Copying Pictures

by Dave Mulkey, 12 Aug 2007

Is it Legal?

Before we spend too much time learning how to copy videos, pictures, text and other things from the Internet, we need to be certain this is all legal. Unfortunately, the current state of copyright laws and their relevance to the Internet and computers is unclear.  You could "read all about it" at the following web-site if you wish:
   http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Reference/Library/whatsnew_bis.htm
- but that may be more information than you want.

The following guidelines should help you stay out of trouble.

Public Domain

Some works are in the public domain (not copyrighted) - this includes free software and open source software, but it does not include all the videos and graphics images you can find in Google.  You should never assume that anything is public domain, unless you have clear and believable evidence.  But if it actually is public domain stuff, you are free to make as many copies as you wish, for any purpose.  Copyrights generally run out after 70 years, so old books from the 1800's are in the Public Domain.  As a result, the web-site  www.gutenberg.org  has made thousands of old books available for free.  You can download all of Shakesperare's plays for free, as well as many other "classics".  Some other things are automatically in the Public Domain, like government publications.  

Many people believe that the entire Internet and all its content are in the Public Domain, but this is NOT TRUE.  

Using Copyrighted Works

All pictures, videos, text, and other creative works are automatically copyrighted (according to the Berne Convention), and the copyright is automatically owned by the author.  This is true whether you see a copyright notice or not.  Fortunately, the concept of Fair-Use allows limited copies to be made for personal use and educational (and other non-profit) purposes.  The number and size of fair-use copies is limited (in a rather unclear way).  So don't assume that making copies in a school is necessarily okay.  The following guidelines are helpful and represent "good practice" (but they are not legally binding.)

1. Every time you copy something from the Internet (or anywhere else), keep a written record of the source - this is useful for a lot of reasons, not just copyright issues.  Be sure to also copy the URL (address).
2. If you are copying only for your own personal use, don't give copies to other people.  Only make a couple copies as needed for your own use.
3. Whenever you paste copied material into your own work (that you will redistribute), add a citation acknowledging the source (as recorded in #1 above).  This will also protect you against charges of plagiarism (an education offense, not a legal problem).
4. If you intend to publish your own work based on or containing other people's copyrighted work, get their permission.  This might only involve writing an e-mail, but it might also require you to pay something for using their work.
5. If anyone denies permission for re-using their work, especially if they tell you to "cease and desist", erase all your copies and remove any copies from your (published) work.
6. If you use other peoples' work as part of published or commercial work (something that earns money), check with a lawyer before publishing your work.  This includes making a web-site, especially if you sell ads on your site.
7. If your work (document) will only be used in school, for educational purposes (e.g. learning how to do something), you don't need to get permission from authors - unless they have clearly and specifically forbidden the use of their materials.  Then just don't use that material.  But even for school assignments, you do need to write citations telling where the original material came from

ASSIGNMENT

Your assignment is to create one single page containing various pictures about one topic (plus a second page with a list of links to the sources).  You should use a word-processor to create this page.  You may choose your favorite word-processor - MS-Word, Google Docs, Pages - but it must produce a PDF document at the end.  Here is a sample document - make yours similar to this one, preferably more interesting and more attractive.

The page must include
- your name and the date at the top right of the page
- a large, clear title (centered) telling what your TOPIC is.
- you may NOT use CLOWNS as your topic, but you could use something like
    your favorite sport, your favorite music group, a hobby, etc.
- various pictures must be arranged in a neat, attractive layout, fitting on one page.
- your page must contain at least 8 pictures
- all the pictures must belong to the same TOPIC
- use a variety of picture sizes and shapes - not all identical sizes
- make sure the pictures are arranged in an attractive fashion,
  leaving no large empty spaces
- a second page contains citations specifying where each picture came from
   It is sufficient for each citation to contain a web address (URL)
- at the end you must export your document as a PDF file

Once you have created your PDF document, you should turn it in by posting it in Haiku.
The teacher will show how to do this.

• find pictures in Google Images
• copy an image from Google into a document
• drag pictures in a document
• resize pictures in a document
• make links to picture address
• check that links work after exporting to PDF