Week #7

How do public policies impact the use of technology.

Please allow me to get into my zen mode for a moment before addressing the complexity of this question...
...humming birds... ...meditation... ...peacefulness...  ha ha.  Okay, can you tell I am getting much more relaxed with my writing.  I want to speak from my own experience.  Which, I am completely calm about. Although I can get frustrated at times with policies for a variety of reasons.  One of the biggest complexities with policies is getting them out and understood.  Policies in technology are constantly changing.  Not only that, there are gray areas in these policies and so it becomes unclear.

In my professional experience I have been a stickler with policy.  I have worked with co-workers who say, if I don't know, it can't hurt me.  Yet, this is very risky and dangerous.  Accidental misuse of policy could cause someone to lose their job.  I realized the complexity of policy when it came to showing the movie my class was reading.  My boss had to get a movie license, then we had to purchase the video with educational funds, keep it at the school, and finally get parent permission.  I then had to tie the video into the curriculum so it very specifically had educational purposes.  I understand why we have policies, they are important.  Yet, can we relax a little now.

I have gotten to the point where I am almost scared to use anything because I could be copyrighting without realizing it.  I have attempted to understand the Fair Use Act of education but still find it complex to.  The interesting thing about copyright is that if you go to YouTube its all over the place, but do you see anyone doing anything about it? No. Companies would be wasting time and money.  The big copyright issues tend to be when someone is making big money off another's work without permission.  It seems like for the most part the copyright issue is labeled gray and circumstantial.  In fact it is so complex that not even the government can put a definitive label.  Not to long ago a woman was asked to take down a home video from YouTube because it had a song in the background.  Yet, look at the millions of videos with songs and no permission.  Why just pick on her?  

The fact is, it's very complex, which makes policies complex and all of this confusing.  Although, I believe understanding it is very important so that policy is still being followed.  I have most certainly given one hundred percent attention to this.  

By the way... Now this is copyrighted.  That's the policy. I'm glad I have protection of rights, but the internet is also a free exchange of information.  The truth is, once something is online, it's out of your hands.