Making free copies of copyrighted online materials and passing them out to students, downloading digital videos (such as YouTube’s) onto a local hard drive, and converting analog materials to digital formats to be used with an interactive whiteboard or slide-show software for whole group instruction are all regularly done by teachers. These uses have either no or minimal impact on a copyright holder’s profits. Overly strict enforcements of the letter of copyright laws will lead to creating scofflaws of not just students, but teachers, and make all copyright restrictions suspect.
Few subjects spark more disagreement and confusion than copyright.
