Want to speak out about one of the big issues of the day?  You could head down to the local farmers’ market, a busy intersection, or some other public space.  But chances are, that’s not what you would do.  We all know that much of today’s free expression and debate occurs in online spaces rather than physical ones.  And navigating these online spaces involves some new skills and competencies.  It’s no longer about having strong vocal cords or a tall enough soapbox.

One important competency in this new realm of free expression is copyright.  Digital technology enables anyone to create and share rich communicative media – text, images, music, video.  It also enables them to use, combine, or remix the digital creations of others.  These capabilities offer tremendous opportunities for creative free expression.  But what is allowed, and how much use or remixing of other people’s content is too much?  To navigate the modern creative landscape effectively, people need to have a basic understanding of their rights and responsibilities regarding copyright.

Ideally, copyright basics is taught in school, alongside other digital citizenship topics like online privacy.  Yet teaching copyright in a way that encourages and promotes free expression can be a significant challenge for educators.  For one thing, copyright is a complicated legal subject with significant gray areas.  Teachers may feel ill-equipped to cover it with their students.  Just as important, teaching copyright in a way that emphasizes its prohibitions and penalties could discourage students from reusing or remixing creative work altogether.  Their take-away could be that everything is protected by copyright and the consequences for infringement are serious, so it’s best to steer clear of other people’s creations entirely.  That’s hardly a good outcome from a free expression perspective.

What’s needed is a set of copyright lessons that is easy to use and that gives plenty of attention to concepts such as fair use, the public domain, and Creative Commons.  In other words, accessible materials that focus on what copyright enables and permits, not just what it prohibits.  Materials that offer practical advice for how students can make full use of digital technology to enhance their expressive activity in appropriate and lawful ways.

This is the goal of Copyright and Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens (C&C), a non-profit project I’ve been heading up for the last several years.  The idea is to make teaching copyright easy and accessible.  With that in mind, C&C has created a full suite of free K-12 teaching resources, from lesson plans to plug-and-play slides and videos for in-class use to independent learning videos.  There’s also a professional development course for educators who want to shore up their own familiarity with copyright before covering the topic with students.

One of the things C&C has learned is that students often start out thinking that copyright only benefits big corporate and professional authors and creators.  Kids Are surprised to learn that copyright applies to their own creations.  Successful copyright education needs to emphasize that students aren’t just consumers of copyrighted work – they are creators too.

As creators, students need practical advice for how to proceed with their expressive activities. So C&C’s lessons make sure to go over what copyright doesn’t cover (like facts and ideas).  They also offer a whole section on what to do when you want to use a piece of someone else’s work in your own creation.  Lessons and key videos walk through fair use at length, discussing both the factors that determine when fair use applies and some real-world examples that show fair use principles in action.  A popular infographic shows the connection between free speech, copyright, and fair use.

Equally important, we offer information about how to rely on Creative Commons and public domain works, for situations where fair use may not apply.  There’s a whole video on how to find creative works that you’re free to borrow and reuse in your own creations.  Why might students want to go to that kind of  trouble?  Well, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which a student’s school project falls within fair use so long as it stays within the confines of the school, but would be on uncertain ground if posted more broadly online.  And we all know that if students are proud of their work, they may well want to share it online.  Using Creative Commons or public domain works would allow students to sidestep the tricky legal questions and freely post their work wherever they like.

The bottom line is, balanced education about copyright – focusing on what it permits and encourages rather than just what it prohibits – should be a positive for free expression.  Knowing the ground rules can help students express themselves more creatively and confidently in the digital realm.  

If you’re an educator, please consider checking out C&C’s resources.  We’d welcome any questions or feedback at info@copyrightandcreativity.org.  Or ask for a copy of the Free Speech, Copyright and Fair Use infographic – C&C would be happy to ship you a free 11×17 poster to use in your classroom or library!

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Guest Post

David​ ​Sohn​ was the principal legal advisor and a key contributor to the development of the Copyright and Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens (C&C) curriculum. He was previously the General Counsel and Director of the Digital Copyright project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Earlier in his career he served as Commerce Counsel for Senator Ron Wyden, where he worked on matters including technology and copyright policy. He also spent several years practicing law as an Associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington DC. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Amherst College.