-----1-----   from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:12:11 -0400
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>



I think the distinction between the ethical and the legal makes a lot of 
sense. To the two one might add the technological, i.e. what is 
technologically possible.

The Times article begins with a comment from a reader that he/she has 
never seen a sign in a library forbidding (or defining illegal) copying 
of the materials on the shelves. But I think we have all seen such 
notices--near copy machines in the libraries. I seem to recall hearing 
of such signs posted at tape-copying machines in language labs. That is 
to say, where the library provides the means of copying it also posts 
reminders that there are legal restrictions on copying.

What is harder to grasp is the need to define all possible technological 
ways of copying a work (e.g. popping a library CD into a laptop and 
copying it off).

But I think that the law does try to work out a path between different 
kinds of power, some of which are ethical (author's right to profit, 
teacher's need to teach, owner's right to play media paid for), some 
financial and/or political (the power of media companies, the power of 
popular desire to time-shift or to create collections of media 
items...), some technological (if I can invent a way to copy this, can I 
copy it? If I can invent a way to prevent this from ever being copied, 
is that OK?).

It is surprising to me how many of the ethically justified examples the 
Ethicist proposes are reflected, however dimly, in the law--e.g. the 
right (of certain institutions) to copy from archaic media; the right 
(upon payment of a royalty through a company that is organized just for 
this purpose) to copy an out-of-print book, etc.

Judy Shoaf

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----2------ from  [log in to unmask]

I can't speak for the "Ethicist" and won't attempt any philosophical analysis,
but the problem of no-longer-available copyrighted material is quite real and
not at all infrequent. I've run into it several times with both CALL software
and audio recordings originally made to accompany English as a second language
texts. Right now we're confronted with these actual situations:

(1) A software company goes out of business, seemingly sinking without a trace.
Do we have the right to put copies of their software, which we bought several
years ago, onto new computers when we expand a 40-computer lab to 50 student
computers? 

(2) A software company is bought by another company, and the new owner has no
interest in either maintaining or selling parts of the acquired software
catalog. Same problem with the lab expansion; also, what if students express
interest in buying one of the now-seemingly-defunct titles?

(3) A publishing company that sold language textbooks accompanied by audio
cassette recordings doesn't want to bring out a new edition with digitized
recordings, and ignores inquiries about permission to digitize the tapes.
Cassette tapes and players are clearly well into obsolescence, but instructors
want to continue using the material. 

What do you do? Since we're a public institution operating in a fishbowl,
legality is the only possible approach; we won't do anything without specific
publisher permissions. We are in Canada so there are some differences in
copyright law, but the same problems must be present in many institutions.

Chris Joyce
Supervisor - ESL Audio & Computer
King Edward Campus
Vancouver Community College
1155 E. Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.  V5T 4V5
(604) 871-7261 fax 871-7100

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----3-----  from [log in to unmask]

Ed,

The law is not to be confused with ethics, morality or justice, as such. At your
not-quite-tender age you should already know that. The law is a pragamatic
social agreement, which relects the balance of power and interests between the
ruling groups at a certain time and place. To the extent that the legislators
are ethical (or whatever), their laws will reflect that, but there is no direct
connection between the law and any specific value, ethical or other.

David Ben-Nahum
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

***********************************************
>  LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
> Language Learning (http://iallt.org/), and The Consortium for Language
Teaching
> and Learning (http://www.languageconsortium.org/).
> Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
> Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
> ***********************************************