I just gave the students in my Public Affairs Reporting for New Media class their first quiz. Overall, not bad. But I have to report this piece of breaking news:
Only 1 out of 16 students said that it was UNethical to “download a photo from the Web server of a blogger, upload it to your server, using it on your site along with credit to the original creator.”
I’m dying to talk with them about this on Thursday to hear more about their rationale. Maybe it says something about how they see bloggers. Maybe it says something about the way they see ownership of content.
What do you think?
You might want to bring up Creative Commons in the discussion. I use it all the time to search for free images I can use. Firefox even has an extension that lets you search CC from your browser tool bar.
Absolutely. I’m going to need to emphasize Creative Commons. In the past, eyes have widened as I talk about commercial v. non-commercial and the role of attribution. It’s helpful to see these issues as moving along several axes.
Great discussion… and it’s something some bloggers especially don’t think about. What is the FireFox extension called?
Ryan, can you post some more information about this, such as what your answer would be to a blogger who has been doing this for a news organization’s blog?
I think ignorance of copyright obligations contributes to what people view as ethical. That and an everyone is doing it perception leads to a feeling that seeking permission is ritualistic in my view. I suppose this sounds like excuse making but there is a preception that photos are a necessity and an ignorace of how to legally secure photos without parting with cash.