Copy Rights and such

I posted a poem yesterday that I could not find the original.  If I could, I would check to see it it was all right to post.  Here is a few things I have learned as a 14 year stint as a Computer tech in education both university and elementary school.

1.  Computer programs are designed to follow link backs and some people really do object to you quoting them.  Good idea to ask permission, plus you end up emailing some really interesting people.

2.  Just a link to the source, may be considered bad for your numbers on your page because people leave your page to go somewhere else.  If this is important to you, don't put links.  However, if your purpose is to help others, sending them to the source I believe is a service.

3.  If you monetize your web page, by using ads or other means to make money you have actually changed your status from a person to a money making web page.  It doesn't matter if all you make is 50 cents, or a few pence or any other small amount of money.  Money comes into the equation and people can get really squirrelly on you.

4.  Putting quote marks around a passage and siting the source doesn't always put you in the clear.  The internet is not a research paper.  Being an educator or a school doesn't put you in the clear either.

5.  I use quotes all the time.  Listed with person saying it and where I found it, so far no objections.  If I do get a notice I know it will sound really nasty and abrupt like I am the worse scum on the earth.  Filled with legalese and horrible sounding threats.  People writing these forget that a soft request works with 99% of those that accidentally infringe on the rights of others.  They are gunning for pirates and forget that the canon is not always helpful when a simple, "please don't do this" would do.

6.  Not all countries honor copy right laws.  Some countries think those that have copy rights are down right silly.  If you have ever put blood, sweat, and tears into a piece of work and then had someone steal it, copy right laws make perfect sense. 

Added by Laurel: I also discovered that there are "individuals" who are complaining about copyright to have no authority to do so. I was reading up on one where the blogger posted the person who was supposedly complaining, and that person wasn't. In fact, they were thrilled that links were posted on the blog. A third party, who had nothing to do with the "offended" party, was filing complaints on bloggers. As near as can be figured from what I saw of the posts, there are people out there who file false claims about copyright material, because they can. Sick. Sick. Sick. Then again, it might be a rival artist. Scary stuff out there.

There are entire books on all the legal ins and outs of copy right laws.  I boil it all down to respect.  Respect others, their ideas, their creations, their life.  If you accidentally offended them, apologize and I recommend deleting the post.  Or be adventurous and contact the person you quoted and get permission.  Amazing people are out there.

Note to my readers.  I try to make my pictures large enough to be used as a wallpaper on your computer desktop but not so large that you could print them.  If you down load them, please do so for your own personal use and not for sale.  If you want to use what I have written on your web page just post a comment and ask that it not be posted but for my eyes only.  Yup, I am the only one that moderates all comments.  I would like to check out your web page and see if my thoughts feel comfortable over at your web page.  Am I being controlling?  Perhaps a little.  Mostly I am interested in getting to know the people that want to share my ideas.