Posted by Peg in South Carolina
I know, this is Saturday. I don't post on Saturday (or Sunday!). But I found this post when I was looking for information on My Free Copyright. I had seen this on Leigh's latest post. Go here, to read it. As usual, she has done a great job. I was ready to jump through the hoop.
As I was looking through the sites that Google brought up on the program, I found this gem on the Zenhabits blog: "Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal my Content." Yes, I thought this post was going to be satire. It wasn't. Go read it. I liked it. What do you think?
"A Different Take on Copyright" was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 22, 2008. © 2008 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina
4 comments:
Interesting link. It reminds me somewhat of Kathleen Taylor's copyright notice ("About the Free Downloads" in her sidebar.)
I'm still trying to make some decisions about all this, now that I'm getting over the shock of having my own stuff stolen. I used to think it was rather egotistical of folks to plaster copyright notices all over their websites and blogs; that is until it happened to me. I feel that I give a lot of information away anyway, and I do it because I'm basically a teacher rather than a businessperson.
However, there is something disheartening about someone else claiming authorship of my work, or worse, making money off of it (that I can't make for myself!) The bottom line (to me) is that this is disrespectful behavior, and disrespect is absolutely unacceptable in my book.
I think the first question to be answered is, can you control what other people do? Ultimately, no. The second question is, do you want to try anyway, and, if you do, why? I certainly agree that this kind of behavior is wrong---though I certainly like the scenario that is suggested of someone stealing my work and creating something really great! University scholars in fields such as English, live much of their lives by discussing a writer's source material......... And where we are technologically today has happened because people continually build upon the work of others. I think I'd just rather be weaving (and blogging). Still, I know I would be just as angry as you if or when it happens to me.........(grin!)
I read the article you linked to with interest.
Don't know if you've seen my "copyleft" notice (right at the foot of my blog page, not on every post). As a former IP lawyer, and as someone who believes in sharing information I'm fairly relaxed (and I'm a passionate believer in open source software).
I don't put anything on my blog that I'm not entirely prepared to see used, abused, whatever. After all. it's very, very public, not private, not under my control. It's fully accessible to anyone in the world who can find a computer and the internet.
I choose to keep most of my life and my thoughts / ideas to myself. That way they are safe.
Would I be angry if I was in Leigh's position? No, I'm a cynic and my view of the internet is it is fundmentally anarchic. As I see it, Leigh started from a different view of the internet, and so I quite understand her shock and anger. Leigh has trusted, and her trust is betrayed.
Thank you for your comment Dorothy. Your point is well taken that one should not put anything out there that he doesn't want to see used. This is certainly the drill for email, which in reality is very public, and should be equally true for blogging, commenting, anything said on the internet.
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