# Regarding copyrights and shared links



## rarabara

Hi,

I have a very limited amount of information in copyrights while I have broad information in licensing & technical productions (i.e. IP).
and for sure, I will personally never be willing to infringe anyone's rights (copyrights)
so, may I ask which links are forbidden and should be avoided to be shared ?

Kind Regards


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## Glasguensis

Links do not break copyright. Most but not all of the forums have some restrictions on the type of links which are allowed (for example videos), but this is not for copyright reasons


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## velisarius

I sometimes see obviously pirated versions of books that are still in copyright. I refrain from posting a link to any of those.


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## Glasguensis

That's certainly good practice. From a legal perspective it's the owner of the hosting site who is breaking copyright (along with whoever placed the material there), but we don't want to encourage the use of such sites.


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## rarabara

velisarius said:


> I sometimes see obviously pirated versions of books that are still in copyright. I refrain from posting a link to any of those.


Actually I implied this, but how to differentiate whether the link is problematic might also be an issue that need to be clarified. 
(I think that it might be not in our hand) but if I do not understand incorrectly Glasguensis says that that would be the responsibility of the owner of that link (?).


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## Glasguensis

As a general rule we allow links to other sites. We cannot go around checking whether all those other sites are complying with copyright laws. If someone signals to us that there is a link which is unsuitable for whatever reason (page no longer exists, blatant non-respect of copyright law, pornography, etc) then we take appropriate action.


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## rarabara

Glasguensis said:


> As a general rule we allow links to other sites. We cannot go around checking whether all those other sites are complying with copyright laws. If someone signals to us that there is a link which is unsuitable for whatever reason (page no longer exists, blatant non-respect of copyright law, pornography, etc) then we take appropriate action.


yeah I understand, that is I presume for the reason why systematics of copyright works on the basis of complaints. As a brief explanation, simply if complaint is available , the analysis will be carried out and in case the violation of copyright is available, then it is likely for the violator to be punished, but unless the complaint is available, even though the violation exists, it is simply "no problem".


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## Glasguensis

To look at it another way, in the country where I live a shop, café, restaurant etc has to have a licence to play music. It’s not up to me as a customer to check. Even if I were writing a travel guide and recommending the place, it still wouldn’t be up to me to check. The situation with links is similar : it’s simply not our responsibility to check.

What *is* our responsibility to check is what is actually hosted on our site, which is why we delete content which breaks copyright.


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