Topic: The Cap'n Robert Challenge

[Robert]

The Cap'n Robert Challenge

I will answer any technical question you post (provided it isn't insane or of ungodly possibility) within 48 hours of your posting.

That is the Cap'n Roberto guarantee.

[Pravoslavbob]

Okay, I'll take the challenge!

Though this may not be exactly what you had in mind, I don't know....

Anyway, the question is, if we find another picture or icon or something on the internet that we want to use as our avatar, are we supposed to ask permission from the site or something? How is this usually dealt with, or are there varying interpretations and practices regarding this?

Thanks!

Bob

[Arystarcus]

Unless the pciture or graphic is copywritten, or the site you want to "borrow" it from says that you have to ask first or no "stealing" from their site, I don't think I'd sweat it.

You may just want to get the link to the image and send it to Rob or another of the mods first in case it needs to be resized to find into the avatar specifications.

In Christ,
Aaron

[Robert]

You can pretty much use any image you'd like (as long as it's within taste and not obscene obviously).  I use copyrighted images all the time.  For the most part it is OK as long as you don't sell it obviously or use it to make $$. I'm sure Jennifer could lecture you on the finer points of copyright law, but for what it's worth here on OC.net, you're safe.

I am using GD libraries, which handle images on the fly in PHP.

Therefore, the image you specify should automatically resize itself to board specifications, removing the need to acutally send us the image.

So, use whatever you'd like and let me know if you have problems.

Robert

[Irish Melkite]

I use copyrighted images all the time. For the most part it is OK as long as you don't sell it obviously or use it to make $$. I'm sure Jennifer could lecture you on the finer points of copyright law, but for what it's worth here on OC.net, you're safe.

Bob,

Actually, it isn't ok. It's a violation of law and it constitutes theft - by any definition, ecclesial or civil - take your choice.

Persons who have invested the time and/or cost to create images are understandably aggravated by those who choose to appropriate the image to their own use, particularly since many of the site owners would grant permission for use - their sole request often being that you ask to do so, frequently so that they can assure themselves of the propriety of the proposed use. IMO, a statement such as what I quoted above doesn't present a good picture of the ethics or morality of a forum which has a religious theme.

I'd add one additional caveat, should anyone find an image which is not copywritten or which you have approval to use. Save the image to your hard drive ("save as") - don't "hotlink" back to the image. Doing the latter effectively steals bandwidth from the site on which it's located and for small webowners can be extremely frustrating and devastating. If they exceed their allotted bandwidth usage for a month because someone has hotlinked from their site and the site on which it is being displayed gets enough traffic to noticeably impact bandwidth, the site owner soon finds that their server/host has disabled their site as a consequence. This happened to my wife and she was not a happy camper.

Many years,

Neil

[Robert]

Have to disagree, Neil.

Nearly every avatar in use on this forum is a copyrighted image.  That includes the icons which many folks display as their avatar as well.  My NCSU avatar is also a copyrighted image. Many of these are free as long as used in private usage.  This forum is indeed a private usage forum.

You mean to tell me that everyone is committing a moral and ecclesial crime by not obtaining permission prior to usage?  That is ridiuclous.

Copyright law in this country is ridiculous. We're so inundated with making sure we get credit and money for what WE create instead of working to  better what we already have.  To me, it's greed.  Intellectual property shouldn't be copyrighted.

http://www.eff.org
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp/copying_primer.html

[Strelets]

Actually, it isn't ok. It's a violation of law and it constitutes theft - by any definition, ecclesial or civil - take your choice.

Neil, technically this is correct, however in the practical world, it's gray. It's now become impossible to do very much on the web, including adding basic functionality to a web page like logins and shopping carts, without stepping on someone's copyrighted ideas or materials. You don't get sued because these guys are too busy trying to shake down the big guys for a few bucks here and there. As far as images are concerned, if it's a custom-made image, especially photography, it's best to leave it alone unless the owner gives explicit permission. If it's a photo of a well-known painting or icon, again it's technically copyrighted but in reality it'd be kinda hard for the owner to say you stole their photo. There's digital watermarking technology available out there, but if you look at a company's website like Digimarc's you'll notice they're not posting anything about lawsuits won against picture thieves thanks to their watermarking tools. The risk is more embarassment on your part if you're caught than any real legal threat. Personally, I avoid using photography except for royalty-free stock photos, and as far as icons are concerned, it depends on the source.If it's an icon painted by someone at Jordanville and sold by them, I wouldn't use it.But photos of old icons and paintings, I use them frequently. To me I've got big questions about someone taking a photo of a dead person's uncopyrighted paintings and then trying to say it's protected by copyright.

[Strelets]

Copyright law in this country is ridiculous. We're so inundated with making sure we get credit and money for what WE create instead of working to better what we already have. To me, it's greed. Intellectual property shouldn't be copyrighted.

You're exactly correct, Robert. There's a movement in the tech community in Europe to fight the American-style copyrightization of the EU's legal structure. It's a huge mess now in the US. I've read about dot coms that've went belly-up because they couldn't put together a working product from a copyrighted idea and/or couldn't sell it worth a whiz but now they've gone into business suing the heck out of other companies who can sell the idea. It might seem only fair that I have a right to charge for an idea of my own, but when that idea is something like "using a credit card online" (which is indeed patented), this is total nonsense.

[Pravoslavbob]

Thanks for all your facts and opinions, guys.  I must say, I didn't expect to generate discussion around this issue.  You just never know what will spark a reaction, I guess!   

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

The Cap'n Robert Challenge I will answer any technical question you post (provided it isn't insane or of ungodly possibility) within 48 hours of your posting. That is the Cap'n Roberto guarantee.

Dear John,

Error messages in terminal as user:

[nstanosheck@localhost nstanosheck]$ yum clean all
Gathering header information file(s) from server(s)
Server: Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 Base
Error - /var/cache/yum/base/header.info cannot be found
Please ask your sysadmin to update the headers on this system.

Then as root:[nstanosheck@localhost nstanosheck]$ su root
Password:
[root@localhost nstanosheck]# yum clean all
Gathering header information file(s) from server(s)
Server: Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 Base
Error - /var/cache/yum/base/header.info cannot be found
Please run yum in non-caching mode to correct this header.

Can you tellme how to fix this please?

BTW YUM is Yellow Dog Linux's Updater.

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

BTW so far I am actually liking GNOME better than KDE!    Of course YDL's GNOME is rather KDEified, but the structure and layout is just working better for me it seems.

[Robert]

yes i know what yum is, it's not exclusive to yellowdog. It's an RPM thing.

Well, you need to regenerate your rpm cache, which i do not have time to explain at the moment, but i will explain later.

R

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

yes i know what yum is, it's not exclusive to yellowdog. It's an RPM thing.

Well, you need to regenerate your rpm cache, which i do not have time to explain at the moment, but i will explain later.

R

Oh, I thought that YUM was Yellow Dog Specific since it stands for Yellowdog Updater Modified. I understand either the University of North Carolina or Virginia now maintains it.

Remember, you only have 48 hours! 

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

The Cap'n Robert Challenge

I will answer any technical question you post (provided it isn't insane or of ungodly possibility) within 48 hours of your posting.

That is the Cap'n Roberto guarantee.

I gave you over 16,000 hours! You ...

FAILED!!!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^

This is simply hilarious.

[Robert]