There is a widespread misconception that the Internet is public domain, and that if it is on the Internet then it is free for all to use. But the fact is quite the opposite, and you should regard everything on the internet as copyrighted, unless specifically stated otherwise.

The Internet is NOT public domain, it is merely a place to publish work so that it is publicly accessible, which is something totally different.

It must be noted that countries do vary slightly in legal matters, and what may be allowed in the UK may not be allowed in the USA, and vice-versa.

The following is only a very brief summary of a quite complicated matter. The simple golden rule is that if you are not absolutely sure about the copyright on a piece of work, then either contact the author for clarification/permission or do not use it.

Copyright

I’m sure that everybody has heard of “copyright”, but not everybody fully understands the actual concept of something being copyrighted.

Copyright is a legal term that gives exclusive rights to an author for their original work. These exclusive rights give the copyright holder the power to choose who is allowed to copy, share, distribute or adapt their work. Permission, when granted, should be given in writing and in the form of a license, laying out the exact terms of agreement in the manner that the work may be used.

Copyright applies to a wide range of works. However, copyright does not cover ideas or the information itself, but merely the manner in which they are expressed. For instance, copyright can protect literary works including articles, stories, poems and plays; images are also included, such as photographs, sculptures, drawings and other artwork, even website design.  Basically, copyright applies to any medium.

One myth is that if there is no copyright notice of sign then it is not protected.  ALL work is protected, whether or not there is a copyright notice. However, it is always a good idea to show a copyright notice, which acts as a reminder to others.

Nor can you take something, change it and then claim it as your own.

Copyright is automatic and you do not have to apply for it. However, if your work is copied without your permission and it goes to court you must be able to prove that you are the author of the original work.

For more information on copyright visit the Intellectual Property Office

Fair Use

Within copyright law there is a small amount of leeway for “fair use”, which has also been known as fair practice, free use and fair dealing. However, this must be used with great caution as there is not clear definition of what constitutes fair use and it is quite a complex matter.

In defining what fair use is, there are four non-exclusive factors can be taken into account:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Typical fair uses of work can include incidental inclusion, usage for the purpose of reporting news, quotation of excerpts in a review or critique, copying part of a work by a teacher or student to illustrate a lesson or within education.

In cases of fair use, credit should be given to the author.

Public Domain

The term “public domain” refers to works where the copyright has expired, been given up or are irrelevant. Generally, copyright stands for 70 years after the death of the author. After that period of time the copyright expires and the works become public domain and available for anybody to use.

However, there are exceptions to this rule as copyrights can be transferred or owned by a corporation rather than one individual. So it must never be automatically believed that copyright has expired. Some authors willingly give up their work and place it in the public domain for free use. Should this be the case then it will be stated on the website or the page concerned.

Works that are in the public domain can be freely copied, distributed and adapted.

Creative Commons

“Creative commons” is a non-profit organisation that came about in 2001.  Creative Commons is accepted as a license by the author to share specific work but with conditions.  There are 6 key licenses in how the work may be shared, and usually indicated by the letters:

• Attribution (CC BY)
• Attribution Share Alike (CC BY-SA)
• Attribution No Derivatives (CC BY-ND)
• Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC)
• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA)
• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND

The difference between Public Domain and Creative Commons (CC) is that with CC the author retains copyright and is merely giving a free, but restricted, license for people to share, copy and distribute specific work.

I always knew that we should never have joined the EU, but I hate to be proven right when a new absolutely stupid and pointless law is brought into effect!

On 26th May 2011 the EU brought in a new Privacy and Communications Directive concerning cookies (of the internet kind!) that affects the majority of websites.

Don’t understand Cookies?   See here: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

Previously, the rules stated that websites must advise their visitors about cookies and how to opt out. Most sites did this by simply putting details about cookies and browsers in their Privacy Policy. It was then taken that the user had “given” permission for you to use cookies by their browser settings.

This new directive says that is inadequate, and you must now get the user’s consent before dropping a cookie. Relying on the fact that they have set their browser to receive them is no longer good enough. There is a VERY narrow exception to this rule in that if the cookie is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user, for example a shopping basket.

Will this affect you?  Analysis statistics (all sites I develop are set up with these), forums, communit centres, interative sections, all these use cookies, so the answer is, YES it will affect you.

However, Ed Vaizey, Communications Minister, stated, “it will take some time for workable technical solutions to be developed, evaluated and rolled out so we have decided that a phased in approach is right” and webmaster in the UK have been given a years grace in order to implement. But, within that time, if somebody visits your site which drops them a cookie and they complain, you must show that you are currently working on a solution and have a realistic plan in place.

At the moment it seems only a couple of sites have put into practice anything on their website concerning this new directive. In fact the only one that I know of that has done anything is the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). At the top of their website they have a notice concerning cookies. Their site is still not in compliance with the new law though, despite showing this notice. Since implementing this their website statistics are, well frankly, a waste of time having, as can be seen here: ICO website traffic impact of cookie opt in | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

This image shows a sudden drop in visitors in the ICO analasis statistics, which is not really true, the visitors are still coming to their site but just not being recorded.

As is often the case with new rules and regulations, nobody REALLY seems to know exactly what is going on and there are plenty of mixed messages about. Ed Vaizey (Culture Minister, Department for Culture, Media and Sport) has written an open letter, which, in my opinion, really confuses the whole matter as to exactly what is required.

You can read more details on this new rule at the following ICO links:

• New PECR rules – what do they mean for me?
• Enforcing the revised Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)
• Changes to the rules on using cookies and similar technologies for storing information
• Plans for ICO website on changes to cookies rules

The thing is, analysis statistics are always anonymous – so whose privacy is really being invaded?  Forums and communities have to drop cookies to keep the user loged in, so surely by registering they are agreeing to the cookie!  This law just boils down to stupidity and a total waste of time, energy and money!

Hi everybody!

Well it’s a sad time having to say goodbye to Tokra Web Design.  We have designed and developed websites under that name since 2005, previous to that websites were developed under just my name. But having decided to have a shake up of Babrees Designs it made sense to bring all our websites and design work together under one roof, so here we are!

I hope you like the new home and design of the site. We certainly have some great plans in mind that will be happening soon!

First thing you may notice is that we now have a blog! Here I will be sharing snippets of information relevant to webmasters (yes, that’s you!), and anything else that I come across that I think you might be interested in.

Secondly, I am sure that the tutorial section has not escaped your notice!  Yes, I will be doing video tutorials, but please be patient as they take a long time to do.

And finally, we have a new Facebook page, which I trust you have “liked” – if not get on over there and do it now!

As well as keeping you up to date with what’s happening over here, the Facebook page will report on our servers’ status; so if you are having a problem with the website or your email, please head on over to the facebook page first to see if there is a problem.  So far, this new server has only had one slight hiccup and we don’t expect any more, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Well, that’s all for now folks, I hope you like the new site!