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How often do you think about copyright law? Not much? Same here — until now. “Unfortunately, those who are ignorant about the law often step into traps while wading through it and these pitfalls can both limit your rights to control your own work and cause you to be threatened or sued by others,” wrote Jonathan Bailey, editor of the Web site, Plagiarism Today . Yikes! He offered five facts about copyrights that you should know.

In French, empreintes digitales means fingerprints — which is what France’s interior minister Brice Hortefeux meant to say during a joint radio and TV interview. Instead, he said empreintes genitals , or genital fingerprints. “Thousands of people have watched the video of Hortefeux’s interview on websites such as France’s Le Post ,” reports BBC . You can watch the video here . During the interview, Hortefeux was talking about the types of data that police retain to track criminals…

Partnering closely with key communications staff, the executive team, and program leaders, the senior manager of internal communications will be a credible and valuable communications conduit, helping Special Olympics International stakeholders achieve their internal communications objectives while promoting the priorities and key messages of Special Olympics as a whole.  Read more about this job.

You see this word a lot in the social media world. Companies want to hire “rock stars,” while some people refer to themselves as “rock stars.” (To be clear, no one is referring to actual sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll rock stars.) This practice should end, says PR Daily ’s own Jackson Wightman. “There’s something so profoundly un-humble about the word,” he writes. “It has connotations of grandeur, excess, and the implication that one has &#…

Social media and standard PR outreach increase as communicators are forced to do more with less.

Do you network a lot? Maybe tweet it up at a tweetup or other such affairs. All of us — especially those who run our own shops — have to do this stuff as part of the biz development process. (Translation: We have to do this crap so we can keep feeding and clothing ourselves.) Don’t fret; communicator Shonali Burke has some tips for you on how to network.— Jackson Wightman

Queen Elizabeth of England has joined Facebook, as part of the page, The British Monarchy . After one hour, more than 40,000 people had “liked” the page. “The new Facebook page has been described as ‘the final frontier’ of the Queen’s foray into digital technology,” reports The Telegraph . The British Monarchy also has a  Twitter feed and YouTube channel . What’s next? A member of the royal family checking in on Foursquare? — Jackson Wightman

To poke or not to poke? That is the question — and apparently a growing number of adults in the U.K. display proclivity to the former. At least that’s what a new survey by PollOne.com (and first reported on by AllFacebook.com ) would lead us to believe. The survey questioned 2,000 adults about their online habits and sexual activity and found that 11 percent of Britons have had sex with someone they’ve met on Facebook. Ten percent have done it with someone at work — and 50 percent of those in…

PR is getting a reality show. Yup, “Spincrowd,” featuring New York celebrity PR guy Jonathan Cheban is set to air on the E! Network. According to Reuters, “Cheban is a shallow, self-centered bully who gets away with being a jerk only because his employees are too frightened to speak up.” Sounds like a terrific representation of the industry. Ahem . — Jackson Wightman

Remember how hard we laughed on Tuesday when we saw the young woman saying “I quit” via dry erase board? Well, how did you feel when you learned it was a hoax? Did it even matter? After all, the gag was funny, real or not, and it sure went viral. PR pro Sasha Muradali highlighted four tips from the stunt that PR pros can apply to their own viral projects.

Mashable  is a popular website for news and advice about social media. (There’s also Ragan.com , sister site to PR Daily , which publishes case studies and tips on the ways businesses are using social media tools.) Of course, there are also a number of talented bloggers producing content that isn’t as widely read. Want to read some of these posts? Windmill Networking shared  three content hubs you should check out. — Claire Celsi

Turns out Twitter is fit for a king-to-be’s decree. The big news this morning is that Britain’s Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton are engaged to be married. The announcement came this morning via an official press release, but that release was “somewhat scooped by the accompanying  tweet that distilled the official confirmation of the first major royal wedding of the new millennium into a 148-character (yes, a tad long) social media post,” according to The Wash…

Choire Sicha, editor of the too-cool-for-school blog The Awl , is tired of receiving e-mails from PR pros. So, he decided to publish a screen shot of his inbox with the names of all the PR firms that he has “banned.” Don’t worry too much if you’re on the list, Sicha is a reasonable man. “I welcome communications from these firms and any others when they stop spamming me,” he wrote.

Looking for an offbeat spot to place your message? How about a pizza box? The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) put a job ad on pizza boxes around Washington D.C. The ad says, “A career where X-ray vision and federal benefits come standard.” Next time you fly consider the possibility that the person guarding your safety got his job after scarfing down a pizza. (Image via Federal News Radio .)

As a writer, do you feel like you’re in a rut? Nothing’s popping; instead you’re plugging away at the same old copy? Copyblogger has  seven tips to help you emerge from the rut.