An MG-ED-DVer from Connecticut sent me a private message which he
requested that I not repost with an attribution to him. He is wringing
his hands over the LEGAL -- his word -- implications of using Internet
materials for instruction. He recognizes that this is made wildly more
complex as the technology is global. That is, what are the legal
implications of getting putting one of your unpublished papers on a site
that someone else in another country then puts on their university
syllabus, or in their for-profit training program, or in their book, or
article? How is value maintained, stolen, transferred, increased, etc.
in these kind of situations? .... My own opinions--in USA lingo, my
own two cents--follow.
In the USA, educational institutions have had great leeway under the
legal doctrine called FAIR USE and it even seems to have been increasing
in some ways recently. Publishers more likely than not will go after a
for-profit photocopy center that sells packets of articles to students
than Professor Smith. So there is a sort of practical dimension. Of
course: What is ethical to use? What SHOULD be provided for use?
Etc.? Egad! I am unfamiliar with the situation in foreign countries.
I don't see my colleagues being dragged away by strange looking troops
to ships in the harbor to serve sentences in distant salt mines, at this
time. I would appreciate any discussion on this that you MG-ED-DVers
believe would be USEFUL. What would especially be useful would be
offering URLs of sites that have this topical already packaged, wrapped,
ready to take home.
'nuff said, Charlie