Copyright

We recently had a guest in our computer science class named Jason Hardin. Mr. Hardin spoke to the class about what copyright is, and about the laws of copyright. We learned that copyright lasts for as long as the creator lives, plus 70 years after their death. We also learned that copyright is not something new. Copyright laws actually date back to 1790 and was mentioned in the constitution. According to Mr. Hardin, copyright has a very financial nature, and was created as an economic incentive for creators to have thier work protected. We also learned about some ways that one could get in trouble for with the law because of copyright regulations. It is a felony to commit a copyright infringment involving more than 10 copies and a value of more than 2500 dollars. One way that one could get in trouble is through illegal downloading. If you are caught downloading illegally, you will first receive a takedown notice. After the takedown notice, the next step would be to recieve a subpoenae, and then finally if you continue to download illegally, it is possible that you may be sued. Colleges and Universities are actually required by the HEOA to provide alternatives for illegal downloading. I understand the appeal of illegal downloading to students. It is convenient and cheap to download the music for free, but I also understand that downloading music without paying is stealing from those that worked hard to make the music.

Copyright by Claire Richardson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.