Think before you Tweet is the message behind the latest amendments to the Copyright Act in Thailand. In light of the growing popularity of social media sharing, the new laws have replaced ones that have been in place for 21 years.
The essence of the act is that, whether for commercial or private use, you need to be more mindful to either credit the content creator or asking their permission to share images, videos and content. Even private meetings at work aren’t excluded from the laws, where using copyrighted images is banned.
Even everyday things, such as sharing an image over LINE to a friend or putting a photo you took from the internet into a PowerPoint presentation intended for your team or embedding a YouTube clip into your latest blog post could mean you’ve fallen foul of the law.
The law is designed to protect copyright holders and the technology that helps to prevent these violations.
Violators of copyright could be liable to hefty fines of and even jail terms of up to two years for more serious offenses. Still unsure where you stand when it comes to downloading and sharing content?
1. NEVER Make copies of copyrighted items in order to sell them.
2. GET PERMISSION To use copyrighted videos and photos for commercial use or edit copyrighted images.
3. DON’T DELETE Copyrighted credits or watermarks.
4. BE CAREFUL Not to use copyrighted images for any meetings or presentations.
5. USE A CREDIT When using copyrighted images for commercial reasons or sharing through
personal accounts or for educational purposes.
6. BE SURE Not to download music or movies without permission.
Part celebrity, part journalist. Read more here on why bloggers are the new content superstars.
