Itunes on laptops for teachers

Hi everyone

I recently asked all teachers with laptops to sign a policy statement to agree with the way they should use their laptops.

All to do with software installed without licenses etc...

During the meeting one teacher confesed saying she had itunes installed on her laptop.
Should itunes be installed and used for personal stuff?

Also if they have itunes, can they copy music from a disc that they bought from HMV or anywhere else? Isnt there a copyright issue here?

Also i guess they can install software that doesnt need licenses, basically free software of the web?

We have a policy of not installing iTunes at all. Interestingly I have just deleted a whole load of mp3 tracks from staff areas.

But is it illegal to have it on though?

I mean i dont really know where the music library is coming from, it could be downloaded and loaded from anywhere?
I can prove whether it was music bought from itunes, can i?

I've advised staff that itunes is ok to use, but any lose of purchased music is at their own risk. Also have explained to them no music is allowed to be transfered from itunes/laptop to the school network.

I've tried to be fair and not a teacher basher.

I'd recommend against it on the grounds that it put you into a legal quagmire. If a member of staff downloads an itunes song (or rips music off a CD) even though it may have been legal for them to do it at home the fact that it's on a laptop owned by the school means that it's almost certainly illegal.
I expect they've a clause in their contract to say it's only for personal/home use. The other problem is if that person leaves or gives the laptop to someone else you are without a doubt in breach of copyright.
Ideally you should get SMT to agree that staff dont get admin rights on the laptops so you can control what software they're using on them.

if they bought the music off itunes it's legal.
if they ripped it off a cd they own it's legal (as long as only they listen to it on their ipod).
If they downloaded it from utorrent or limewire... well thats plain illegal!

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Originally Posted by Joanne

if they bought the music off itunes it's legal.
if they ripped it off a cd they own it's legal (as long as only they listen to it on their ipod)

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Providing they own the laptop then it's legal. If it's a school computer they're using for work then AFAIK at that point they (and inherently the school) are in breach of copyright as soon as they copy/download the music onto the laptop.

We dont allow iTunes, and do not allow teacher's accounts to run any .exe file, so they are unable to install anything without going though either myself or our technician.

No complaints about it, as we were fair and gave them plenty of time to move itunes, pictures etc off their laptops before we made the changes.

Pete

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Originally Posted by MrHappy

I've advised staff that itunes is ok to use, but any lose of purchased music is at their own risk. Also have explained to them no music is allowed to be transfered from itunes/laptop to the school network.

I've tried to be fair and not a teacher basher.

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Well we try not to teacher bash here but the issue we had was twofold:

1. They had no clue in the main where the library was and it often ended up on the network

2. Earlier versions seemed to cause laptops to slow down a bit.

I don't have a problem with iTunes being on laptops. After all, it's a perfectly capable podcasting client. Some of those podcasts can be quite educational you know. :)

However I do have a problem with music (illegal or otherwise) clogging up laptops, home directories and similar.

Thus I don't think iTunes is a problem, it's just a tool after all, it's how it's used that causes the issues. So I think this is a policy issue really. So it needs to be dealt with in the Staff AUP.

Even if they do not own the laptop but it is there for them to use (assigned to them) then it is legal for them to rip their own CDs. The grey area is when you talk about how the files are going to be used.

If they are being used for personal use then the laptop suddenly becomes a taxable perk. If they are using them for school use then they have to be clear that they have permissions to make a copy and play the tracks to groups of people (public performance rights ... etc)

Generally it is easier to say no. It saves hassle on all sides.

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Originally Posted by GrumbleDook

Even if they do not own the laptop but it is there for them to use (assigned to them) then it is legal for them to rip their own CDs. .

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Therein lies the issue though - how do you know they own it?

You don't ... you give clear guidelines about copyright in your school policies and procedures. As with everything else in schools, once you have it on paper and published, if they choose to ignore it you have a valid cause to take them to task, even to the the point of a disciplinary.

The downside is that if you know they do it and you ignore it, then when the BPI knock on the door the school is at fault.

In reality, you are unlikely to make a major change in the way resources are used right now ... the best you can do is put down the guidelines and make sure new resources created follow the rules.

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Originally Posted by flyinghaggis

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joanne

if they bought the music off itunes it's legal.
if they ripped it off a cd they own it's legal (as long as only they listen to it on their ipod)

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Providing they own the laptop then it's legal. If it's a school computer they're using for work then AFAIK at that point they (and inherently the school) are in breach of copyright as soon as they copy/download the music onto the laptop.

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Why? I don't see why it changes the legality of what they're doing. Do you have any case law to back this up?

Providiny you dont synchronise with the companys servers, then the information is stored on there laptop, and they have a licence to use it. IF it gets synchronised to the servers, there is a problem.

With the "Company owned laptop / personal laptop" personal laptop is ok, company laptop is a no-no.