What is with this affinity some warriors have for breaking the law?

Example 1;

I was browsing the WSO section and came across an offer from a copywriter who was offering their service at a discount. As part of the pitch this individual included links to some examples of his/her work. One of those links lead to a WSO with copy that was accompanied with an image of a famous celebrity.

Example 2;

I came across a marketer who in a marketing campaign used images of celebrities and was giving advice on how to be successfull to new people to marketing.

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Although I am not psychic, I am more than willing to hazard a bet that neither of the above individuals had legal permision to use these images. I wonder if these people are aware that what they are doing is a federal offense in most civilised countries. They risk not only substantial fines if caught, but possible jail time as well.

Getty images are notorious for having their lawyers scouring the internet trying to catch people out and sending them letters demanding substantal amounts of money.

What disturbs me is the fact that in both of the above cases, the wso owner and thread starter, were handing out 'business advice' to new people to internet marketing.

I'm not even going to bother with the 'professional' copywriter.

In case anybody reading this is confused at this point, you cannot randomly take pictures from the internet of famous celebrities (or anybody else for that matter) and use them in marketing campaigns without express written permision to do so, not only from the subjects themselves, but the photographer of the image as well.

(Even if you took the photograph of the celebrity/person, you still need a signed release)

This also includes images licenced under creative commons and even public domain in some cases.

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Example 3;

Taking other peoples content and spinning it.

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Here is the opinion of the warrior forums resident legal expert;

You can read the thread here; http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post3287555

Again if caught, you face serious fines and jail time.

Unfortunately, many people on this forum still think this is ok as long as you don't get caught.

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Example 4;

Using trademarks in domain names.

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Again, I will refer to the opinion of the forums resident legal expert;

Thread here; http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ks-domain.html

To be fair, a lot of the time you hear about this type of scenario on this forum, the person who got caught out was not neccesarily breaking the law intentionally, but more so out of ignorance.

(Ignorance is not an excuse for breaking the law by the way)

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I could go on all day about the many illegal and unethical things some members of this community do, some intentionally, others out of ignorance but the point of this post is to educate and remind people that it is quite easy to fall foul of the law, even without realizing it. The above examples are probably the most common you will hear about on this forum.

Just because our business's are web based, doesn't mean the effects on the victims of these crimes is any less harmfull.

"Do unto others as you would have them do to you"

Peace out!
Chris