After looking around earlier today there appears to be a very large quantity of copyrighted news articles being made on PTO. I point no fingers because I have been guilty of this too. It is easy to forget that just because an article, story or piece of content is made available on the web it does not mean that it can be legally reproduced any place else beyond where the copyright holder specifies. I also know it is frustrating when we make a summary about an article and provide a link only to have that link go bad sometime in the future, or having a “subscribe now to view this article” presented (for money) before you can view it.

I want to bring PTO back into full legal compliance with all applicable copyright laws and I need your help to do it.

How do you post an article so that it is legal and does not violate PTO’s Policies?

To stay within “fair use” copyright you are allowed a brief summary and a link back to the site which the article is located. Here is an example:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Official: E. Coli bacteria detected in floodwater

Post Content:
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Floodwater in New Orleans is contaminated with E. coli bacteria, a city official told CNN Tuesday.
The official in Mayor Ray Nagin's office declined to be identified.
The failures of the levee system after Hurricane Katrina's onslaught left about 80 percent of the city flooded with water up to 20 feet deep -- water that became a toxic mix of chemicals, garbage, corpses and human waste.

Link to full story:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/06/katrina.impact/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/06/katrina.impact/index.html)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the maximum amount of text you are allowed under “fair use” laws in the United States. You are also not allowed to edit the summary or paragraph that you are using that came from the copyright holder.

I understand for some time there has been confusion about what “fair use” actually is. It has been mistakenly identified as the right to reprint the full body of content as long as there is a link back to the main article. That is false. You can only post a summary or first paragraph (limited) to the article and a link.

I think it is also appropriate that when anyone posts a news article in the forums that they make their own summary and describe the events of the article. You are welcome to write as much as you like about the news article that you have read as long as you are not quoting verbatim. Think of it as a school paper in a way.

PTO is NOT a repository for everything that we can find on the Internet and want to add to the site. I know that we would not like other sites or media outlets copying up our content to use on their sites.

The moderators have been instructed from this point forward to delete any copyrighted news article that do not fit the "fair use" criteria and contact the members who post them. Again, I am not pointing any fingers (I’m no hypocrite, I’m guilty of it), however I feel that it has become so prevalent that if someone from a major media outlet shows up they are not going to be happy seeing the amount of content we have here. They have the obligation to inform us of this and ask us to remove it prior to any litigation, HOWEVER we don't need to spend hours and hours of our time in that pursuit when we can prevent it now, and because it is the right thing to do.

Thank you,
David

Thanks for the reminder David...I am guilty of this as well...thanks for giving us the correct way to post a article...because I had no idea what the Copyright Laws are, so thanks for clarifying that.

Thanks for clearing up the confusion- I also had no idea what the copyright laws were.

alrightie then...thanks

Thank you for the head's up. I was guilty of this also.

Thanks. I will remember.

ooooops...I will cease and desist

I don't use newsarticles in threads, but thank you for the reminder.

I'm also guilty as charged, but no more. I'll be good.

I don't use news articles but thank you for the information...mary

One question about this...how does this pertain to press releases as it r/t "fair use"? It seems to me if a press release is made public [via the internet] or is sent out to a list serve, it is then public domain. But I am looking for some expert assistance in this area before I err the wrong way again!? [I did this a few weeks ago and was told it was not ok even though I clearly stated it was a press release].
Thanks

I would also like to know about press releases.
An example would be: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/releases/05-11-04_e.shtml
If a press release is released onto the internet then isnt that fair game, especially if its released by the an government agency. Doesnt that make it for public use ?

Just about every website has copyright information somewhere within their site....

Witchlin... in the link you provided - here's a link to their copyright statement:

http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/copyright_e.shtml

I would think the best thing to do would be check out the sites copyright info and ifs OK to reprint their stuff intact, be sure to add that to your post, including the link..

For instance, If I were reprinting something from the above website, I'd print it then at the end leave a link to their permission:

Reprinted with permission (http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/copyright_e.shtml)

Thank you MrsD

:blush: Thanks.

thanks for the info

Thank you for the info. I am new to Prison Talk and wish I'd found out about it a few years ago when this all began...

LJ
:thumbsup:

Hi welcome to this site . there are a lot of interesting talk on this site.

Thank you for the information thats helpfull

Fair Usage specifically deals with 'WHERE PERMISSION IS NOT NECESSARY'.



I have seen NO law anywhere stating the amount that can be copied WITHOUT PERMISSION nor EVER heard of a law requiring anybody to LINK.



Court cases go on all the time between parties that have the money to fight them. (like Microsoft vs. Wal-Mart,etc.etc.)


