BUT -- before making yourself look foolish and creating enemies, have your facts straight. A reasonable understanding of Internet technology can prevent you from ending up with egg on your face.

Take this situation. I've changed names to protect guilty.

A representative of an online business emailed me saying, "It has been brought to my attention that you have made "something.com" public download files freely available for download by FTP from your web site. Would you please let us know immediately what is going on and what your justification is for doing this."

First mistake. If files are "public download files", then what is problem? Public download files are freely available.

However, since I had never heard of their software, I responded with a request that company rep show me link or at least provide a screen capture of alleged FTP activity.

I received an apologetic email from company rep saying that she could not locate a link to her software from my site. "Perhaps your site has been confused with someone else's," she explained. Second mistake. If you're making an allegation of this nature, know where problem can be found and be ready to present evidence to other party. You look more than a little incompetent if you can't back up your claim in most elementary way.

A few hours later, a third email arrived. This time, company rep accused me of being untruthful and threatened legal action. She then backed up her case with following URL:

ftp://www.nightcats.com/pub/users heirfiles/

Third mistake.

Writers believe they‘ve sold one-time rights to articles, which then are left indefinitely on Websites or in archives - trapped without their permission, often times even without their creator's knowledge. In all but a few cases, writers have not been compensated financially for this prolonged use of their work.

These days every tiny business, every magazine and newspaper, wants a Website. Editors who would probably hand back coin to supermarket cashier who gave them too much change apparently think nothing of decorating their Webpages with "donated" articles.

Copyright is copyright, folks, be it bleached pulp or cyberspace. Cyberspace is just more complex.

The Internet is like a train out of control, running away with writers rights. Because Web is in its infancy, these working conditions can be improved. We still have a chance to patch things up and head that train in right direction.