Copy Right and Fair Use

I found some very useful tips and guidelines for copyrighted material at http://archives.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_answers.php.  There were a lot of interesting new ideas that I had never heard of before, such as:

I never really realized when I could use things with and without permission.  I thought that I could just site things and that would be all that I needed.  So the question that said that I don't have to ask for permission, I just have site the place that I used for material that I do not post on the web.

I also thought that if you were to post things on the web that you would have to ask for permission, whether the website was protected or not.  So if the site that you are posting students work on, you are allowed to put copyrighted material on line.

The question about taping a show and using it to edit and place students into the movie caught me by surprise because I thought that you weren't allowed to take movies off line and edit them without permission.  Maybe you have to if you post those videos on the web afterward?

I never realized that I wasn't allowed to show a class full of students a movie unless it is one for the use of groups.  I always assumed that you could share the one that you buy for your house to any size group.  How do they enforce that, what size is too big?

There is a machine that you can use to unblock protected things on the web so that your students can use them.  I never realized that there was anything like out there.  Of course, it isn't meant for personal use but for educators in the classroom.

I figured that yearbooks would be allowed to use copyrighted items like it can be done in the classroom.  However, it makes since that yearbooks are not class work nor educational.