Copyright
Respecting the internet's copyright rules
The internet is like having a huge library of words, pictures, music and video at your fingertips. Obviously this can be very useful for all kinds of research, especially for school work. You can view what's on a website, but if you download it and use it, you might be stealing it.
It doesn't seem like theft to download a song without paying, but it is. There's a technology called Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing, which allows computer users to look at each others' files and download them. Traditionally, P2P was used to swap illegally download music, but now many P2P file sharers use broadband to download pirate copies of Hollywood films or illegal copies of software.
Copyright exists for any original creation. For a child to drop a big slab of text copied form the net into their homework isn't just cheating, it is breaking copyright. Even using small quotations or references, you should credit the person who originally created the words, pictures or sounds you use. If you use someone elses internet content to make money or deny them money by selling something that is not yours, it's theft.
What you can do...
- copyright protects all of a website's content -this includes copy (words), photos, movies, sound and music and all programs
- advise your children to check the website for a copyright statement
- the copyright of a website's content may remain with the person who originally created or designed it - their permission is needed before use
- tell your children to keep a record of the title of the work they've referenced, the author, the website name and the URL of the relevant page and include this with their own work - we call this a webography
- your children should know that it is illegal to download, burn to CD and sell or distribute copyrighted music, movies or images
- P2P programs have become increasingly popular for sharing audio, image and movie files - this is also against copyright and the entertainment industry has been quick to crack down on companies like Napster who offer file-sharing programs
- if you get a spam email offering you software which is too cheap to be true, it is probably pirated
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