After reading the Thompson handbook about ethics, it defiantly makes you think about everything from a different perspective. One of the topics addressed in the reading talks about a subject that gives me chills every time I think about it. Copyrights. What can be copyrighted? What are the limits of copyright laws? It’s a very grey complex area in some aspects of its application. How far can you walk on the edge of the cliff before falling off? As a computer graphics artist I have to constantly think about trademarks/copyrights laws and what is exactly being protected. Sure, you can copy someone intellectual property, but does that make it right? Even if you know you probably won’t get caught does that mean you should do it? The questions about copyrights are endless in some aspects, but it sometimes boils down to just ethics. In some cases it’s more of personal ethics rather than social ethics (i.e. downloading music).
During my instruction project I couldn’t take the necessary pictures I needed for my instruction process. I went to the manufactory’s website to find their product photograph to use instead. I could of use just used their pictures, but I knew it’s probably copyrighted. The pictures of the EMG pickups from the manufactory’s website were perfect .I found myself in an ethical dilemma in what I should do. I decided to use their images as a background and trace over it. The illustration I created is 100% mine but I used the photo to trace an outline to use. Does using the image to create an outline count as infringement of copyright laws? Some could argue the point that it is, but I would argue it’s 100% my work.
The laws of copyrights are hazy in what’s copyrighted and how much (in reference to digital art). I think for our white paper project this could be the only topic that can mention besides maybe plagiarism.
Personal Ethics
I feel the same way as you described in your first paragraph regarding copyrightts and intellectual property. In academia, it is so important to make sure you aren't copying someone's work, but you are always using others published work to learn and grow from. The idea that most ethics are going to be personal ethics is sound on so many levels. Ethics itself seems to be a somewhat personal decision in what you want to follow and believe so even when you get in to social and conservation ethics, it is all dependent on your own personal beliefs of what you want to interpret and how.
Fearing Copyrights
Even though it is likely rhetorical, I’d like to answer the last question of your opening paragraph, and that answer is no; you should not copy someone’s intellectual property, even, as you say, "if you know you probably won’t get caught.” I am sure you have posed this question for the argument, but I felt it worth clarifying. I feel the same way about copyrights and for much of the same reason. I also work with digital media every day and deal directly with the Recording Industry Association of American, the Motion Picture Association of America, and various other groups that serve to protect copyrighted material. My concern is in regard to the independent software application projects that I work on and where and when I violate any copyright laws. For this reason, I am constantly worried and am always validating my content and work to verify it is solely mine, or if collected from an outside source, is cited as such.
Copyright Cringes
I agree with you, copyrights do tend to give me the cringes. This can be especially concerning when doing a project over an existing company. Often times the key material that you wish to cover is copyrighted in one way or another. When it comes to covering these types of topics, you put it perfectly when you stated "How far can you walk on the edge of the cliff before falling off? “ I imagine this is even harder for you being a graphic artist. I can only imagine how ambiguous the copyright laws are when it comes to images.
Oo copyrights.
The laws of copyrights are very ambiguous for imaging (or digital art). It’s a hard position sometimes to decide whether you have actually created something of your own or stole someone’s intellectual property. One of my professor tries to distinguish this fine line by saying to us” If it’s at least 80% different then there’s no copyright law that’s being infringe upon.” No one copyright law infringement case are exactly the same. It all depends on the situation,enviroment and the extend of the degree. I just follow the golden rule, give credit where credit is due. It’s pretty simple isn’t?
What if no one is looking?
I think you brought up some key points in the discussion of ethics. Namely, “Even if you know you probably won’t get caught does that mean you should do it?” I think this is the true measure of one’s ethics. There is a social benefit to behaving ethically: others won’t view you or your actions in a negative way. But what happens when this social benefit is removed? What if no one is looking, or you’re alone, and there’s no risk of being caught or seen? Do people behave less ethically in such circumstances? There is any number of arguments here, but I think in some situations, many people do behave less ethically when they know they won’t get caught. My example is downloading media off of the Internet. We all know it is wrong, unethical, and essentially it is blatant theft; yet most of us download movies and music illegally with little or no discretion. No one is looking, the chances of getting caught are very slim, and everyone else is doing it, so… why not? Take away the social benefit and your behavior changes.
Copyrights
Luckily for my instructions project I chose an open source software solution to document. Under the open source license, you are allowed to use and even change any part of the program or code. In fact, the project itself would probably be very enthused that somebody had written up instruction sets for their product that they donate their time and code for free.
I'll agree that copyright laws are really at the forefront of ethical questions in today's society. With everything moving to digital formats so fast, almost anything can be copied. I believe that some of these copyright laws will eventually have to change and adapt as public opinion on digital rights and usage shifts.