Important is financial loss to the party something is 'copied' from. If no financial loss? Put your local newspaper on the web and they loose their subscriptions?

Places like web site hosting services and maybe even this messageboard are often paranoid because they don't want to be sued. There is a disease of places threatening suits which have no merit. Pay to fight them?


Is your local courthouse docket filled with minor copyright cases? I doubt it.



Also #1 to prove ownership you have to have your 'works' registered with the government which costs money.


Anybody can snoop FAIR USAGE. There are many places that never want to admit any such thing exists but Congress wrote it and it still exists. Actually the music industry pushed for the last copyright act and then even the major concern was THEM loosing money---not simple private web sites....

Sorry if I done anything wrong, I guess I still don't know how to do this. This is all new to me. I have never used a posting board before. So I'm sorry if done anything wrong.

Lvnicky

so we cant copy and paste?

so we cant copy and paste?

It's important to give folks credit for their work. If nothing else, it's just good manners and respect.

For news articles and information gathered by another source, it's better to link it so that everyone is properly credited and covered.

Jenn

same question again...we Can't copy and paste? still confused

Yes you can copy and paste - however you cannot paste the entire article. Only a short synopsis

Did you know that much of what is said in this forum comes up in Google searches ? The full post / posts.......

Yes that is correct - this is what brings in many new members to PTO. However you should remember that no matter what you post, ANYWHERE on the internet, it can be found by googling or using a similar search engine, so be careful what personal information you release.

Thanks Jonathan...I guess I found that out the hard way. I'll have to be more careful what I say. LOL

Lvnicky, don't feel bad I'm not sure that I even know if I am doing this right. You havent done anything wrong and it is confusing all of these threads and posts.....Rusty's wife Esty

Thank You for the info. I will remember it for the future. :)

Jonathan..Wow , everything comes up in google! It is amazing what types of people read it. NOW my comments come up in google and I have been approached to write about the experience. Well , I am a writer so I should not be surprised. HMMMMMMMM !!

Thanks for the heads up, which allows me to ask this;

I had several of my posts removed because of something like this. However, my editing and posting of the posts were based directly off my own blogs.

I made a few posts here a day or so ago, and was told that I was violating PTO policy. I can understand that if I was taking something off a site that was not mine, but somehow I do not think copyright infringements are applied to the author, which I was (or am).

Example, if I wrote a blog 3 months ago and wanted to share parts of that on this site, and went back, copied and pasted it here, then edited some parts out (mind you this is my own blog), that should not be considered copyright infringement.

I had several posts removed because of this and wondered if this was some mistake. There was nothing offensive or anything like that, and I was careful to be respectful of this site. I think the person who removed it didn't think it was mine.

No law if it is a part of your own work then it is not in any way copyright infringement but if the work that you are posting is bashing another, whether its the doc, or person then that is what causes a thread to be removed .

Here is the policy :• Police/Guard/Correction Officer Bashing:
While we encourage full disclosure, investigation and the sharing of relevant information relating to abuses by Institutional staff (management, guards, jailers, CO’s,etc), blatant and unprovoked bashing of these people is not allowed. Please refrain from derogatory name calling as well. Further, it is a violation of PTO membership to go to any forum or site (ETC) where Correctional Officers are known to congregate and incite problems that may follow you back to the PTO website. If it is found that any member of PTO has gone to another website and created a problem, that then follows them back to our community, that member will be banned immediately.

I hope that this helps you if you have any more questions please feel free to ask or pm and i will be glad to help you

I think it would be considerate to pm the member and not only let them know that a post was moved or removed but let them know why and point out the rule they were not abiding by

just as simple for the mod taking action and a lot more insightful for the member I would think to copy and paste the error and let the member know what part was wrong

When a post is moved or removed the member gets an automated message from the staff member. If its a reoccuring policy issue or a serious one, we normally do follow it up with a detailed explanation.

However, please understand that PTO staff are volunteers and some of us move literally dozens of posts a day. If we had to send a PM for every post that was moved we wouldn't get much else done! ;) Thats why its very important for all members to read and know the posting guidelines/rules that we all agree to when we become members!

Hmmm.......can google be challenged for copy infringement???

Not to my knowledge - only the sites it is linking to

Hmmm.......can google be challenged for copy infringement???

Depends on how much money you have and want to waste challenging them. :eek:

David thank you for giving us the correct way to post an article.:)

oops, I couldn't post links so I just posted the whole articles, my bad

No worries, we'll get it fixed and thank you for giving us a heads up about the mistake:)

spacecase, I was doing the same thing and thought for sure I would be crucified upside down before long but so far the mods have been great and I now am aware of what I was doing because at first, I thought they were the crazy ones LOL