Tolbert Cooks Source Magazine Assignment

The article in Cooks Source Magazine regarding the legality of printing a blog post by Monica Gaudio is about whether it is legal to use other individuals blog posts and reprint them under a different author or publication without consent or compensation.  This article describes the interaction between Cooks and Monica after she requested compensation for Cooks taking credit in the magazine for her blog post.  This interchange is very interesting in that it gives an example of how copyright law impacts the web and what how important it is to understand the legality of re-posting or publishing information taken from the web without proper permission.

According to the article, Cooks did not have the legal right to post Monica's work.  Even though in the editor's statement to Monica's request for compensation, she stated that what is posted on the Internet is considered public domain, she was wrong to use the information that Monica posted.  Once Cooks used the information in Monica's article, they accepted her work and should have then compensated Monica for that article even after the changes that they made to it.

I believe that Cooks did not behave morally in this situation. Cooks' behavior in using the information from Monica's blog without asking for permission was equivalent to a student copying and pasting information from a web source without properly citing where they found the information.  What is worse it that Cooks is an established publication that is even more aware of copyright laws and the use of information that is not generated by their contracted writer's.  The moral and legal thing that Cooks should have done was to contact Monica and ask permission to use her review.

I believe that Cooks did not act legally or morally, however there is a difference between what is legal and what is moral.  A legality is specific to what is determined by a state or governing body that is established for the protection of the larger community.  Being legal means that one is following the laws as they are written with no moral conviction in their actions other than the morality of following the law.  A morality is an action based around the concept of right or wrong which is derived primarily from a person's beliefs, convictions, and understanding.  Although laws and morals are intended to be connected, there are situations where one can act morally and not legally, or legally but without morality.

An example of someone acting morally but not legally is when a person feels like it is morally acceptable to disobey laws that limit a person's civil rights.  There are many examples throughout history of people purposefully engaging in civil disobedience for the betterment of a larger group.  These situations are not only moral but become justified legally as laws become changed.  An example of a situation that may be legal but would not be considered moral is when people take advantage of those who are less capable of understanding the law.  Situations where people unwittingly agree to give money or services without fully realizing the cost or impact to their personal situation can be considered legal.  Those who actively trick people through scams are not acting morally, but can be found with no legal consequences.