One more thing before I sleep - movies in classrooms

[velvetpage]

Technically, it's illegal for me to bring a movie from my personal collection and show it at school. I have a personal home-use licence on that movie, not a public viewing licence, and a school is considered public viewing even if we're not charging for it.

I think this law is ridiculous and impossible to enforce, but it's on the books. I also think that most schools would agree to pay a small amount more for a copy that was licensed for classroom use - classroom use being a different category from general-public use. I'm sure most schools would be willing to pay, say, $30 for a DVD they could get for $20 without the licence, in order to be on the right side of the law. But that requires an update in copyright legislation, and copyright legislation is not going towards making thing easier for the consumer these days. In fact, there's a law being debated in Canada right now that would make transfering music from my CD to my computer to my MP3 player illegal, even if the original CD was legally purchased.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is illegal, too. Rental copies are licenced for personal home use only, so unless the school has purchased a site licence, it's illegal.

I pay for the songs I download, mostly. I figure for the amount of music I buy, I can afford a few bucks here and there to support an artist. But when I download it, I expect to be able to use it in whatever format my legally-purchased technology allows for, up to and including playing it for my class.