We had an interesting training session this past week, about plagiarism and defamation.
The training also discussed the sharing of Facebook posts. The best example I can think of is the Penny Sparrow case.
I am sure you followed the case when it broke a few years ago. Penny made a statement on Facebook after spending some time on a beach during a holiday.
If you pressed the like or share button, you are, according to social media law, just as liable as she was. So many people didn’t realise that and pressed those buttons.
It is also against the law to post a picture of a person as a warning to others that they should not do business with him/ her. You can be sued for defamation.
So, although Facebook is a fantastic social media platform, you have to be very careful what you post, like and share.
Another subject on the table was copyright and plagiarism. If you take a picture of a beautiful sunset, that photograph belongs to you and you have automatic copyright. If anyone else use that picture without your consent, you can sue them for copyright.
If you post that same picture on Facebook, copyright remains intact. Nobody else is allowed to use your photographs without your written consent.
In the case of journalists taking photos of an event, the photos remain the intellectual property of the company they work for. However, you are entitled to ask to have the photograph copyrighted to your name.
Using a photo that does not belong to you for any medium can really land you in hot water.
