The Hall of Shame

http://www.revista.espiritolivre.org/category/artigos

It can be tricky to navigate the web without infringing on the rights of others in regards to their property, especially since it is so easy to copy and paste or share content. I was intrigued by our lecture this week during the section dealing with copyright. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) Takedown Hall of Shame caught my eye. If you have not visited the site yet, it is a list of cases in which people or organizations have petitioned others who they believe have improperly used their content.

One case in particular deals with the Miss UniverseOrganization, Perez Hilton, and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). In this instance, the NOM was used a video showing Perez Hilton slamming Miss California Carrie Prejean and her comment on same-sex marriage. They also utilize a clip of Miss California Carrie Prejean saying she opposes same-sex marriage. NOM used the clips to make a political statement on the issue.

Both the Miss Universe Organization and Perez Hilton claimed that NOM had infringed on their copyrights, yet it was clear that both video clips were being used within fair parameters. In the end, it was decided that NOM could keep their work and that they had not misused the content.

Although this is an example of where fair use was utilized, there are many instances in which content is misused by those that do not have rights to it. The lesson that can be learned here is to ensure you are always within the law when using someone else’s content. It can be too easy these days to infringe upon someone else’s copyrights.