Comments on: The theft of ideas and content http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/ We provide clever, unique, and flexible solutions Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:33:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Todd McDermid http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-189 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:39:06 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-189 I agree with your position, Joe – but in general, I’m of the opinion that anyone who visits those aggregators will also be surfing around independently and will discover the plagiarism for themselves. That doesn’t make it right, but it probably does mean that the aggregator will likely lose readers as fast as it gets them.

@Karen and @Paul – ideas and facts aren’t “protectable”, nor would you want them to be. I can only assume that just about everyone feels the same as I do about granting a company some kind of monopoly protection related to a specific gene sequence…

Stronger copyright and patents aren’t “good” by definition. Both concepts need to balance granting a monopoly against the public benefit of spreading information. And I think we can all agree that spreading useful information is a big part of why we’re here. But it sure is nice to be asked first, and attributed.

]]> By: Jack Corbett http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-166 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:57:24 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-166 Excellent post Joe. This is definitely a tough subject. In my own personal writing I try to be careful when providing content so that I am not re-using someone else’s content without proper attribution.

It’s definitely worth writing about and keeping awareness up.

]]> By: Paul Randal http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-165 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:42:23 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-165 SQLServerKudos is the latest one to annoy me – I suddenly noticed tweets from it about my blog posts but pointing to their (advertizing laden) site. Grrr.

]]> By: brento http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-164 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:39:11 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-164 The aggregator thing is just infuriating. At SQLServerPedia, we bend over backwards to make sure we’re promoting the authors as much as possible. Seeing people just rip off authors without any attribution or promotion, totally for their own gain, has gotta be the biggest bummer on the Internet.

]]> By: Jonathan Kehayias http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-161 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:20:35 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-161 I am sure that I don’t really have to voice my opinion on this subject since I have been so out spoken about it on Twitter and in my own blog posts, but excellent post Joe. I am with you 110% on this subject. I make it a point to write key things and publish them where it is free to be read by all. If I wanted to someone to make money on those works it would first be me.

]]> By: Paul Randal http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-160 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:19:36 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-160 @Karen Stealing an idea is where you blog about something and then within 2-3 days there are a bunch of blog posts about the exact same topic expressing the same opinions as your blog post and claiming they just thought of it too. It’s happened to me quite a few times.

]]> By: Karen Lopez http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-159 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:54:29 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-159 I’ve also found instances of our content being re-published elsewhere, without permission and without attribution.

I’m tired of playing whack-a-mole with these sites.

I wonder, though, how one steals an idea?

I guess one could mis-represent an idea as being an original thought when it isn’t, but that’s not stealing an idea.

]]> By: pinaldave http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-158 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:15:13 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-158 I think I am fine with aggregation however, as Steve suggested it should be less than 250 words.

I am facing another problem here as my most of the post are less tahn 250 words already so I request them 150 words, if they say can not do that, I just do not allow it or file DCMA.

Btw, I really liked your take on this subject. Please keep it up.

]]> By: Paul Randal http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-157 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:05:04 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-157 Excellent post, and I couldn’t agree more.

It really annoys me when people rip-off my content blatantly, and just this week I came across a new ‘aggregator’ that was tweeting links to *their* website with my blog post titles. I don’t see why we need multiple aggregator sites – it just further confounds newbies when they’re looking for content.

For me, it’s doubly annoying – as Kimberly and I post a lot of content on our website and make a big thing of the site being totally free of advertizing. The most we get from having all the info out there is people recognizing our company – but mostly its about the community. And then for people to make use of the free content to build sites that either profit from advertizing or build their own kudos – very bad form.

Anyway, enough ranting. Nice post Joe.

]]> By: Steve Jones http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-156 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:13:23 +0000 http://webbtechsolutions.com/2009/08/16/the-theft-of-ideas-and-content/#comment-156 Thanks, Joe, for a great post.

It’s a battle out there, and one that requires judgment. I think aggregation is good, and it works, but it can’t include a republication of the content, even with credit or attribution.

If you do not have permission from the copyright holder, than you can include a short summary, I’d say 250 words or less and a link for aggregation.

The more disturbing trend I’ve seen is people building their own blog and copying word for word someone else’s posts.

]]>