Inside this month's issue:

Boost your agency’s credibility and visibility with a presence on LinkedIn.

A successful marketing program is vital to your long-term health. Get started building yours today!

Sometimes it’s necessary to end bad relationships—whether with clients, employees, or even colleagues.

Introducing RURL, EyeJot, ZoHo, and GoToMeeting—four more Web-based services that you may find useful.

In part four, learn to succeed at e-business by getting a workout buddy, a coach, an exercise group, and schedule.

Not all information on the Internet is free to use. Find out what’s fair to use and what’s not.

Getting ready to move? Take note of some “lessons learned” before you travel too far down the wrong path.

Texting raises millions for Haiti; preparing for next data explosion; top desired features for future cell phones.

Do you know what your clients think of you? If not, discover multiple ways to create quick and easy customer surveys.

February 2010

Personal Computing

Reid Goldsborough

Deciding What Information is Fair to Use

What information is "free" on the Internet?

One of the catchphrases on the Internet is "Information wants to be free." This creates the impression that anything you come across online is free for the using. Not quite.

The same laws that protect intellectual property elsewhere can get you in trouble for appropriating someone else's words, images, music, video, and so on.

As with much else about the law, the devil is in the details. But you don't need to hire a lawyer to stay safe. A basic understanding is often all you need. If you're involved in a project that you're uncertain about, however, by all means consult with an attorney specializing in intellectual property.

If you want to be as careful as possible, never put up on your Web site or blog and never reuse elsewhere anyone else's work without first asking permission.

But this isn't always possible, or necessary. The cornerstone of democracy is the free exchange of ideas, and our legal system promotes this, in part, through the fair use doctrine of the copyright law.
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