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An Entry from the Archives

Bill McGeveran and William "Terry" Fisher of the Berkman Center have published a paper about how copyright gets in the way of education. From the abstract:

Drawing on research, interviews, two participatory workshops with experts in the field, and the lessons drawn from four detailed case studies, the white paper identifies four obstacles as particularly serious ones:

* Unclear or inadequate copyright law relating to crucial provisions such as fair use and educational use;

* Extensive adoption of digital rights management technology to lock up content;

* Practical difficulties obtaining rights to use content when licenses are necessary;

* Undue caution by gatekeepers such as publishers or educational administrators.

The white paper concludes with some discussion of paths toward reform that might improve the situation, including certain types of legal reform, technological improvements in the rights clearance process, educator agreement on best practices, and increased use of open access distribution.

The full paper is here.