Intellectual property ends upon entrance to the Internet.

Internet Rule 1: Intellectual property ends upon entrance to the Internet.

This is rule one when dealing with the Internet, remember it, if you have a good idea and you make it known, you only had a good idea, because it is no longer yours.  Anything anyone finds anywhere will be taken as being somehow magically public domain, and you as the creator no longer have control over the content you created, whatever it may be, no matter what medium used.  This is contrary to most law, but is an unstoppable effect omnipresent within the Internet.

If I make a drawing of an original character, whose beauty can only be described as insurpassable, both the character and the original drawing will quickly be duplicated and spread throughout the Internet, with many people citing it's source, but significantly more claiming original authorship and even more simply posting it with no claims or citations.

You give up your control of your work by, "sharing," it with the world, because there are alway people with less talent who wish they had it, who will poach your work.  So remember to either keep it private, or accept that it is not going to stay in yours.

This is also true of other media now, for indeed, the Internet is a pit of despair which consumes all around it, Television, Radio, Records, Films, Games, News Papers and more all are prey to the ravenous beast which is known as the Internet.  Media is regularly converted into digital form for the purpose of propagation, fans of programmes regularly digitize their favourites in order to help increase the popularity of them by ensuring easy access to clips and even full series.  An example is a site like Anime Crazy, which using websites such as Veoh share streaming flash versions of their favourite cartoons, translated by fans and uploaded by fans to increase their own numbers.

Remember this rule when visiting a site such as DeviantArt, where artists are allowed to share their work publically, pirates abound and are simply waiting for something they want.  These pirates exist on the Internet and will take the works they find there outside, back into the real world, and claim them for themself, profitting from your efforts.  Even something as small as your logo or mascot can and will be duplicated by unlawful and distasteful people, such as has been done by Naughty Vend, where they took a copy of a twenty year old BSD mascot.

Here ends rule 1 of the Internet.