It's not theft, it's copyright infringement.<p>Kidding, kidding. But it's amazing how quickly people rediscover the value of copyrights when they're copyrights that you personally wouldn't violate, right?<p>Anyhow, journalists have a two-tiered ethical system with regards to plagiarism. There's Journalists -- you cannot plagiarize from Journalists. To do so is instantaneous career suicide. There will be no appeal and you will never work in the industry again. Then there's Sources -- you cannot plagiarize from sources, either. If you reprint their stuff verbatim, that's just Good Journalism. (TM)<p>Photographers thought they were Journalists. They were always Sources. For a little while, they were Sources that uniquely possessed something Journalists would pay money for.
Honest question. If SOPA were to pass, could a photographer get a site like the LA Times blocked or whatever for using their picture without permission?