COPYCENSE

"A handful of myths have spawned practices, particularly among bloggers and Website owners, that turn copyright law on its head. These myths are rooted in the assumption that everything is up for use online unless and until proven otherwise. Those myths and that ease have fostered a presumption of entitlement that causes Netizens to treat the Internet (and non-electronic sources as well) as a buffet spread of photos, articles, sounds and multi-media files free for the plucking and posting.

"Despite all the media attention to recent lawsuits cracking down on unauthorized music downloads, these myths are still in surprisingly widespread circulation. In the past six months, otherwise educated people have asserted eight different fallacies to me as if they were law. Every one of them has the potential to lead the ill-informed into the land of copyright infringement, where even a short stay can carry a whopping price tag.

"Note: The discussion below will use the term ‘permission’ to include both explicit permission from the copyright holder and any legally imputed permission, whether due to the work being in the public domain or through fair use, the exercise of the special reproduction right granted to libraries and archives under 17 U.S.C. Section 108, or the limited instructional exemption granted by 17 U.S.C. Section 110.  Also, this discussion addresses only works created in the United States or otherwise subject to U.S. copyright law."

Kathy Biehl. Bloggers Beware: Debunking Eight Copyright Myths of the Online World. LLRX.com. Dec. 16, 2004.

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