Two recent legal cases result in a righteous smack down for educational establishments that defended some form of stealing. In one case, the stealing was copyright infringement. In another, it was shoplifting.
From the early Oughts, copyright advocates have compared shoplifting and copyright infringement with varying degrees of success. One of the best examples was penned on June 18th, 2012 by David Lowery.
Revisit the 19th and 20th paragraphs beginning
"What the corporate backed Free Culture movement is asking us to do is analogous to changing our morality and principles to allow the equivalent of looting .... "And also
"But it's worse than that. It turns out that Verizon, AT&T, Charter etc etc are charging a toll to get into this neighborhood to get the free stuff. Further...."https://thetrichordist.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/
Fast forward to this week. Legal blogger Krista L. Cox, writing for the "Above The Law" blog discusses a case where a Houston school district purchased a few very useful study guides (that had copyright wording including "Copying this material is strictly prohibited") and made multiple copies and distributed the illegal copies throughout the Houston school district and beyond.
https://abovethelaw.com/2019/06/houston-school-district-ordered-to-pay-9-2-million-in-copyright-infringement-case/?rf=1
One teacher allegedly committed to email that she knew the material was copyrighted and that she was "ok with violating... (copyright)". Krista L. Cox makes it clear why that email was a particular slam dunk for the plaintiff's winning case, and offers an expert explanation of the limits on fair use of copyrighted materials in an educational setting.
Also this week, commentators Suzanne Fields, also Brent Bozell and Tim Graham reflect on Oberlin College's $44,000,000 loss for alleged defamation and other alleged interference with a local grocer's ability to conduct business, allegedly because the grocer had zero tolerance for shoplifting and Oberlin College staff allegedly took exception when a student was arrested for shoplifting.
https://townhall.com/columnists/suzannefields/2019/06/21/crisis-at-super-liberal-oberlin-n2548720
https://townhall.com/columnists/brentbozellandtimgraham/2019/06/21/oberlin-punished-for-factfree-food-fight-n2548719
Finally, given the trouble one can bring down upon oneself for words stored on devices, the Parallax offers some sensible advice for readers who plan to take devices with them on international travel and who would like to protect their social media privacy.
https://the-parallax.com/2019/06/12/what-to-do-customs-social-media/
All the best,
SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/ http://www.rowenacherry.com
EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday
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