There are a lot of problems with copyright issues online. Some think that they can post and share just about anything they want with no regards to the person who might own that clip, photo, or piece of writing. The rules apply online the same as in real life. If you don’t have permission you should never add something to the many file share sites that are out there today. Most use these sites to share personal things with family, or with the rest of the world if they wish, but others are abusing the anonymous nature of the Internet and hurt other people.
There are some file share sites that handle large files that email can not. This is great for the business traveler that needs to send or receive large files while they are away from the office. This is also a great tool for those who work from home. They may have to spend less time going into the office to deliver their work when they can send it in through the many file share sites that are out there. Those that are meant for business are usually very secure, and work very well for their intended purpose.
Other file share sites are not used as they were intended. Anyone who takes a television show, concert clip, or even a piece of writing that is not theirs and posts it to share on one of these sites in probably in breach of copyright. If you are ever in doubt as to if you should share or not, you should ask the person who owns the copyright if that is okay. If you have no way of reaching them, you shouldn’t just assume you can do it anyway. You should just forget it and find something you can share.
Many don’t see the harm in posting things they don’t own on file share sites, but in reality they are not doing anyone any favors. It is up to the person who owns it to decide what they want to do with it. They may have plans to sell whatever it is in the future, and by posting it for free on file share sites, you are depriving them of the right to profit from that work in the future, and you are also taking away their own choice about what they want to do with what they own. It might seem harmless, but you would think differently the moment it happened to you.
|
