Back to Lesson 6 Main Page Lesson 6, Task 2

Web Ethics - Copyrights and Fair Use

Read 'copyright: an overview' published by the Cornell University Legal Information Institute.

Read Brad Templeton's essay '10 Big Myths about copyright explained'.

Benedict O' Mahoney is an attorney who operates 'The Copyright Website'.  This is a commercial site where copyright services are sold, but it also contains interesting information on current copyright issues related to the Internet and other electronic media.  Case studies range from Barney the Dinosaur to Arnold Schwarznegger.  Copyright issues are often complex, and legal battles usually occur in the grey areas of the law.  Review this web site in general to help you understand the real world of copyright conflict.

All copyrightable works in the US now have an implied copyright, so a copyright notice is not legally necessary to protect a web site or other work.  But to assure readers that a work is copyright, most professional organizations prefer to claim a copyright on their works.   Read here HOW to write a copyright notice.  When you work for others, either paid or volunteer, they get the copyright unless you have a prior agreement otherwise.  See the copyright at the bottom of this page as an example.

Web Ethics - Common Courtesies

There are many web-related practices that, even if legal, are bad practice.  You've probably encountered too many websites that are deceptive.  Perhaps you've followed a link based on the implied meaning on the link, only to find you've been misled and barraged by an onslaught of popups.  Websiteethics.org offers this brief code of ethics for web developers.  This code is intended for professional web designers, but it applies in general to all.

A final reading.  This link leads to an excellent essay by Roger Darlington - Internet Ethics: Oxymoron or Orthodoxy?   The essay is long.  The part that is important to this lesson begins with the subsection Is There a Place for Ethics?  Darlington talks about the importance of culture in determining ethics, and give a case study about Yahoo banning the sale of Nazi paraphernalia.