Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => New Theories => Topic started by: Yahya on 04/11/2017 06:10:20
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will I have rights to everything I post ? if so , is it possible to lose rights , if " God forbidden" the forum stopped?
thanks,
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I am no legal expert, but here is my opinion:
- Most countries automatically give the author of any creative work exclusive copyright (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright) over that material. That gives the author control over copying, distribution, and charging for use, unless they assign those rights to someone else.
- That "creative" aspect includes creating a forum post, taking a photo, or tweeting.
- There are limits to that exclusive right, for use in quoting small parts of it for review, criticism, education, etc.
- Anything that violates the forum rules can be edited or deleted by the moderators (as well as the author's account)
- You certainly have a right to store a copy of your posts on your computer, which will survive demise of the forum, or actions by moderators
- You have the right to create derivative works of your own posts, and post them elsewhere (but most forums object to people who post the same material on multiple forums)
However, in posting a contribution to a free website like The Naked Scientists Forum, you expect no payment for your post, and expect that anyone visiting the forum will be able to read it, store it on their computer, and make a copy of it on their computer or other media.
- In addition to others being able to quote part of it in a discussion thread, or link to it with URLs.
- You effectively waive most of your rights as a copyright owner.
- This is different from some websites like Facebook, whose fine print states that they own anything you post on their website.
You have the ability to reassert your rights to your own work by deleting it from the forum.
- But that does not remove it from the computers of people who have viewed it, or people who have quoted parts of it in their posts.
There are alternatives to the conventional copyright, eg "copyleft".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft
Politeness says that you should not copy someone else's work, and pass it off as your own - there are internet tools that can detect students who copy information direct from the internet and insert it in their assignments.
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thanks , it was helpful.
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My guess would be, if you want rights, don't post it on forums. Write a book perhaps, or at least a blog. Get it published in a prominent journal if you can.
I can't imagine the court (not a lawyer either) that would consider a forum post original work worthy of rights. If you want to proceed anyway, be sure to use your real name, not an anonymous screen name.