You find an amazing photo online that would be perfect for your project. Your cousin offers you a copy of a brand-new movie on a USB drive. A friend says she knows the teacher’s password. Which of these could get you into trouble, and why?
In this post:
- What copyright, plagiarism, piracy and hacking mean, and how they are different
- What can happen when people break copyright laws
- How to use other people’s work the right way
- A sorting activity, “Dear Amy” letters and a quiz
Four words you need to know
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright | The legal right that creators have over their own work: writing, music, photos, videos, drawings, games and software. Only they can decide who may copy, share, change or sell it. Copyright starts automatically as soon as the work is made. | A song you write and record belongs to you. Others need your permission to use it. |
| Plagiarism | Passing off someone else’s words, ideas or work as your own, without giving them credit. It is a kind of cheating, even if the work was free to use. | Copying a paragraph from a website into your homework without quotation marks or a source. |
| Piracy | Illegally copying, sharing, downloading or selling copyrighted software, movies, music or games. | Selling copied DVDs, or downloading a paid game from an illegal site. |
| Hacking | Getting into a computer, account or network without permission. | Logging into a classmate’s account with a password you guessed. |
Image source: File:Copyright.svg (Wikimedia Commons)
How are they different? Copyright is the right. Breaking it (by copying or sharing without permission) is copyright infringement, and piracy is one kind of infringement. Plagiarism is about honesty: not giving credit. Hacking is about breaking into computers or accounts, not about copying creative work.
Using work the right way
- Give credit. Say where words, pictures and ideas came from: the author, the title and the website.
- Use your own words, and put exact quotes in “quotation marks”.
- Use free and open media, such as public-domain or Creative Commons images from Wikimedia Commons (like the pictures in our posts), and follow their licence.
- Ask permission when you are not sure.
- Buy, borrow or stream legally, for example from official app stores and streaming services.
- Small parts for school. The law allows some limited use of other people’s work for things like school projects, reviews and news reports (often called fair use). Use only what you need, and always give credit.
Watch: creativity, copyright and fair use
This video explains copyright and fair use with clear examples. As you watch, note one thing that is fair use and one thing that is not.
Video: Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use – Common Sense Education – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvZHNwBHirQ
What are the consequences?
| If you… | What can happen |
|---|---|
| Plagiarise at school | A zero mark, having to redo the work, school discipline and losing your teacher’s trust. At college or university, students can be failed or expelled. |
| Break copyright or pirate software, music or movies | Your post or video may be removed and your account banned. The owner can take you to court for damages. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Copyright Act (1997) allows fines and even prison for serious cases, such as selling pirated copies. |
| Hack into a computer or account | In Trinidad and Tobago, the Computer Misuse Act (2000) makes it a crime to access a computer without permission, with fines and prison possible. Schools also treat it very seriously. |
There are other costs too: creators lose money they earned, people stop trusting you, and pirated or hacked files often carry viruses.
Activity: which word fits?
Try it: sort the situations
Drag each situation into the right box (or tap the card, then tap the box).
Copyright (doing it right) ©
Plagiarism
Piracy
Hacking
Activity: Dear Amy
Amy writes an advice column about using other people’s work. Read each letter and choose the answer Amy should give. (The “Dear Amy” letters idea is adapted from a copyright class activity by Sharon Moonan-Seepaul. These letters and answers are new.)
Try it: Dear Amy
Click the best answer. You get feedback straight away; only your first click counts towards your score.
1. “Dear Amy, I made up a calypso about my village. Is it protected by copyright, even though I am only 12?” – Young Composer
2. “Dear Amy, I bought a movie online. Can I make copies and sell them at school?” – Business Minded
3. “Dear Amy, I used a sentence from an encyclopedia in my project. I put it in quotation marks and wrote where it came from. Is that OK?” – Careful Student
4. “Dear Amy, I found a photo on a website. There is no © symbol on it, so can I use it however I like?” – Photo Fan
Self-check quiz
Click the best answer. You get feedback straight away; only your first click counts towards your score.
1. Copyright is…
2. Handing in a friend’s homework as your own is…
3. Downloading a paid movie from an illegal website is…
4. Logging into someone else’s account without permission is…
5. Which is a possible consequence of breaking copyright law?
6. What is the best way to avoid plagiarism?
Related posts on islandclass.org
- INFORMATION PROTECTION AND MISUSE – definitions of copyright, plagiarism, piracy and hacking
For later, in Forms 4–5 (CSEC IT): these go deeper and are for when you reach CSEC Information Technology.
Next: Paragraph Formatting: Design an Invitation
Syllabus link: Forms 1–3 ICT curriculum, Module 6, Objectives 6.5 and 6.6 – discuss the consequences of violation of copyright laws; differentiate among plagiarism, copyright, piracy and hacking.
Attributions to media used in this post:
- Copyright.svg – Unknown author – Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Video: Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use – Common Sense Education (YouTube)
Updates
2026/10/21
– Fixed the activity code so its buttons keep working.
© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.