Clear black and white… or are there grey areas?

When it comes to the legalities and legal constraints of the web, the fine line between suitable conduct and a copyright infringement appears blurred. Although being technically illegal, the reproduction of copyright information is present throughout the entirety of the internet. So why is this you ask? And is that okay? After the symposium this week I cannot provide answers to these questions. Pretend two of my tutors stand on opposite sides of the room for this analogy. In one ear I hear “any material that is protected by copyright is strictly forbidden from re-distribution or re-creation by any party other than the creator in the absence of permission FULL STOP!” and in the other ear I hear “there are many grey areas between the lines of copyright law and you need to learn how to work the grey areas to your advantage and not get caught”.

Okay so I’m getting mixed messages here, what do I do? This leads me to believe that the un-crossable lines of copyright law are not at all strictly defined, given the variety of opinions among media professionals regarding the matter. For this reason I conclude that each use of copyright material can only be deemed legal or illegal in a case by case situation. Therefore, given such leeway in combination with the common practice of creators sending ‘cease and desist’ letters to copyright criminals before taking legal action, this makes it very hard to scare me from posting others’ material without permission. However, luckily for the morality of the internet, as a creator I find it implausible to copy the work of others without permission given my work is available for others to do the same.

Although I did appreciate the comment one of the tutors made and I quote “it’s just like j walking, you just have to learn how to do it without getting caught and you’ll do it every day” – Jason Tseng

And I do j walk… so where’s the hope for poor little copyright law

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