Comments on: Who’s stealing your Web content?

By: AlexM

AlexM — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:20:45 +0000

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!

By: home decor

home decor — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:14:22 +0000

owh. copying my stuff is also a big no no!
thnx for the idea!

By: Southwest Rugs

Southwest Rugs — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:10:07 +0000

Going for a creative licence sounds like a very secure method of keeping things safe. Nice post, please keep it up.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:22:26 +0000

Ooh, interesting idea! Thanks so much for sharing it!

By: zohai

zohai — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:11:14 +0000

Contents are easily stolen from RSS feeds =/ That’s why they say it’s good to add your site address into the RSS feed somehow so that if they steal that as well then at least it links back to your site =D Make good use of the situation.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:40:31 +0000

Cerno,

What an excellent post – thank you! You’re right – here in the U.S., it is MUCH easier to fight a copyright violation. The same is true in many other countries. I have a friend living in Denmark who regularly checks for copyright violations and (successfully) addresses the issue every time.

Totally different concept in third-world countries.

Creative Commons is an excellent resource. Thanks for listing it!

By: cerno

cerno — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:14:10 +0000

In some countries editors of major English language newspapers steal blog content and publish them
WITHOUT identifying the text was taken off the internet
NOT getting permission or informing the author that the content was being used
It happens frequently in 3rd world countries like Sri Lanka. This post by a Sri Lankan blogger gives a overview of what happened when the editor of the English language publication “Lakbimanews” was stealing blog content.

The event, particularly the editor’s response to being caught, captures the attitudes of some parts of the “traditional” – print media – towards user generated content. Essentially copyright is considered something that is only valid if the victim has legal and financial clout to defended it. Otherwise content is seen as fair game.

US has the benefits of a legal system that can give the “little guy” some hope of challenging a major newspaper. In the third world, copyright in practice is unenforceable.

My response, and those of others is to go with a creative commons licence. If there’s proper attribution such as the vital blog URL, it can be a win-win situation for a content starved newspapers AND the blogger.

Sadly even this is ignored but a “name & shame” post has proven to be effective