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The sponsor of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) may have used images on his own website without the permission of the owner, after research by vice.com.
On a former version of the congressman's website featured a photo by DJ Schulte, whom Vice contacted, and it was revealed what the photo was released under Creative Commons, which requires the author of the content to be fully credited. According to DJ Schulte, no such credit was ever given, which technically means that Smith has violated the copyright of Schulte.
While under Smith's SOPA, no real action would be taken against Smith's website, due to the website requiring to be "dedicated to piracy", it does again show how easy it is to commit a copyright violation on the Internet, despite the resources available to someone like Rep. Smith that is normally not available to the average Internet user.
On a former version of the congressman's website featured a photo by DJ Schulte, whom Vice contacted, and it was revealed what the photo was released under Creative Commons, which requires the author of the content to be fully credited. According to DJ Schulte, no such credit was ever given, which technically means that Smith has violated the copyright of Schulte.
While under Smith's SOPA, no real action would be taken against Smith's website, due to the website requiring to be "dedicated to piracy", it does again show how easy it is to commit a copyright violation on the Internet, despite the resources available to someone like Rep. Smith that is normally not available to the average Internet user.