Hobbs said the screen capture tools used by many K-12 schools, such as Jing or Camtasia, don’t require bypassing a DVD’s encryption code. That encryption code is known as the Content Scramble System, or CSS, and is employed on almost all commercially available DVDs in order to protect DRM.
“The Copyright Office wanted to limit the exemption only to those groups who could prove a reasonable harm, and who could demonstrate that bypassing CSS encryption is the only way to accomplish fair-use purposes,” she said, adding: “The Copyright Office has acknowledged that screen capture is a legal resource for K-12 classrooms and non-film/media students, and truthfully, that may be all that’s really necessary for many student projects. But when student work is submitted to film festivals or designed to be viewed on the big screen, then high-quality images are essential.”
Hobbs said she and her colleagues will continue to fight for education’s digital media rights at the Copyright Office’s next hearing in 2012.
In preparation for the hearing, Hobbs and her colleagues will invite K-12 educators to help demonstrate the need to bypass CSS for educational purposes.
“We want to be able to assemble a list of ‘projects not undertaken’ due to the current ruling. We especially want examples of where students need to be able to bypass CSS or where screen capture is not adequate for a particular project. We also want to be able to prove that image quality makes a difference, especially in classrooms where controlling light … makes for image display problems,” she said.
Educators who have examples to share should eMail Hobbs at renee.hobbs@temple.edu.
Links:
Temple University School of Communications and Theater
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Renee Hobbs: renee.hobbs@temple.edu
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