User Comments

1. 

   4/08/08

   cmw4562

   generally the rule of thumb is that you need to contact the writer or creator of the material to ask their permission to use any part of their website on your blog.
   
   Not cool to just "steal" someone else's crafted content and images.
   
   If granted permission, there will probably be certain things you can and cannot do with the material you are permitted to use on your blog.
   You will probably be asked to place a link back to the site of the author giving them credit for the material you are using.

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   1. 

      4/08/08

      marcueto

      Thank you cmw4562
      
      I understand the ethical ramifications of plagiarism. I am just surprised that it could be so simple to copy, paste and use (even with the original writers consent.) So basically you are saying that it can be done as I described above?
      
      What if there is no written or verbal consent? What then?
2. 

   4/08/08

   timethief

   Fair Use Notice
   This website may at times present excerpts of copyrighted material, the use of which might not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understandings of democratic, economic, environmental, human rights, political, scientific, and social justice issues, among others. The author believes that this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U. S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the articles published on this website are distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.
   
   Here's an excellent reference link to Jonathan Bailey's site www.plagiarismtoday.com/

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   1. 

      4/08/08

      marcueto

      Thanks timethief
      
      I have noticed a few similar to this on some blogs. I just have a copyright protected icon/service on my blog, but I worry that it may not be enough. I get a lot of student traffic, mine and others, so I am concerned and think I may need to have something in writing somewhere on the screen for folks to read.
3. 

   4/08/08

   ender

   fair use also generally implies that you are not copying/pasting wholesale an entire article, but only quoting sections.

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   1. 

      4/08/08

      marcueto

      ender
      
      The "copying/pasting wholesale" is the part I worry about.
4. 

   4/08/08

   timethief

   Go back in time for a moment to the world of books. Although books may be copyrighted we can use "excerpts" provided that the same are properly attributed to their creator's. The same applies in the cyber world. We cannot copy and paste a whole article or book without violating copyright. But, we can use an "excerpt" of any published material, without obtaining prior permission, provided that we attribute the creator and link back to the full article, post, book, etc.
   
   So this explains what both bloggers and sploggers do. We post excerpts with a link back to the original source.
   
   Scrapers take whole posts. There are gambling that we will not make the effort or invest the time, energy and money involved in pursuing them.

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   1. 

      4/08/08

      marcueto

      So in the cyber world same laws apply?
5. 

   4/08/08

   timethief

   I'm a Canadian paralegal. I am not qualified to give you a legal opinion. I blog at wordpress which is owned by an American company Automattic and American copyright laws apply to my wordpress blog. Copyright can be a very complex international issue.
   
   I recommend reading this www.blogherald.com/2008/03/31/how-to-help-immunize-your-site-against-scrapi...
   
   Do you have a wordpress blog? I'm asking because there are plugins for digital fingerprinting, etc.
   
   @ender
   Quite right.
   
   Guys I'm having vision problems so I'm signing off for now. I will come back when I can focus again. Thanks for your patience with my continual editing. I appreciate it.

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   1. 

      4/08/08

      marcueto

      No, I use Blogger.
      
      Thanks so much timethief.
6. 

   4/08/08

   timethief

   @marcueto
   You are most welcome.
   
   For wordpress bloggers there are two new anti-scraping plugins though I hasten to add that I have not tested their compatibility with wordpress 2.5 www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/01/16/two-new-anti-scrpaing-wordpress-plugins/
   There's also a group forming exposingsploggers.wordpress.com/about/

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7. 

   4/09/08

   firemanak

   well, i have done both, written and gotten permission, and then i have done inserts, but I make the title of the post, link back to the blog, i name the blog, which is a link, then follow up, with a short email, to the owner, showing them I wrote a review, or mentioned their blog, and give them the link, out of all the years i have done this, only one person asked me to remove my post...i wrote another email, their reply, they had been ripped off so much, that they didn't share anything with anyone...

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8. 

   4/09/08

   sephiroth2483

   that's the problem with the net, if you think you have a really good post you'd better sell it to a publisher so they'll take care of that

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