Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
has given you permission. You also may request permission from
the author, in which case the author would send you an explicit,
written statement that you can distribute the material. Without such
explicit permission, you should assume that you are not allowed to
distribute materials. Here are a few additional examples that may
help clarify what can be distributed legally and what is not legal:
Suppose an author posts a piece to a listserv, allowing all
members of the group to receive the work. By using the list
serv, the author has implicitly allowed the listserv to distrib
ute the material to subscribers. However, individuals on the
listserv do not have the legal right to forward this material to
others, unless the piece explicitly states such a policy for dis
tribution.
Suppose you find a cartoon or picture on the Web that you
particularly enjoy. You likely can make a copy for your own
(noncommercial) use, but you do not have the legal right to
email the picture to others or to post it on your Web site.
pages if I do not copy the materials to my account?
The allowable use of materials from the Web continues to
evolve as laws are passed and revised and as courts hear specific
cases. For the most part, it seems likely that you can include links to
other sites without trouble. Although your links highlight the work
of others, you are not incorporating their work into yours and
seeming to claim it for your own.
On the other hand, if you embed the material of others into
your page, perhaps as part of a frame or table, then others might
claim a misappropriation of their work, and legal discussions could
ensue. Although the details might provide interesting new court
cases to further clarify the law, you might prefer not to bear the
brunt of this legal action.
To clarify this point further, some commercial sites state explic
itly that you may make a single copy of their pages for your own
noncommercial use, but you are not allowed to distribute the mate
rial further. Often, such policies indicate that your storage of mater
ial must include all copyright notices, and you are not allowed to
