Possible solution to the "cut and paste" vs copyright law problem

JeffT

This thought was sparked by a thread about possible copyright violations. People here want to provide backup for an argument they are making, or demand proof of some sort from people they debating. The result seems to be endless wars of cutting and pasting sometimes huge chunks of materials from some place else. This may be a violation of copyright law.

My proposed solution: simply link the source or your information. This provides an outside source for your facts and since it a citation, not actually copied material, it does not constitute a violation of copyright law.

Example: "Fair Use" allows you to copy portions of a copyrighted work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Oubliette

Yes, CITE YOUR SOURCES!!!

HOW DO I CITE SOURCES?

okage

My wife was frustrated with one of her cousins, who is openly anti-gay on facebook. She wanted me to write a status post explaining once and for all why most people who use the Bible to explain their disdain for the gay community are hypocrites. I told her it is too much to write in a status update unless she wants to add a link.

She yelled at me "you are giving them the opportunity to not read your message!"

It does avoid copyright issues. It does allow you to direct people to your source of information. But many times, my wife's words are right. When you link to another site, you take a huge risk that no one will bother to click it.

Simon

It doesn't really affect copyright violations as afar as I'm aware but I think it's good practice and good etiquette to give and attribution link if you are quoting someone else and it provides a way for people who do want to research more to follow up on the background info.

Band on the Run

I sometimes have problems with links here. Altho I am so loathe to say anything definitively, the changes of copyright violations are 99.99%. Furthermore, it is rude to expect everyone who reads your post to read many pages of content. If people are interested, they can read at the other websites. On a more personal level, it disturbs me that people here cannot simply state what they belief. I respect most of the people here. Your views are more important to me than someone I don't or care to know in any way.

You might get more respect simply stating your feeling or belief. Altho we were Witnesses, we are entitled to personal views. All the sources in the world cannot endorse or disprove a personal view. In real life, I tend to do the same thing.

We are not in a graduate program. This forum is not the Supreme Court. Just say what you want.

There are larger life lessons in this problem. Lawyers and others call it data dumping. The overload of massive material not necessary detracts from your point. Nike said to just do it. Just say it.

JakeM2012

just say it, that is good! Interestingly, it seems that many people are not aware of the academic format used for citations. APA, MLA, and others are what most Universities go by today for their students to cite information. An example of the format is http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (I don't expect you to click this)

..... but part of their format is to tell what page you got something off of if it is a quote. I think that in open discussions like this if a corporation is ticked off because of copy and pasting for less than 50 words, it is because either they don't want their researched intelligence stolen, or (in the case of WT) they have something to hide. That is where I believe that WT has screwed the pooch in chasing anyone that quotes them, obviously, they want to control the damage, by not letting people read the information quoted, in other words, they have something to hide.

Remembering to provide citations is a good practice that we should be aware of. Sometimes, I just want to read more of the cited information and the citation assists me in doing that.

WT has never cited anything so you really have to dig to get the context information. Thanks to the internet search engines, they are now exposed.

But why is it that WT is so beligerent on policing someone quoting them, when they provide no citation for their cut up, taken out of context, article word skewing and mining? Oh, they are exposed again. All I have to say, when WTBTS starts showing citations for their "research" then they have a right to whine about the copywrite laws. Otherwise, shut it!