Pinterest - beware of what you do

[Clercon]

Eh, let's not start THAT discussion please.

But what worries me is how many people still don't get even the basics of copyright law. I can sum it up really quickly for you:

Don't use anything unless:

1) You made it yourself for your own use (not as a work-for-hire contract for someone else)
or
2) You have express, written permission by the creator to use it for that specific purpose.

There. Done. That's really all there is to it. Of course there are many exceptions, but that is the gist of it.

I am not a lawyer, this ain't legal advice.

I see it this way when it come to the problems with copyright. When I grew up people brought magazines, pictures, music (on tapes) or whatever they wanted to show each other, or show off with. It was part of being friends sharing stuff with each other. Today people want to do that online and now they break copyrights when they do it (or at least a lot of companies lawyers claim they do). Part of the problem is that with Internet the sharing culture went global and out of control by those who used to control it (the big companies) and they want the control back whatever the cost.

[bartmoss]

I see it this way when it come to the problems with copyright. When I grew up people brought magazines, pictures, music (on tapes) or whatever they wanted to show each other, or show off with. It was part of being friends sharing stuff with each other. Today people want to do that online and now they break copyrights when they do it (or at least a lot of companies lawyers claim they do). Part of the problem is that with Internet the sharing culture went global and out of control by those who used to control it (the big companies) and they want the control back whatever the cost.

Not really, it's a problem of scale. If your friends Back Then made 10000 copies of a magazine to give to other people for free, it'd be the same problem. You can still show your friends something in private and I am pretty sure it's not a copyright violation. (I am not a lawyer.)

Copyright is important and it is necessary. Only people who never created anything of value can really be fundamentally against copyright. Of course, the current limitations are a bit ... unrealistic, especially the length of copyright protection.