Avoid Download Theft and Plagiarism
You know that copying material to claim it as your original work is pla-
giarism, which is illegal. The problem is that the Internet makes it easy
to plagiarize; you don’t even have to retype the information; just copy
and paste it. A great deal of information online is available for anyone
to download and use — although you still can’t claim it as your own
work. However, a great deal of content is proprietary — you can read it
and recommend it to others, but you may not make a copy without
obtaining permission from the content owner. Many people who
would never dream of breaking the law inadvertently do so by copying
or downloading material that has copyright protection in place. Here
are some tips to help you understand online copyrights:➟ Read the site terms of use to see whether content on a
Web site is copyrighted. Web site owners may have
established rights to the materials or services they
offer for download.➟ File-sharing programs that allow users to illegally
download music and videos are commonly used, in
spite of some much-publicized arrests. Many people
don’t seem to realize that downloading a copyrighted
video or song that you haven’t paid for is the same as
stealing from the video or music store in your town.
Always check to see if permissions or restrictions
apply to any content you intend to download.➟ Assess the type of site you’re viewing. Is it an educa-
tional site, government site, commercial site, or a per-
sonal site? Government information is free to use, but
commercial or personal content isn’t.Taking someone else’s content, whether it’s text, pho-
tos, or art, is a common problem with content posted
on social networking sites. While it may not be illegal
to do so, it’s certainly unethical to take someone else’s
material without obtaining their express permission to
do so.
85Chapter 4: Navigating the Internet Safely