IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND LEGAL DISCLAIMER REGARDING FILE SHARING SITES AND COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS

The Group, “Political Forum” currently hosted by Google™ is a forum that is focused upon the free exchange of ideas.  The purpose of Political Forum is to allow for its members to share and discuss their viewpoints on a broad spectrum of subject matter, to include, (but not limited to) American Politics, International Politics, Political Issues, Politicians, voting habits and behavior, elections, religious influences, and current events.  . This page serves to address several issues regarding the policies of this site and its contents; the responsibilities of the Moderators as well as the members of the site; and the use of copyrighted and/or trademarked materials on this site.

Title 17, United States Code, Sections 107 through 118 (e.g.; “17 U.S.C. §§107-118 et seq.”) govern the use of copyrighted materials within the United States. It is the policy of Political Forum to adhere to United States copyright law, and as practicable, adhere to and respect any and  all international copyright laws and policies. 

17 U.S.C. §107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of specific media may be considered “Fair Use”; such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use of certain media constitutes  “Fair Use”. 

In particular,  a specific factor in determining “Fair Use” is,  “the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of the copyrighted work.”  In other words, by example, posting to Political Forum a work, or specific media that has a value, and is currently being sold or offered for retail sale, such as television shows, movies, contemporary music, etc., would be in violation of the “Fair Use” doctrine. 

The use of known, copyrighted material and/or corporate trademarks (with or without permission) on this site is considered “fair use,” and as such,  text or images are used either for comparison, humor, parody, academic analysis, or discussion.

It is the policy of Political Forum to give credit where credit is due as long as the original author of any media posted to the group is known. Credit will often be given explicity in the text/content of the specific post or page, and for “non-photo” media or text, in the source code (RSS Feed) of the post or page in question.

If you believe that Political Forum has used your intellectual property improperly and/or without credit, please contact the Moderators of Political Forum.

POLITICAL FORUM’S POLICY ON FILE SHARING SITES

From time to time and on occasion, members have submitted for publication, links to specific files from file hosting sites such as “Rapidshare”;  “Badongo”, and “MegaUpload”.  Currently, the Moderators of Political Forum are allowing such links to be posted to the group.   The Moderators of Political Forum do not necessarily review the media that is contained within the link posted to the group, and Political Forum makes no inferred or implied claim as to the contents, entertainment value, or the legality of these files which are posted by a “URL” link to the group, under United States Law.

Political Forum makes no expressed or implied warranty or guarantee, that members who choose to download from these submitted links are not in fact downloading pirated or copyrighted material.  Many ISP’s are now intentionally blocking sharing sites like RapidShare so as to avoid legal issues due to the propagation of pirated copyrighted material.  The Moderators of Political Forum will continue to monitor current court cases and the law as it is within the United States, but as stated, currently, Political Forum will continue to post these links, with the understanding that members who choose to download from these file sharing sites do so at their own risk. 

From time to time and on occasion, we have had submissions from members who have submitted links to movie/video file sharing sites, such as the now defunct “MovieForumz”, and “MoviePlex”, as well as others.  These sites are illicit, and the Moderators of Political Forum will not knowingly post links to these types of sites, or to any site that we knowingly are aware of pirated or bootlegged copyrighted media being offered or displayed.  By example, as of April 7, 2008. this statement appeared on MovieForumz’ web site:

 “MovieForumz has been asked to record data on its users for the purpose of prosecution. Instead of complying, we have decided to protect our beloved users by closing our doors.”

http://www.movieforumz.com/shutdown.php

If there are any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the Moderators of Political Forum. 

In other words, Dear Members, we respectfully ask, that you please do not submit links to any media which is knowingly copyrighted and offered for resale.  Its just not worth the risk, for saving a couple of bucks!!

Respectfully,

Mark,

(The Distinguished Moderator)

Keith

(The “Troublesome” Moderator)

Newie

(The New Mystery Moderator)