Access Copyright is suing York University and looking for steep tariffs to force every K-12 and post-secondary to pay them money for use of their copyrighted material.
Access Copyright has a LOT of nerve for thinking that teaching our kids is all about creating an "educational market" to funnel money into their pockets.
Like most people in academia, I do a lot of writing - creating original works which I share openly with others (for evidence, see the other writings and links on this blog!). Post-secondary institutions are net creators of copyrighted works - by far. IF it made any sense to be sending cheques for use of copyrighted works, they should be flowing FROM Access Copyright to universities and colleges! Not that I agree with this approach, this is just to illustrate how absurd this situation is.
Maybe you're not an academic - but do you post your pictures on flickr or videos on YouTube for anyone to view or download? If so, you're a creator of copyrighted content. Does Access Copyright represent you?
As for the K-12 sector: the companies and occasional individuals behind Access Copyright have an obligation, just like the rest of us, to help the next generation get a start in life. You should be donating works to your local schools and helping out by providing free author talks. If you can't be bothered with this, at least don't sue our school systems.
As a prolific writer and open access activist, I am very proud to say that I am NOT A MEMBER of Access Copyright.
Michael Geist has a great takedown of Access Copyright's Desperate Declaration of War Against Fair Dealing.
