It seems to me that the copyright and ownership of historical images and information is legal quagmire that does not lend itself to straight forward answers.
As an example: According to Familysearch Terms of Service:
All material found at this site (including visuals, text, icons, displays, databases, media, products, services, and information) is owned or licensed by us.
and:
You may not post content from this site on another website or on a computer network without our permission.
Now, those quotes were taken from the Familysearch.org website. So, by posting (without permission) this **information" on Stackexchange.com, Have I violated the Familysearch Terms of Service?
I find it hard to imagine that Familysearch would take action against me for this, however it does appear to be a violation of TOS (albeit IMO seems ridiculous).
But the more substantive (and important to amateur genealogists) is that Familysearch claims that information on their site is either owned or licensed by Familysearch and further, information found on their website cannot be posted elsewhere without triggering a TOS violation.
As a practical example, were I to put on a Familysearch tree the birthdate of my father (that is "information"), I would be henceforth restricted on posting the same information on any another website (because Familysearch now avers that they "own" that information.
None of that makes any sense to me; does it make sense to anyone else?
Lastly, and perhaps more significantly, has anyone knowledge of a Familysearch account holder that has been "banned", suspended or prosecuted because they shared information that appears on a Familysearch tree, or Familysearch record search results?
ADDENDUM: I want to be explicitly clear, my question is not posed to be critical of Familysearch. Rather my example of Familysearch's TOS - which if I look carefully, I could probably find similar language in TOS from other services - My question is meant to apply generically to all content providers of genealogical services as well. I ask the question to have an open discussion to provide guidance for amateur genealogists (like myself) as to how to deal with claims of ownership. As I originally said in my opening, the legal landscape is very confusing, but amateur genealogists should not be expected to have to consult their personal attorney every time they want to post or cross- post the date of their ancestor birth/marriage/death.
Additionally, I am interested in any feedback of known prosecution and or retaliation resulting from a violation of TOS as it applies to sharing of information.