Cyberspace opens gazillions of vistas to the world.
But cyberspace also abets piracy, theft, plagiarism and other nefarious incursions on artistic ownership.
No, not just copyrighted or patented material. Musings, blogs and other mundane creations are often lifted and used elsewhere without notification or permission.
Thumbnail illustrations used in every Letter to the Editor, for example, are purloined from galleries of subject matter listed in the archives of AltaVista and Google.
Virtually everything in the millions of sites on the Internet can be downloaded, printed, copied and reused with little effort,
Lazy designers can read the construction of any website and adapt it partially or totally to their own needs—without compensation or credit to the original author.
www. (World Wide Web) is the Wild Wild West where anything goes and there is no law and order. (27 APRIL 2009)
