Libraries and Fair Use

From Library Journal (reg. req’d): Fair Use Under Fire – ALA’s copyright expert gives her take on the challenges digital rights management presents for end users – and librarians:

“In the digital realm, DRM technologies are changing the ways in which information is accessed and experienced, and they are undermining fair use. If content providers’ interests are allowed, through DRM, to use technology to “define” how patrons can access and use information, a DRM-enforced licensing situation will not only replace copyright and its user exemptions like fair use but will affect the basic ways we interact with information. Quantifying fair use, generally accepted as ten percent of a book, 30 seconds of a song, and so on, is technologically possible. But fair use philosophically cannot be quantified. Fair use is an unauthorized yet lawful activity. If one makes a “request” to use a work from a copyright holder through DRM, one is not exercising fair use.”

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Libraries and Fair Use

Thank you!