RE: Image legality: you've got to be kidding !!??

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau-at-hp-dot-com> 

I have also seen images from my web site taken and incorporated into
other's web sites with no credit given as to its source, and this is at
best poor "netiquette".  I'm not sure I would get my knickers in a twist
about it, but when it is as blatant as doctoring the image to conceal
its actual source, I think it does warrant at least a public
nose-rubbing.

If one wishes to further the public awareness of Tesla or science,
there's no reason not to ask the true source of an image for their
permission.  I'm sure the Geek group would be happy to share their
images if proper credit is given and no changes are made.  Regardless of
concept correctness or originality, some Geek spent a non-trivial bit of
time creating that image, and to implicitly pretend that it is your own
is not right.  But in this age of rampant file "sharing", it hardly
surprises me.

If you put up a Tesla related web site, odds are that everyone with a
similar interest is going to see it.  If you want to include an image or
element from another's site in yours, you should ask, and I would be
surprised if the author wouldn't be proud to share it, provided credit
to the author is given.  Even if you don't ask in advance, (i.e. you
don't speak their language or don't know how to contact them, or just
too lazy), just adding "image by thegeekgroup-dot-org" would probably have
resolved the issue.   If you don't, be prepared for the wrath of coiling
peers.

Gary Lau
MA, USA


Original poster: Mark Broker <mbroker-at-thegeekgroup-dot-org>

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 20:20:51 -0700, Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:

 >Original poster: "Scott Hanson" <huil888-at-surfside-dot-net> Chris -
 >
 >You absolutely HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!??
 >
 >Such righteous indignation about "intellectual and professional
ethics"??
 >"Plagiarism"?  Please give us a break!
 >
 >(People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones ....)

<sigh>

The issue is that the picture, an original creation of The Geek Group
for
use on our website, was deliberately edited to remove the logo and
therefore presented as his own.  (There is clearly a copyright on the
bottom of thegeekgroup-dot-org page.)  If Kreso used the intact original,
there
would be no issue.

I am still deeply saddened that people's negative opinions of The Geek
Group are still based soley on years-old 3rd and 4th-hand
anecdotes....  We, as a corporation and as individuals operating the
corporation, have grown up significantly - it's too bad that not
everyone
else has, too.

Sincerely,

Mark Broker
Chief Engineer, The Geek Group