SAILS: Understanding Economic, Legal, Social Issues Study Guide Fall 2011
General Information:
It is legal to burn a copy of a CD you have purchased in order to preserve the original but not to give a copy to a friend or to return the original from where you purchased it.
It is legal to use an image created by another person on your web page if they give permission.
It is legal to research information pertaining to illegal activities – libraries will not censor information.
Some accurate and authoritative information on the Internet is freely available, and some is provided only to people or institutions paying for access to it.
Libraries must restrict access to the databases they purchase because the databases are licensed for use only by faculty, staff, and students at their institution.
Class surveys only need to be approved it the study will be made available to the public.
Permission to use photos on a government web page is not necessary.
It is legal to upload a song on a peer-to-peer Internet sharing service if the copyright on the song has expired.
It is legal to download a song on the Internet if the copyright owner has made it available or the copyright has expired.
University library websites generally include access to licensed or purchased research databases, research guides, and freely-available resources on the Web.
One important purpose of the doctrine of intellectual property is to encourage the open and public sharing of ideas.
Vocabulary Words:
Copyright - Exclusive right granted by a government to publish a work for a specified
Descriptive subject heading - descriptive subject headings reveal the topic or your message or discussion posting. Particularly important to use in discussion lists.
Discussion list – a type of electronic mailing list in which any subscriber may post. On a discussion list, a subscriber uses the mailing list to send messages to all the other subscribers, who may answer in similar fashion. Thus, actual discussion and information exchanges can happen. Mailing lists of this type are usually topic-oriented.
Fair use - In copyright law, quotation or reproduction of a small portion of copyrighted material (with proper acknowledgment), which does not require the permission of the copyright holder. The amount varies in proportion to the length of the original, the governing theory being that the use should not decrease the market for the original.
Freedom of Information - Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions.
Intellectual freedom - the idea that a democracy is dependent upon free and open access to ideas. Intellectual freedom is the right to freedom of thought and of expression of thought.
Intellectual Property –a form of legal entitlement which allows its holder to control the use of certain intangible ideas and expressions, for example; the original ideas in a research paper belong to you and can’t be used without your permission.
IRB - An institutional review board (IRB) is a committee that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects. An IRB performs critical oversight functions for research conducted on human subjects that are scientific, ethical, and regulatory.
Right to privacy - Privacy law refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and its storage and use. For example, libraries cannot report your circulation records or information requests to other people or agencies.