Screen Shots - An Ethical Dilemma

My recent blog post about social media laws and ethics (well, I didn't really have time to get to ethics) made me think about a dilemma I have going on at work.

No, I'm not doing anything unethical.  It's about someone else.

Background

I moderate a forum and blog site that caters to a specific community.  A handful of the users are unhappy with the community and have created their own site.  They marketed it on the site I moderate.  I asked them not to and they complied; however, they discuss my company's site on their own and use some screen shots to illustrate their points.

Is this ethical?  It's not their property, although I know this type of thing happens all the time.  I mean, look at my blog.  I use images from other blogs and websites - cited properly of course.

Are Screen Shots Ethical?

Wikipedia says some companies believe screenshots are an infringement of copyright.  ExpertLaw says you can't put a screenshot in a book without permission - but it's not clear about using one on a website.

There was a fairly lengthy article on lifehacker about screen shots and fair use.  Whether they are allowable comes down to four things -  purpose of use, nature of the work, amount used, and effect on value of work (Rutledge).

Because this site is using the image for criticism they're probably okay.  They're also only using screen shots of tiny snippets of the site.  That doesn't mean I have to like it!  It doesn't mean it passes a personal ethics code, either.  But as as I said last time, that's a topic for another, separate blog entry.


Resources:

2008. The Practical PC. Web. 16 June 2010. http://thepracticalpc.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/how-to-print-screen-a-dos-app-at-full-screen-in-xp/  (image)

"Ask the Law Geek: Is publishing screenshots Fair Use?." lifehacker. Ed. Stewart Rutledge. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2010. http://lifehacker.com/193343/ask-the-law-geek--is-publishing-screenshots-fair-use

"Does a Screenshot Violate Copyright ." ExpertLaw. Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. , 30 Nov. 2009. Web. 4 June 2010. http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90182

"Screenshot - Copyright issues." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 3 June 2010. Web. 4 June 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot#Copyright_issues