Re: [Videolib] Sarah's post on digital streaming

Jessica Rosner (jrosner@kino.com)
Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:57:19 -0400

As you might imagine I don't agree with all of this.
Now I am sympathetic to what I see as "real" Distance Education where
students are literally NOT on campus and have no physical class in which to
see a film, on the other hand to make it merely "convenient" for a student
to watch a film an ADDITIONAL time or because a Prof did NOT want to bother
using class time is a horse of a different color and why I think the
distinction is made. "Face to Face" was intended to allow academics to
legally use a "home use" only film in their actual class but what is now
happening is that those professors instead of either A. putting a film on
reserve or B Scheduling an actual viewing session want to just make it
available to see anytime any place. Ok it password protected and only for
the students who are supposed to see it but they HAVE the opportunity to see
it in class as they always did, if you want them to see it at a different
time or place that is not "face to face". It is legal for people to watch
films in their homes but IF they want a film delivered to them by some on
demand or download service they have to pay a fee for that. Now supposes I
bought a DVD of film X and I am a computer genius who can download and
digitize the thing and sent straight to my friends who have to log in. They
are only watching it themselves, I did not post it on the internet so what
if I send it to 200 of them who can now watch it at home, I made it from a
legal copy and they are watching it for personal use ? If the MPAA finds out
do you think that gets me off the hook because it is the exact analogy you
have to extending " face to face" to "on demand"

On 10/30/08 1:34 PM, "Carrie Russell" <crussell@alawash.org> wrote:

> Just a few comments on Sarah's recent post. See below....
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:36:18 -0400
> From: "Sarah McCleskey" <Sarah.E.McCleskey@hofstra.edu>
>
>
> I really don't understand Farhad's comment "What I'm not convinced yet
> is the difference between "face-to-face" traditional classrooms with the
> instructor present vs. a log-in protected online classroom (access by
> students registered for that class only)"
>
> I think there is a huge difference, namely that face-to-face in a
> traditional classroom is 100% legal and restricted access streaming an
> entire audiovisual work to students in an online classroom is not 100%
> legal. It's just not. It's not fair use, it's not face to face, it's
> not covered by TEACH, so what makes you think it's okay?
>
> ******I can perfectly understand Farhad's comment that he sees no
> difference between F2F and protected streaming because I believe that
> user's rights to information and the use of protected works should not
> be different in digital world than they are in an analog environment.
> Why should they be different?
>
> Congress made a decision to make them different (in the law) but they
> did not have to. In fact, there is no public policy justification for
> creating a difference. Both screenings are secure. Films were lawfully
> acquired.
> Sometimes Congress passes laws that are stupid. *******
>
> I recently read something from a librarian at an academic institution
> (not mine) that has the capability to stream an (entire) video to one
> student at a time. She contended that because they were streaming to
> one user at a time, it was no different from having a video in the
> library that one student could look at. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT????? Does
> anyone on this list BELIEVE THAT?
>
> **** Sounds like a pretty good argument to me. There is no public
> performance. Rights holders have exclusive rights to public
> performances not private performances. Do you believe that an additional
> fee should be paid when you watch DVDs at home? One could argue that
> educational individual performances "grow" to be public performances
> because eventually everyone in the class sees the film. But we have
> never said that private performances of videos checked out of the
> library add up to a public performance. ****
>
>
> Here's another story I have to add. Our School of Ed. conducts seminars
> that all students have to take to receive their teacher certification,
> such as fire safety and school violence. They are converting these
> seminars to the Blackboard environment, and wanted to use an entire (17
> minute) video on school violence. Of course they tried to tell me they
> could do it without getting rights, and I said no, you can't, let me see
> about getting those rights for you. So I called up the company, who
> said this was their first such request but they were delighted to give
> me a quote. They wanted $1500/year or $5000 perpetual to stream this
> video. The School of Ed. has decided to make their own videos instead,
> because of this price for the streaming rights. I thought this cost was
> WAY out of line, but as I said, this was the first request the company
> had for something like that, and so I can't really blame them for just
> pulling a number out of ... well, you know.
>
> ***this extreme quote is a good example of copyright misuse. Such an
> unreasonable fee goes well beyond the statutory monopoly that rights
> holders enjoy.****
>
> My two cents
> Carrie Russell, Copyright Specialist and
> Director, Program on Public Access to Information
> ALA Washington Office
> Office for Information Technology Policy
> 1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW First Floor
> Washington, DC 20009
> crussell@alawash.org
> 800.941-8478
> 202.628.8410
>
> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
> relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
> preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
> related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
> working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
> between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
> distributors.
>
>

Proud Resident of a BLUE STATE

Jessica Rosner
Kino International
333 W 39th St. 503
NY NY 10018
jrosner@kino.com
212-629-6880

VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.