This week, I viewed the presentation by C.L. Lindsay III titled “Trouble Online: Campus Computing and the Law.” The first topic he discussed was copyright infringement of intellectual property. I found this to be an interesting update on the topic since I wrote a research paper on this around 2000, back when mp3s were still unknown to a large proportion of society. (I remember having to explain to my entire class and professor what an mp3 was!) This also reminded me of a little run in my roommate and I had with campus computing back then—we had our dorm room ip blocked for a couple days because of a copyrighted video clip she had shared on the campus network (which caused us to exceed the bandwidth limits). We also got a little warning about sharing copyrighted materials then. I found Mr. Lindsay’s explanation of how the RIAA typically handles lawsuits both reassuring and frightening. I’m glad to know more about how the system works and who they tend to go after—but the amounts of money involved are staggering. Theft is crime, but I think the punishment is excessive compared to the actual damages. In addition, the strategy of scaring people as a deterrent is sort of scummy in my opinion!
In his next topic of plagiarism, I was shocked to see that people can actually buy papers! Back in college, I only came into contact with buying old exams (which were sometimes free and even kept in the libraries sometimes). I’m sure people would have written papers for others for money, but I’d never dream of ordering them by mail or on the internet! Finally, I was interested to hear about social networking sites and photos. I had heard before that employers sometimes look up candidates on Facebook. Personally, I do not post photos of myself for any reason because I don’t want them to exist electronically on the web. It might be a little paranoid, but even posting my photo for TEP classes bothers me and so far I have refused every time (and unfortunately, have lost points for this a few times). Overall, I found this presentation to be a lot of fun. I loved the pictures and the action figures were hilarious! I think some friends at other schools would find this worth their time to watch.
The Internet is one of the most useful inventions of the 20th century; however, with this invention comes the need to learn how to use it responsibly. I thought the best words of advice that C.L. Lindsay offered during his presentation was "If it is illegal in the real world, then it is illegal on the Internet." His second most important piece of advice: Fair and legal are not the same thing. Words to live by each time we click on our computers.
ReplyDeleteI was glad he mentioned TurnItIn. There is definitely controversy about TurnItIn here at UIS. Many students feel that the company is making money off of work that they create. And that furthermore, a good professor should be able to tell when a student is cheating without resorting to third-party programs.
While much of what he said was common sense, one thing I learned was that you could be sued based on your IP address. That's scary.
I'm glad you enjoyed his speech and found it worth your time. I enjoy it every time I watch it!