Copyright And Education In Conflict? (original) (raw)

from the questions-to-ponder dept

Dark Helmet writes in to alert us to an article discussing a recent Larry Lessig speech concerning conflicts between copyright and education, leading DH to write:

> “What do we, as a society, value more: business rights or education rights? > > Because we’re more and more often hearing stories about IP law effecting things like text book answers, lesson agendas, syllabi, etc. It seems that we are so wrapped up in the idea of personal rights and personal walls around the content that we create or organize that we’re losing sight of some truly important values, none more so than the ability to educate our emerging leaders to their fullest. After all, what could do more to promote the progress of our society and way of life as a whole than to educate our masses to the fullest? What standing could one possibly have to impede another’s education to eke out further profit?”

Indeed. For quite some time it’s appeared that there’s a bit of a conflict in the basics of copyright and the concept of education — which is all about sharing information and spreading that information. It’s one of those things that copyright maximalists (especially the ones who are professors) usually don’t like to talk about.