I'm sure people will like this new guide to copyright, and that's why I'm passing it along. At the same time, though, I think that it and similar resources have the wrong focus. They're all about convincing people to avoid violating copyright. Sure, that's fine, but the "5 main rules" are overly publisher-centered. If I really wanted you to learn about copyright, I would begin with how copyright protects you. So my 5 main rules would be something like:
- Everything you create and post online is automatically protected by copyright. This means other people can't use it without your permission.
- You can share something you create by licensing it. For example, a Creative Commons license tells people they can use what you created for free.
- You can share what you create with conditions. For example, you can tell people they cannot charge money for what you created, or you can tell people they cannot alter or change what you created.
- If you share your content on a website, that means you are giving people permission to view what you created, but not to take it for their own use.
- If you share content on a platform like Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, that means you are using their license to share your work, which gives them permission to use it however they wish, and to share it with whomever they want.
These are to my mind probably the most important things to remember about copyright. Remember, it's not about publisher rights - it's about your rights. If we can start there, we create a genuine reason to respect copyright, rather than an abstract 'here are the rules' reason.
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