Ten years ago, I used movie clips in my classroom teaching, but now that VHS has disappeared, I don't use movies so much anymore.  In the classroom, DVDs are just plain cumbersome when it comes to effective use of film.  When you're seeking to compare and contrast two versions of the balcony scene in different film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, fast forwarding through trailers of Hellboy, American Gangster, and Baby Mama really spoils the mood.  And because of the time it takes to load a DVD, the process is so time consuming that by the time you get the second scene cued up the bell has rung and the period is over. So much for comparison-contrast.

What teachers want and need, if they are to use film properly in the classroom, is to be able to create a set of digital clips that feature just the parts of the movie they want to use.  But that can't be done legally ever since 1998, when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) became law, making it illegal to bypass the CSS technology used in DVDs. The CSS technology makes it impossible to copy an excerpt. 

However, it is legal for teachers to create and use film clip compilations.  The doctrine of fair use enables people to make legal, non-infringing use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes. That's why I found myself testifying before the U.S. Copyright Office on May 6, on behalf of K-12 teachers and students, asking them to unlock the power of film for education.

Along with film professors, representatives of the American Library Association and other university library groups, we are asking the Copyright Office to issue a special exemption that would enable teachers and students to circumvent CSS technology to make clip compilations for educational use.

DMCA Law Erodes Educators' Rights to Fair Use

When the 1998 DMCA law prevented educators from making fair use of copyrighted digital materials on DVDs, it also created a "safety valve" that empowered the Register of Copyright to authorize special exemptions for legal, fair uses of copyrighted materials.

Back in 2006, University of Pennsylvania film professor Peter DeCherney received a special exemption from the Copyright Office, one that enabled film professors to legally unlock the CSS technology on DVDs.  Now a variety of librarians, educators, and advocates are gathered to request that that exemption be extended to include other educators.  Teachers of science, history, medicine, law, and the humanities all find film to be a powerful tool for teaching and learning. K-12 teachers in English, social studies, and health want to use film clips to teach critical analysis and communication skills. Why should film professors be the only educators who can use film for educational purposes?

At the rulemaking hearing, I came to represent media literacy educators and their students, particularly those in K-12 settings and in non-school contexts.  Media literacy educators are everywhere: they are teachers at all levels who use instructional practices to build students' critical thinking and communication skills in responding to mass media, popular culture, and digital media. In K-12 education, it's generally not a freestanding subject--instead, media literacy education is integrated into English language arts, health, social studies, and the fine and performing arts.