{"id":3381,"date":"2003-10-27T20:55:28","date_gmt":"2003-10-28T00:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/2003\/10\/27\/copyright-and-the-university\/"},"modified":"2003-10-27T20:55:28","modified_gmt":"2003-10-28T00:55:28","slug":"copyright-and-the-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/2003\/10\/27\/copyright-and-the-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Copyright and the University"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Update:<\/STRONG> Even Eeyore’s writing<\/A> to Swarthmore, so I figured I should get in gear and do so too (after all, if an Eeyore feels he can make a difference, then anyone can).  Here’s my letter.<\/A>  And here’s a link to the Diebold docs<\/A> at my Harvard account.<\/P>
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I hope you’ve been following the Diebold story<\/A> – Techlawadvisor has a nice array <\/A>of links.<\/P>
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What is most frustrating for me is that Swarthmore should know better. I’m not just saying that because <\/A>the law and the media are on their side. Sure, they’re in a good strategic position.  But they’re also an elite academic institution and should know, strategy or no strategy, that this is a stand that needs to be taken. This matter cuts to the core of the university’s mission: to encourage and provide a haven for serious debate and scholarship about important issues. How can a copyright C+D make them forget all other academic principles?<\/P>
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Swarthmore’s actions, I think, are part of a larger trend. Copyright’s dominance of Internet and technology issues is now bleeding into the university, from Penn State<\/A> to Swarthmore to Wyoming<\/A> to Harvard<\/A> and many more.  Copyright holders have colleges running scared. Are we willing to let serious academic issues be determined in this simplistic way?<\/P>
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I’ve noted in the past that some colleges, though feeling overwhelmed,<\/A> have reacted<\/A> with moderately good policy solutions without sacrificing academic freedoms, fair use, and the university’s independence. There have been some bright spots<\/A>. But on the whole, it hasn’t been pretty.<\/P>
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Ever since my frustration with Harvard’s silly new repeat offender policy, I’ve started to think that someone needs to write a best policies manual for universities specifically. Universities need to be reminded what’s at stake and instructed on how they can accomodate the law without crippling academic freedom.  Such a manual would make very clear what the law actually says so that universities like Harvard and Swarthmore do not unnecessarily go beyond it to avoid liability.  The EFF has<\/A> something similar to what I’m thinking of; also, Fred von Lohmann outlined some ideas here<\/A>, and I noted others here<\/A>. I’d like to see something even more comprehensive – if one already exists, please tell me – if one doesn’t, I’d love to help someone write it.<\/P>
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While nothing requires Swarthmore to stick up for their students in this case, I am saddened that they haven’t.  Hopefully, other universities will learn from Swartmore’s mistakes.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: Even Eeyore’s writing to Swarthmore, so I figured I should get in gear and do so too (after all, if an Eeyore feels he can make a difference, then anyone can).  Here’s my letter.  And here’s a link to the Diebold docs at my Harvard account. I hope you’ve been following the Diebold story – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}