The internet, used intelligently, provides a tremendous resource for schools. Users however must be aware of the copyright restrictions that apply, as many illegal music filesharers have found to their cost.

The law is similar to that for printed material - “surfers” may generally download and print one copy for the purpose of research or private study only without the copyright owner’s permission.

However users must read and respect the provisions of any copyright notices on the website before downloading and printing any material from it.

Schools must stay within the privileges granted to them in password protected educational websites such as Scran. http://www.scran.ac.uk/

Distributing, sharing or trading copyright works without permission over the internet is illegal (filesharing).

Linking to copyright web pages over from your own site is usually OK as long as you acknowledge all copyright holders and/or ask permission first.

For more information check out http://www.cla.co.uk/index.php