Have
you ever printed a copy of a photograph you found online? You could be guilty
of a copyright infringement. The fact is that all work is automatically
copyrighted whether it bares a copyright symbol (©) or not (Copyrightclear,
2010). There are many people that infringe upon copyright laws every day; some
people are aware of it, and others just do not think about it. This essay will
discuss some of the advantages and challenges of having such a broad spectrum
of images available at our fingertips, some of the legal and ethical implications
of using copyrighted images, and ways to avoid these issues. It will be shown that
ignoring a copyright is a dangerous and unethical action.
The
main advantage of having all of the images available is to learn. Many people
learn by seeing and looking up an image of something may be much easier and
clearer to understand than reading a description. It is also a great way to see
photographs of places in the world you may want to see but are unable to visit;
or even to research different places to go for vacation. The author uses Google
Images to show her children new things; for example her daughter asked last
week “What is a cornucopia”, Krystal was able to look up an image and use it to
help describe what it is and how it is used.
One
disadvantage is that there are so many images it can be overwhelming at times.
For example, if you were to go to Google Images and type in the word ‘school’
over 14 billion images show up in .22 seconds. Also, because they are so easily
accessible, many people just assume they are publically available to use
however they please; although this is not the case. Google support states “If
you would like to use images from our Image search we suggest contacting the
site’s webmaster to obtain permission” (Google, n.d., Image Use Permission); it
also lists a link to another support page that gives you information on how to
contact a site’s webmaster. It suggests looking through the site to find a
contact us link or an email address, using a ‘WhoIs’ search (i.e. ‘WhoIs
www.example.com’), or contacting the hosting site to get information about how
to contact the webmaster (Google, n.d., Contact a Site’s Webmaster).
Copyright
infringement does not seem that serious, and people rarely think about it
because of that reason. How often do you hear about someone going to jail for
misuse of copyrighted materials? Chances are not very often because it not
something that is that exciting for new papers and news anchors to discuss; yet
that is exactly what could happen if you are caught. At the very least, you
would no longer be able to use the copyrighted materials anymore, although
“with certain deliberate violation you could be subject to criminal penalties
carrying massive fines and long prison terms” (Irby, 2010). Many people make
small infringements of copyrighted materials without getting caught, however it
is still ethically wrong. The golden rule says “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you”; if you spent your time and energy creating something,
whatever it may be, you would not want someone to just take it and use it as
they please.
There
are ways to avoid copyright abuse; the best way is to create it yourself. “The
only way you can stake claim to an image is if you create it yourself and it is
truly an original” (Irby, 2010). By creating your own image, document, article,
etc., you are then the copyright holder and have the rights to use your
creation in any way you please.
There are also
variations of copyright laws; some creators use a Creative Commons license on
their work. Yet, even with a creative commons license that does not mean that
anyone can use the work any way they want to, you would need to read carefully
through the terms of the end-user agreement. With Creative Commons licenses
anyone is free to use the material, yet it is required that the user
“attributes the work in a manner specified by the author or licensor” (Bailey,
2010). It is also required that the user provide a copy of or a link to the
license agreement, and the user would need to gain permission first if they had
any plan of changing or making a derivative or the original work (Bailey,
2010).
Infringing on
copyright laws is not a victimless crime, and it is not a crime that will go
unnoticed. Through the discussion of the advantages and challenges of the
trillions of images available to us, the legal and ethical issues associated
with copyright laws, and some ways of avoiding these issues, it is obvious that
copyright infringement should be avoided. It needs to be in the front of our
minds when we think about using something that we did not create, no matter
what it is. It is not hard to contact the owner of the work and ask for
permission, so why aren’t we?
References
Bailey,
J. (2010, January 12). How to Correctly
Use Creative Commons Works. Retrieved from http://www.plagarismtoday.com/2010/01/12/how-to-correctly-use-creative-commons-works/.
Copyrightclear.
(2010, September 24). Copyright Basics [Video
File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiq42O6rhW4&feature=youtu.be.
Google.
(n.d.). Contact a Site’s Webmaster.
Retrieved from http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9109&rd=1
Google.
(n.d.). Image Use Permission.
Retrieved from http://support.google.com/images/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9299.
Irby,
L. (2010, August 16). Are You Using
Images on Your Website Illegally. Retrieved from http://blog.2createawebsite.com/2010/08/16/are-you-using-images-on-your-website-illegally/.
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