In case you haven't heard, Getty images now allows free embeds of their images. Here is an article that explains why they did it: http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/5/5475202/getty-images-made-its-pictures-free-to-use.
Finally someone has figured it out. Copyright is about creativity. If you want the images, you can still buy them, but Getty figured out that what they were doing was actually encouraging people to violate copyright. More than that, encouraging people to embed directly from Getty gives them the power to market and control their images in the future.
Unfortunately the current trend in copyright enforcement is to go "all the way" to prohibit any kind of use or display of any copyrighted material without very clear legal rights from the copyright holder. While this sounds good in theory (at least for anyone who creates original work, or holds copyrights) it seems to be backfiring in several ways. The first, and probably most significant way is that this attitude is actually stifling creativity. Poke around the interwebz for a few minutes and you will probably find many examples of copyright "trolls" suing the pants off of anyone and everyone who might possibly be infringing in the smallest way. A few of these cases (like Apple's suit against Samsung) have made headlines, but there are many others that haven't even made the AP wire, so the only people who notice are those being sued and geeks who follow copyright law and technology. The most recent slap from the copyright militia is known as "Take Down, Stay Down" http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2007/05/take-down-stay-down. Basically, if a copyright holder claims that a work is infringing it is automatically taken down (big whoop right? YouTube has been siding with copyright holders for years now). Nevermind that the claim doesn't even have to be legit. If a copyright holder claims that a video, image, or audio infringes, it comes down. No questions asked. The original poster can repost and repost and it will just come back down. If it is a legitimately infringement, that is fine, if not, it sucks. Fair use covers a pretty broad spectrum of use, but most sites don't care. If they get a copyright infringement claim, it comes down. Take Down, Stay Down takes this one step further. Once a work has been taken down, it can't go back up. Even for a purpose which is protected under fair use.
So what? The problem is that if a new artist performs an original work, or creates an original piece of art, and a copyright holder thinks it is too similar (or even just too good) they can file an infringement claim and the new, creative work automatically comes down. Creators end up spending endless time, usually on a very limited budget, fighting the claim, leaving less time for creating. See where this is going. Status quo people.
What does this mean for educators? The children we teach are the inventors, artists, and creators of the future. If they are stifled by copyright trolls (often companies who don't even make anything, but just buy rights to stuff others have already created), where will we be in 10, 20, 50 years. At the very least, not as far along as we could be. Creators have a right to benefit from their creative efforts. That is why copyright exists, to insure that those who contribute new ideas and products don't end up losing out even though they got there first. This encourages creativity and innovation. But, when the innovators of today are attacked by they copyright holders of yesteryear, copyright is ironically working counter to its original intention.
Educators need to pay attention to copyright and fair use and open dialogue with our students about what is going on in the world of invention and innovation. It is their world and they need to know why it is wrong to steal someone else's ideas, but also why it is wrong to stop new ideas under the guise of copyright violation.
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