We probably all accepted an agreement when we signed up for accounts which said that when we post code on here we give up rights to it or something.
Anyway, I think a resonable person would probably expect that:
- any sample code posted on forums, in books, documentation, etc., is probably (or at least ought to be) free of any copyright or other limitations given that snippets of code tend to not be things you can make money off
- when you go find a working application on the web, it probably comes with a license agreement, so you can't just blindly copy code from it for use in your own programs
At least, I can say that whenever I post code on a forum, regardless of whatever agreements I might have "signed" when I got an account, I don't consider the code to be something I have any claim to and I would hope people can and would use that code for whatever they like. If I felt that I wanted people to mention they used my code I'd say that. If, on the other hand, I felt my code was something I didn't want anyone else to use, I don't think I'd post it on a public forum

So I think your average person would see that there is a difference between code snippets found on forums and downloading source code for a working application/tool.
I'm not a lawyer, though - just someone who thinks they have a fair amount of respect for others' rights with regards to code they've written.
Regards,
David