COPYRIGHT, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY and PLAGIARISM
Carmel's Authorization for Internet Access is clear in stating unacceptable uses of the Internet where copyrighted material is concerned:
a) Using the Internet network for any illegal activity, including violation of copyright or other contracts, or transmitting any material in violation of any U.S. or State regulation;
b) Unauthorized downloading of software, regardless of whether it is copyrighted or de-virused;
c) Downloading copyrighted material for other than personal use;
All Published Material is Copyrighted
It should be noted that all published material, whether it displays the copyright symbol or not, is copyrighted as soon as it is created. Never assume that you do not need permission to use another's work.
Internet Makes it Easy to Copy
The Internet has allowed access to and duplication of copyrighted material easier than ever before. It is possible to download entire books, music, art images, software - the list goes on. It is extremely tempting to use other's material without getting permission. In addition, there is a conception that if the material is being used in education, it's legal to copy it. A large part of the confusion over what is permissable results from the wording of the laws themselves. They are constantly being challenged and reinterpreted.
The Napster Problem
Recently, universities were threatened with a lawsuit because they did not restrict their student's access to a site called Napster which allowed copying of compressed musical filess. This spring, students at Carmel had been downloading the Napster site onto Carmel's computers. We responded by blocking access to the site using our filtering program. Constant vigilance is required at the high school and college levels to ensure that copyright laws are not broken.
REFERENCE SITES FOR COPYRIGHT LAWS
Below are links to a couple of sites that discuss copyright laws in layman's terms. These sites also are continually updated with the most current information. It would be worthwhile to visit them periodically.
University of Texas Crash Course in Copyright
This is an excellent site geared toward copyright laws as they apply to educators. The recent lawsuits over the Napster site are addressed also. The biggest misunderstanding regarding copyright laws for educators arises when the concept of "fair use" is discussed. The site discusses fair use for educators and gives a check list for determining if it applies in your situation.
Taken from a section in their online encyclopedia on law, this link also discusses the fair use concept and gives examples for review.
The Catholic University of America - Office of General Counsel
This site would be useful for non-Catholic institutions also. It has a FAQ section, a section on Intellectual Property with subsections on Copyright Guidelines, MP3s, a faculty/staff certificate of copyright compliance form, Libraries copyright information, and a copyright questions and answers section. The Safe Harbor Guidelines for Fair Use includes the Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying" which was authored by representatives of the educational community and publishers in 1976 and made part of the Congressional Record.
Copyright Implementation Manual
This was prepared for a K-12 district (Groton Public schools in Connecticut)and has specific application categories, such as ERIC, SIRS, music, photocopying, multimedia. Easy to read and understand.
It is extremely easy for students to copy entire term papers from the Internet. Some sites will even give grades to the papers so that a "C" student will not unwittingly turn in an "A" paper and thus alert the teacher that the work is not his.
The following sites deal with plagiarism. Some offer the papers; some offer to determine if the paper is plagiarized.
Sites Discussing Plagiarism
Sites Offering Term Papers