Day 4- Mulitmedia Copyright laws and fair use

I know that copyright laws were intended to protect the author from getting their work stolen or being used by someone else as their own work. I understand why they were created because it is only fair to give credit to the people that created a particular type of work. They worked hard and deserve to get the credit. However, after reading the articles about copyright laws it just became apparent to me that even as an educator I didn't know all the rules especially when it comes to copying things from the Internet. I think that might be the case for many educators and just people in general and maybe that is why those copyright laws are not being followed. Another reason is that the laws seem to be very difficult to follow, confusing and a bit vague. I know that the bottom line was just ask permission if you didn't know for sure but I know that I have not used information in the past from a website when I knew it was copyrighted because I just didn't have the time to wait for the approval. It seems like new copyright laws need to be created to keep up with all the new ways that information can now be spread, and just made easier so that everyone can benefit from another persons idea.