Sunday, September 28, 2008

Flikr v Copyright

Flikr (www.flikr.com) allows user to share photos with others on the Web. Other similar sites exist, such as Photobucket, Shutterfly, etc. Users of these sites may not realize that the pictures they post may be subject to copyright. A photo that contains another copyrighted image within the photo could be copyright infringement.

For example, if I took a photograph of a friend standing in front of a piece of artwork, the artwork is likely under copyright. If I post my photo to a photo-sharing Website the copyright of the artwork could become an issue if the photo is shared within a large network.

Just another thing to consider when using Web 2.0....

Saturday, September 27, 2008

YouTube and Copyright

YouTube (www.youtube.com) is a Web site allowing you to "Broadcast Yourself". Anyone can make a movie and then post it for the world to see - for free. Millions of movies are posted, on topics as wide as you can imagine. What some users may not realize is that their homemade movie could be infringing on the copyright of someone else.

Before posting, users should ask themselves "Do I have permission to post this content?" A movie may seem harmless enough, but could still have copyright implications. For example, a high school student posting a video of himself playing a popular song on his guitar. Permission is needed to use the music. Music in the background of a video is also a concern. Permission must be granted to use copyrighted work. An exception to this falls under the guidelines of fair use. The fair use guideline for music clips is "if a student is using the music clip in a multimedia project directly related to current curriculum, 10% of the song or 30 seconds from a single work is allowable use."

Complicated, isn't it?

Source: Miller, K. M. (2008). Copyright in a social world. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, (15)3, 14-16.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

An intro to the virtual world

In today's world, many people communicate through "social networking". As I type this, my MySpace page is open in another window, allowing me to communicate with friends and family.

MySpace and other social networking sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Flikr (among many others) are part of a side of the Internet known as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 refers to the social side of the Internet, where users can add content, view content of others, and communicate with people all over the world.

This new Web "neighborhood" opens up a whole new realm of copyright implications, including protecting original content users may post to such a site, or unknowingly infringing on the copyright of others by posting content covered under copyright laws.

This type of copyright law is a gray area. This blog is meant to explore how copyright and these social networking sites can co-exist.