How ethical to use Javascript libraries that are available on the net?

I want to do something with JavaScript on my website but don't know how to implement it, but i've found it has already been written by someone and is available to download free as they've put it on net.



So is it right morally to use something that someone has already been written? does this count as cheating? does it infringe any copyright?How ethical to use Javascript libraries that are available on the net?
I have used jquery libraries after making sure that the libraries are covered under the GPL license. Most, if not all jquery libraries are under such libraries.



Please read the license before you use it on your site. In most cases, you have to include the lib in your distribution. I go a head and do that anyway.



Take a look at http://whatiscopyright.org/ it will help a lot.How ethical to use Javascript libraries that are available on the net?
Short answer: In your case, there is no cheating or copyright infringement or ethics issues. Feel free to use these libraries. That's what they are for. Even professional programmers use freely provided public JS libraries.



Long answer:



Cheating? no no no.... not these days. These libraries like Prototype, jQuery and lightbox are created for the sole purpose of making it easy for people who have not been programming in Javascript since it's beginning to be able to add cool functionality to their sites.



Javascript is ';open-source'; which means it is governed under licenses which pretty much say anyone can use it unless it is patented or copyrighted. If someone makes javascript available for public use, they will often times put a reference to themselves in the script or ask you to do it. If they do, please respect that request. Otherwise, javascript is fair game until copyright laws change. But that's the great thing about the open source community.



Remember, a site doesn't have to be protected by the copyright administration to be protected by copyright laws. So it is best to use those libraries that are made available to the public rather than copying from your site.