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Professors say their lectures warrant legal protection.
But the budding practice of taking lecture notes from the classroom to the Internet is brewing controversy at California's top universities and campuses across the country. University of California administrators at Berkeley and Los Angeles have sent letters to a number of Internet companies that hire note-takers at those campuses, warning them that the students are violating university policies and copyright laws. Many colleges and professors argue that class notes should be legally protected, much as lectures and handouts already are, and educators worry that online notes will encourage students to skip class. The dispute is only the latest example of how technology has rattled some ivy-clad traditions of higher education. While online registration and fee payment generally are praised for making college life easier, Web-based instruction and library access have radically changed parts of the familiar college experience over the last decade.