The Lauging Squid is a site dedicated to unique and interesting art, culture & technology and is one of the few really continuously worthwhile things I follow on twitter. If you're struggling for someone to follow, they get my vote. But I digress...the other day they tweeeted a link to an article about Stefanie Gordon who took a photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour's final launch from her airplane seat and tweeted it to her followers, and the moderate brouhaha that ensued (disclaimer: linking device heavily subsidised by the emperor) ;).
This segues nicely into our debate on creative commons, copyright and how the internet (and social media such as twitter) are muddying (or expanding) the copyright waters. Copyright law seems likes it's always been labyrinthine and now has a whole new battleground to unfold on. One interesting thing I found out was that using Twitpic (which you use to share pictures on Twitter) automatically gives Twitter the right to sell your photo, should you stumble upon, photograph and tweet a newsworthy event. You can sell it...but so can they! Which would obviously devalue your photo in the event of your selling it. Having said that, the woman in question did pretty well out of the whole thing, and the articles above give a balanced look at the issues involved. All in all it seems like having the murky presence of copyright somewhere in the background of your thoughts when using any technology is probably both wise and ethical if it makes you think twice before sharing (your own, or somebody else's) work - particularly if you're a big corporation,(thats you, CBS News!!)... a credit wouldn't hurt!
