Reply #4: Hell, I've got Fat Freddy's Cat as my avatar and that's from a

[MineralMan]

copyright-protected source. I'm willing to take my chances with it, though, since it's a tiny excerpt, posted as a commentary. More problematic, though, is posting an entire political cartoon, like the Tom Tomorrow ones, complete with copyright notice right on the cartoon. Other political cartoons fall into the same category. I realize that people have been doing that for years. That doesn't mean it's not going to come back and bite 'em in the butt, though.

Individuals probably won't be targeted, since there's little to get from them, but big websites are another matter. It's a risky thing, especially as word gets out that someone has succeeded in getting money from one of these suits. One suit breeds another, it seems. One day, we may see Dipshit, Dufus, and Dumbass, LLC advertising on cable television, trying to stir up business for copyright suits against web sites.

It's not hard to imagine. It has worried me since the beginning of the net and these discussion forums. I don't want to lose my forums.