Dear Paul et all:
         Lately I have been faced with understanding the copyright procedures for not
only the web, but for many other forms of material. The procedures have been
drilled in my head since I was a little kid. Now that I am in the so-called
Real World, I know these laws and I am very careful not to break them. I would
have never learned them if it weren't for my public school (and my mother the
librarian) drilling it into my head. In fact my high school published a
booklet that gave the correct way for citations for just about every single
type of copyrighted material. We all got a new copy every year. I still have
mine and I use it a great deal.
        Over the past year, I have become very sensitive about the web and its
copyright infringements and laws. There are many people who either don't know
the rules or don't care. The latter seems to be the worst problem. I sometimes
ask people questions who have personal web pages and have a great deal of
pirated pictures. I ask them if they know that their pictures are illegal. 90%
of the time they respond "Yeah So" When I tell them the penalties that could
be inflicted on them, they get very quiet. They then respond "Well if you
won't tell, I won't tell." or  "If the owner of the pictures doesn't see them
then there is no problem"  I Have also had the experience of the talking to
people who had their pictures pirated. Some get really angry and take action,
Some get angry and leave it alone saying they don't have time to worry about
some kid stealing their pictures, and some just say let it go and Damn the
internet.
        On the subject of shell books, one of my goals is to write a few books that
could be of use to scientists and non scientists alike. The authors who have
already written their books have given a lot to the world. I have frankly
never seen a shell book, I wouldn't want to own, whether its $5 or $5000. In
the sciences of conchology and malacology, books are as, if not more,
important as the shells. I would have a serious problem with someone scanning
in my pictures for use on their personal website or even just sharing with a
friend. Musicians feel the same way about people copying a CD or tape to give
a copy of it to a friend. That common practice is VERY illegal. Some people
seem to feel that pictures on the net are "public property". Most anyone can
access them. Everyone can access books if you go to a special building that is
in almost every town. It's called a library. Because anyone can use a book for
free does that mean that books are public property? Are the pictures public
domain? Remember that someone spent a lot of money trying to get that picture
and how would you feel if you spent thousands of dollars trying to get a
picture only to have it passed off as someone elses work for free. I would not
be very happy if it happened to me. Whenever you receive pictures from
someone, you should ALWAYS ask where they came from and are they copyrighted.
It's something that should be second nature. If you find that the picture is
taken from another source and the person who sent that picture is not the
author, then you should do you best to find the author and ask permission. If
you can't find the author, the don't put the pictures up. Most authors would
be glad to have you put the pictures up. They just want to know about it. Most
only get angry when you use that picture without permission. It never hurts to
ask. You will never know who looks at your page. For all you know the feds are
on you like a hawk and will fine you $10,000 bucks and confiscate all your
computer equipment. Hey it has happened.
 
Wishing it was 2 degrees colder so this rotten sleet would be snow
Sarah Watson
Silver Spring MD