Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about digital copyrights and fair use in the news and online – particularly with the whole SOPA/PIPA uproar that recently swept the web.
Also, we on the Edublogs support team have been getting more and more complaints and official requests to remove copyrighted content that users have placed on blogs.
The legal jargon with respect to digital copyrights can be confusing – especially since different countries have their own laws and regulations.
With this post, we hope to dispel a few myths and pull together a complete list of resources for teachers and students to use when blogging and working with content online.
Rule #1: You Can’t Use Everything You Find On the Web
This may seem obvious, but judging by the notices we have received, many teachers (and especially students) are under the impression that if it is on the web, then it is up for grabs.
If you and your students keep rule #1 in mind, then everything else should be fine.
Rule #2: There Are Resources You CAN Use
One of the myths out there is that you can’t use any image, video, or content from another website on your blog.
That simply isn’t true, and we’ll cover our favorite sources of “fair use” and “public domain” sources at the end of this post.
It is troubling that while copyright is important to protect the hard work of others, it can also stifle creativity and hamper educational goals. Though SOPA is effectively dead at the moment, there is a legitimate need for newer laws that are built around the open and free-sharing nature of the web.
Understanding Fair Use
You might be aware that as educators, we have a few more flexible rules, called “Fair Use”, to play by.
That is, in some cases, if an image, text, video, etc. is being used for educational purposes, there might be more flexible copyright rules.
For example, a video that was purchased in a store can usually be shown in a classroom when the video is tied to the curriculum being taught. Otherwise, showing a class full of students a video would be considered a “public performance” and would be against the law.
The trouble is, most of the laws and rules that cover fair use and education were written well before the invention of the web.
While a textbook or curricula resource might allow for photocopying for classroom use, it most likely isn’t going to allow you to make a PDF of the document and put it on your class blog or website for students to print themselves.
The end result would be the same, right? A student would have a printed copy.
But make sure to check specific copyright restrictions before uploading anything you’ve scanned to the web!
For more, check out the Fair Use FAQ for Educators here from the excellent resource site, TeachingCopyright.org.
What Can Be a Violation?
Here are the most common types of content that we have been contacted about and asked to remove on our blogs:
- Images – mostly found through google image search
- Curriculum docs – especially handouts and student activities
- Text and quotes – copy/pasted from other websites (even with a link or attribution it still may not be legal)
- Music – usually mp3s that students have uploaded to share on their blogs
But I Won’t Be Caught…
If only that were true.
Google makes it incredibly easy for companies and content creators to seek out those posting their work on the web.
Sadly, we are also noticing more and more “law firms” and organizations out there looking for copyrighted content as a way of generating business. They then contact the copyright holder offering their services to get the content removed (for a fee of course).
It is a ruthless (and apparently profitable) practice, and we’d be lying if we haven’t argued with a few that contact Edublogs about how they are hurting the education of students. But let’s keep on topic…
What If I Am Caught?
Well of course in this case a good offense is your best defense. Check your blogs and class websites for any potentially offending material. If you find anything, just remove it.
The law requires copyright holders to give you (and the host of your site, such as Edublogs, WordPress, etc.) an official notification. Take these seriously and act quickly to remove what they want if you are in the wrong. That should be the end of it.
We were recently notified about a teacher with a blog on Edublogs that had a harmless world map image on his blog that he had presumably found using Google image search. When we contacted him telling him why we had removed the image, he asked if he and his students could write an apology letter to the copyright holder.
It was excellent – turning what could be a bit of an embarrassing mistake into a teachable moment for his students! Now this teacher had a good reason to discuss copyright and creative commons with his students…
So What Is Creative Commons?
One thing to look for when figuring out if a resource (ie. image, video, text, etc.) is free to copy or embed on your blog, is a Creative Commons license.
For example, look at the bottom right corner of the sidebar of this blog. You’ll see that we license all content on this blog as “Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike”.
That is fancy talk for letting you know that you are free to use anything on this blog as long as you:
- give an attribution or credit that lets others know where you got the info with a link,
- won’t profit in any way from using our content and use it for non-business purposes only, and
- anything you create with our content, you must use the same license.
Luckily, the CreativeCommons.org website has a ton of excellent information and makes it easy to grab the license you wish to have on your own blog. If you (or your students) have blogs, then it is a good idea to choose the most appropriate license and make it visible on your blog.
In our case, we pasted the code they provided into a blank text widget in our sidebar.
Where To Find The Goods
Images
Creative Commons Search – Search many sites at once *Our Favorite!
StockVault.net – Free images from photographers around the world
Kozzi.com – One free photo per day
FindIcons.com – Huge resource for avatars or small images
Flickr Advanced Search – Use advanced search filters to show only CC licensed images
Morguefile – Free stock photos (Thanks Sue Lyon-Jones for link in comments!)
Open Clipart Libary – Public domain clipart (Thanks Sue Lyon-Jones for link in comments!)
