Conflict of Rights

BruinCast, which provides video and audio recordings of some lectures, no longer allows students who are not enrolled in a class to access the recordings. This fall, BruinCast officials stopped allowing the public to view UCLA lectures because not all videos can offer closed captioning. Offering such information to the public without accommodations for people who have disabilities could violate laws, said Robert Gibson, interim co-director of the Office of Instructional Development, which oversees BruinCast’s services. Before fall, professors individually decided whether a public audience could view their recorded lectures. ...Several professors who record lectures through BruinCast believe the changes violate their intellectual property agreements. Matthew Malkan, a professor in the department of astronomy, said the BruinCast staff did not approach professors about the changes. “BruinCast made it clear the video content is the intellectual property of the (lecturer),” said Steven Hardinger, a professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department. “(Then they) unilaterally decided to control the distribution of my intellectual property, and that’s a problem.” ...Hardinger added there were 145 students still hoping to enroll in his Chemistry 14C: “Structure of Organic Molecules” class who could not view the lectures on BruinCast because of the new policy...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2015/10/05/bruincast-suspends-public-access-to-ucla-lectures-to-avoid-legal-issues/