A Note About Copyright

One of the indispensable tools at bloggers' disposal is fair use of copyrighted material. If we couldn't blockquote, we'd be boned. As we use other people's stuff, we ought to respect the work and creativity that went in to producing it. There's a simple way to do that:

1. Provide a link back to the page where you got the text or image; and
2. say whose work it is.

These are moral guidelines, not legal, that most of us here get right most of the time. I haven't always followed them, but I always should have. Try to keep in mind how you would want others to use your work.

For what it's worth, this reminder was spurred by an email from a reporter who saw a photo on BlueNC that he knew to belong to a photographer from his newspaper. It's a timely reminder that people will notice when you fail to respect others' intellectual property. Give a link back, and always give attribution. If you have any questions about how to use HTML to do this, you can drop me a line and I'll try to help.