Due to our easy access to information, many feel it is right and easy for them to just use anything they see online and claim it as their own. It's very unfair when we visit online platforms and see beautiful artwork, terrific write-ups, and simply copy and paste them without proper sourcing.
Intellectual property includes artworks, songs, poems, and other creative writings that are unique and created by people through creative imagination. Sourcing rightly these beautiful creations becomes difficult in this digitized world. Even when an image is copyrighted and insured, you will often see people boldly using these creations without permission all because they like it or feel it goes well with their articles.
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Sometimes, I feel what promotes this intellectual property theft and infringement is a lack of law enforcement. It's one thing to make a law and another to enforce it and ensure that anyone who breaks it faces the consequences. With proper enforcement, people will have it in mind the essence of acknowledging the effort of others when granted permission, or in instances when owners use common licenses that are favorable for creators. Just like in free image websites, we see Creative Commons licenses like "free to use but attribute source using the link.”
It can be very annoying when someone uses your creation without any respect to request for a go ahead or properly source it. The first and easiest way to protect intellectual property is to have respect for someone else's content or creation. Giving credit to the owner won't hurt. With copyrighted content and images, requesting permission from the rightful owner before use shows respect for their endeavors. If the owner disapproves of the use, their decision should be respected.
In a digital era like ours, it is important to constantly enforce laws that address digital issues and the consequences for breaching these laws by netizens. Using watermarks on copyrighted images is another way to protect intellectual property. A visible watermark makes unauthorized usage more difficult as it identifies the owner of the intellectual property. One thing I appreciate about the Hive platform is the awareness of the need to respect intellectual property and provide proper sourcing for works that are made free to use. All these efforts aim to reduce infringement.
It's unfortunate that despite all these measures, stealing intellectual property and infringement are still rampant among internet users. Even with a clear understanding of what plagiarism is, many still derive boldness in stealing others' works. Personally, my online publications have not been stolen. I can't really tell how it feels for people who have experienced intellectual property theft, but I know it can never be a good feeling. To promote intellectual property, different measures need to be employed to put a stop to most online users' theft and infringement of others’ creation and ideas.