Videos
You are free to embed any video from YouTube, Vimeo, WatchKnowLearn, etc. on your blog or website as long as it gives you the embed option.
That being said, you (or your students) can’t necessarily use parts from videos on YouTube (or other sources) to make mashups or as part of another video. Be sure to have permission to use any video that you are cutting, making changes to, or adding to a project.
Curriculum and Text
Wikipedia – Quote away (with a link back) to any information you find on Wikipedia
Curriki – An open curriculum community
Collaborize Classroom Library – A growing resource for discussion questions, lesson plans, and more
You won’t be able to add student resources from most textbook companies or purchased curriculum – so be careful and make sure you have permission before doing so!
Related Posts and More Info on Copyright
How To Attribute Copyrighted Works
Larry Ferlazzo’s Best Lists: Learning about copyright, best places for images, and best places for audio
Answering Reader Questions
(Edit: 2/22/2012 – This section was added to include responses to comments and tweets we’ve received since publishing the post)
In private or for-profit institutions, how can we use images and video, if at all? Is it even okay to use YouTube videos in class? What about online articles? Is there a difference between a class of paying students and a training delivered to teachers?
First, any images, videos, or content under a Creative Commons license will let you freely use the material with your student, you just may not be able to turn around and sell any changes you make. Any video on YouTube should be fine for showing in class, and if an image is on the web, you can always display the website that contains the image – where the line is drawn is on copying that image and pasting it on your own blog or website.
Can the onus not be placed on those who post these potential classroom materials, to make it clear who can and can´t or used for and not used for, surely this would be the least time consuming option.
Excellent point! Awareness of copyright and the importance of website owners to make it clear their licenses is improving. I think sticking to trusted sources and using filtered searches is the safest option.
If you can’t use images from the internet why is it that google can group all the images together for people to use?
Interesting thought for sure. Website owners can ask Google not to index their sites and images with a quick code. For bloggers, under Settings > Privacy, users can do the same thing. Not sure that really answers your question though 🙁
Is there a straightforward way to get the permission needed to use a ‘clip’ from a you tube video?
I’ve seen people leave a comment on the YouTube post, but there is no guarantee you’ll get a response.
Some YouTube videos are licensed under a Creative Commons license, and there is an advanced search filter on YouTube that would let you search for these. If you find one, you could use it without permission as long as you follow what the license allows (ie. provide attribution and not make money on the project).
What about the LIBRARY!?
Not so much a question, but Elijah left an excellent comment down below remind us that this is exactly why our libraries can be such valuable resources. Libraries have access to tons of licensed materials and librarians are specially trained to help us navigate the difficult copyright laws. Thanks, Elijah, for the tip!
When I get permission to post something that’s been copyrighted, am I supposed to share it a certain way so others that I have permission to use?
The answer here really depends on the license of the original content and the agreement you have with the original owner. Most of the time a link back to the original works perfect. The location of the link could be in an image caption, in the text itself, or at the end of your piece (like the “References” section of a formal paper).
Maybe APA/MLA/etc. should come out with a set of web publishing guidelines that include citations and reference lists! How would something like that even get started?
Can students read published books aloud, record themselves & publish recording on class blog?
The answer to this is probably not 🙁
However, many books are in the public domain – including most books written before the 1930s. These are all of the free books you see in the e-reader stores. Students would be free to record themselves and publish any book in the public domain. It should say somewhere near the beginning of the book if it is in the public domain (where copyright and publisher information usually goes).
What Do You Think?
Have we missed any important tips or good sites to find resources that are free to use?
Let us know in the comments below and we will be sure to add it to the post!
Nice post on fair use. In the modern world, Copyrights the most recognized and preferred law that assists most of us to protect our original assert without bothering its duplication. According to the legal bodies, it is the only perfect way to keep your data maintained and protected whether its online or published in some newspaper, book or any of the other way. I have also posted similar stuff here http://tinyurl.com/bwt3yzv .
Very helpful article…thanks so much. I have a dilemma which your last comment somewhat answered. I want to start a series of Google+ Hangouts on Air (HOA) which will stream live to YouTube. I plan to read a children’s picture book and do a related craft activity…the series is aimed at using the messages in picture books to help kids and parents with the challenges they face, like sibling rivalry and bullying. I do this program in local kindergartens and even wrote a book about it…but now I’m unsure as to whether I can read the entire story and show the pictures…or whether I should just show some of the pictures and tell about the story.
From the answer above, it seems like I would have to get permission from the author if I wanted to read the entire book out loud. What are your thoughts?
What about learning management systems. If I put something on Moodle that is not open on the internet, is that the same as showing it to my class or distributing for educational use?
If I put copyrighted music to a video of my own images and put the video on YouTube as private, therefore not distributed at all, is that any different than playing the song on a CD (in both cases paid for) in my classroom?
Ok Ronnie,
Here is one for you; I can’t seem to find an answer fro this question even from my friend who is an attorney.
