. The surest path to fair use is contacting the copyright holder directly.
There is an alphabet soup of citation styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) and AP. Your instructor can tell you which one applies to your work. Generally the citation includes the author name, title, website name, date published and date you accessed the content. For more guidelines on citing online sources, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
Playing fair online means understanding the difference between sharing and stealing someone else's work. As an online student, you benefit from the digital exchange of ideas, and also bear responsibility for using this resource fairly.
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