Copyright Entry

On Tuesday during class Diane Graves, the University Librarian came and spoke to us about Copyright. I learned a lot of interesting things such as the information about "Public Domain" and "Orphan Works." Public domain works are materials that can be used with out requesting copyright permission, also just because an author is dead or the work is out of print does not make it public domain. Orphan works are publications for which no author, publisher, or other copyright holder can be located, and in Canada if a work is researched for 6 months and during that time an owner cannot be located, then the work automatically becomes public domain, that is not the case in the United States however. We also discussed a lot about file sharing, especially in the University setting. I for one have never used an illegal software program to download music, nor have I done any other type of illegal file sharing, mostly because I have no idea how to. I found it very interesting to learn about how much more time associations such as the RIAA, MPAA, and the ESA spend locating college file sharers than people doing illegal file sharing in their own homes. I understand that they do this because it is much easier to catch people on a college wide wireless network than on one in a private home setting, however, I am not sure I feel this is fare. But as long as this is the case, I am glad that I have been educated on the punishments that can result from illegal file sharing and I will make sure to stay away from it.