Two scenarios
1- Can I create an instructional videos using material from a book or a text book I purchased. The videos would be posted free on a website. The book would be given credit on the website as well as in the video, people watching would be encouraged to purchase the book.
2- Every thing the same as above but would like sell the video as an educational/instructional material.
What’s your thoughts
Thank you,
I am trying to wrap my head around the copyright implications of showing a YouTube video to a class.
If I load a YouTube video on my iPad and show it to a classroom, am I deemed to be broadcasting or displaying the video and therefore in violation of their Terms of Service 5B?
If I get the embed code from YouTube and include it in my organisation’s intranet and get students to watch the video, this is permissable, correct?
Hi Alfred – It is my understanding that you can show a YouTube to your class, for educational purposes. It should fit within your curriculum. Especially if the movie is a clip of a larger work. Again, it is always safest to ask the copyright holders for permission, as much of a pain as that can be.
Hi Ronnie. Thanks for the great info. I went to business school and a lot of what was taught was about copyright laws that didn’t pertain to the net. So I love what you have done here!
I’m putting together a video as part of a business plan to show to prospective investors. This is a for profit venture. I want to compare two different websites on the video and how they function. As an example, I would compare yelp to citysearch. I would like to put their site on the video with me navigating through it describing the site and comparing it to the other, and then to the site I am building.
The sites are public to use, but I would like to know if I can record myself using them for a private/profitable cause. I would be criticizing the sites in some ways.
Let me know what you think, thanks Ronnie!
Sorry for such a delay – I’m just seeing these last few comments here and will make sure my notifications are coming through as they should.
To be honest, I’m not sure about this one. I would imagine that, especially since this is a for-profit venture, you’d need permission for the site owners to use their sites.
I do know that we get weekly requests from people wanting to use screenshots of our edublogs.org homepage for research papers, books, etc. We almost always say yes 🙂
Hi Ronnie, I added a copyright to my blog site when I put it on the web in 2010. (txt of my copyright below) Should I update it, to say 2012?
thanks
AMY
http://cancerissofunny.blogspot.com/
COPYRIGHT
ALL CONTENT © 2010 AMY MARASH – WASHINGTON, DC [email protected]
This is actually a really interesting question. Technically, I think it should be the earliest year of copyright so that should their be an argument, there is a record of when copyright started. However, many sites update it automatically each year as it makes the site look more current. As I understand it in the US, your writing is automatically “copyrighted” when you post it, regardless of a notice at the bottom of your blog or site. However, you can’t really enforce your copyright (in a court for example) unless you’ve registered your work with the US copyright office, and paid a fee to do so. Tricky stuff for sure.
Is it legal to post video from news sources CNN,TMZ, ABC WORLD NEWS etc. to use for comedic purpose?
If you embed a video they host using their embed tools, then it should be no problem. Many news sources allow you to embed video anywhere.
there is an option to display youtube thumbnails on websites.
is it legal to use them for design of my web page for free?
Hi again, Ronnie,
Just stopping by again to let you know that I’ve blogged my own take on this in a guest post over on Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto’s Teaching Village, here:
http://www.teachingvillage.org/2012/04/10/copyright-plagiarism-and-digital-literacy-by-sue-lyon-jones/
As someone who is both a teacher and a materials writer, I’d like to pick up on the suggestion made by one of your visitors that the onus should be placed on people who post potential classroom materials to spell out how they can and can’t be used, as I really don’t think we should be looking at things from that perspective.
I run a very popular free lesson materials website which has a copyright notice and a link to our terms and conditions on every page, which spells out in detail what people can and can’t do with our materials. If people try to copy our pages, they get a pop up message politely asking them not to, and asking them to link to us instead if they find our lessons useful. You would think all this would be enough – particularly as our materials are 100% free and there is no need to copy them in order to use them – but apparently it’s not, as our lessons are scraped and plagiarised by teachers and uploaded to sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and school servers on a constant basis. In other words, spelling out how materials can and can’t be used doesn’t provide a solution to the problem.
Having said all this, writers of educational materials really shouldn’t need to spell out what teachers can or can’t do with them, and my personal view is that it’s both selfish and disrespectful to suggest that the onus should be on them to do so. As a teacher myself, I appreciate that finding materials to use in the classroom can be hard work and time consuming, but a materials writer I put in a lot of hard work and effort creating free resources to make other teachers lives easier and save them time. Given this, I think it is a bit of an imposition to suggest that it’s my responsibility to ensure that people don’t steal or plagiarise materials I’ve written.
It seems to me that default position should be that if you didn’t write it, then it is not yours to use in the absence of a notice that specifically states that you can use it; period – and if a page doesn’t say what you can or can’t do with the content, then you should have the manners to ask the person who created it if you can use it, in the same way you would do before taking and using anything else that didn’t belong to you.
Thank you for providing such user friendly, reliable, time saving information about copyright and the internet. Brilliant effort 🙂