Many of you may be unaware of the Righthaven lawsuits which have affected some blog owners. They have trolled the internet and copyrighted different articles then sued individual blogowners for copyright infringement. Months ago I purged Flopping Aces of any reference to the papers they represent to protect myself and the website (I am also making up a terms of use soon) but I wanted to make all of you aware that they are now coming after those who comment. Go here for more, but for now….please refrain from putting up complete articles. Cut and paste a paragraph or two is fine, but not the complete article. If its from the following newspapers DO NOT link or paste anything from it. I would rather boycott these outfits rather then give them traffic. Also, since they are constantly adding different newspapers to the list of those they represent please send, or comment, any link you find with a current list so I can purge the site.
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This is going to encourage me to go back to putting things in my own words and telling anyone who questions that to ”go do the research I did and you will find it!”
I used to only do that….and not JUST because I had no idea how to create a link (still don’t).
But Liberal babies made so many demands that I do their homework for them I just got into the habit of backing up every assertion with a link.
OK, then.
School’s out!
Do your own research, folks.
Links and putting up a paragraph or two is cool Nan…just not the entire thing and nothing from the sites they represent. They even tried to sue Drudge, and DummiesU (democraticunderground.com)…DummiesU fought back tho because they have the money. Not sure about Drudge.
Nan G, don’t abandon the links. If you don’t feel comfortable using the link short cut tools, then just paste the link with the http code right into your comment. People can still get to here from there.
Curt, unless you constantly list and update the prohibited sources I would just as soon let others do their own homework, if they cannot trust what I write.
No way I can figure out how to block those papers….and one of them is my local paper!
Curt,
Does the filter software have the ability to capture and stop hyperlinks to those sites from being posted?
That might be one way to prevent leaving bait for the copyright trolls.
This is unbelievable. Sounds like these lawyers are snorting from the same table that the RIAA was sitting at. Or maybe these “Righthaven” dudes are just the waiters. At any rate, perusing through the files, I found this one –
Righthaven LLC v. Johnson et al
Share | Plaintiff: Righthaven LLC
Defendants: Charles W. Johnson and Rad Geek Enterprises
Case Number: 2:2010cv01534
Filed: September 9, 2010
Is that the same Charles?
Oh my.
They’re also suing Sharron Angle. For using the Las Vegas paper in her campaign against Reid.
Tort reform – a job for the new Congress.
Wouldn’t it be easier/cheaper for all those news organizations to simply remove all of their web pages?
Why be here on the web, if you don’t want anyone to share the news you proclaim?
It’s like if a Town Crier took ownership of all of the news he screamed out everyday.
Nan G, you are an excellent researcher; don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Using short quotes and acknowledging sources has been going on for two hundred years. We just need to be careful and use our own interpretations of material. This is also a two way street, it will only work against us if we allow it to work against us.
Thanks for the information. Linked at the Conservative Hideout.
No subscribers, need money quick. Newspapers and the media in general are so over it’s getting funny.
Maybe we just have way too many lawyers?
@Nan G:
On the one hand, it is their writing and it legally belongs to them. They paid their journalists to write it, you/we did not. On the other hand, this is the Internet. Once posted it is like posting it to a bulletin board in a community centre for all to read. Would they stop us from making a photocopy and posting to another bulletin board in another community centre? Funny you should ask — a print shop refused to make a copy of a comic strip a few years ago on the grounds that they could not copy more than 10% of it without violating copyright. What about music? Surely you can play music you bought and paid for. Yes…but it is illegal to copy it. And it is illegal to play it in a public place without paying royalties (I am not 100% certain how the law defines a public place, so someone might want to help ot on this).
So, taking someone else’s words and publishing them on your blog, without their express permission, gets pretty sticky.
Curt, thanks for posting this. I have submitted it to http://www.blokube.com/user/history/amabaie so that other bloggers will see it, too.
If you want to guarantee that your newspaper never be more than a bit player on the net, the best way to do that is to prohibit people (or deter people) from linking to or quoting from your paper.
Good to know. I’ll spread the word.
David L.,
I know what you’re saying is true.
BUT the big difference between music, original art and NEWS is vast.
FACTS are NOT copyright-able.
This has already been adjudicated.
In fact, AP sued during WWI over the other news outlets that were taking and spreading the facts they were reporting through AP.
AP lost.
So, if I glean through an article and post the FACTS from the article, the idea that I link it to a specific newspaper is just a convenience for a lazy reader to check.
Better for me to simply link to a search page on which like stories are listed.
Let readers of my facts sift among those listed sources and find out whether I posted something true or not.
What is unfortunate for me is local news.
I am in a city of ~1million.
We have a newspaper.
But it is on the list.
Often, very often, facts about local happening are ONLY going to be found (on the web) in that one place.
Curt
Maybe you could make that list a sticky for the front page.
The suits are usually settled for amounts “under 5 figures??” Apparently Righthaven is a school for Ambulance Chasers In Training.
I also hear that people are being sued for comments on blog if they harm a person or business. If it is not true, or may not be true, do not post it! Lawsuits are not fun.
Is in it the way to begin censoring the blogs? It always start with one snowball, and the whole gang will expand to stop the freedom of blogs discussions, and limit the comments formats, to uninterresting notes.
who are those lawers working for? anyway, who is their employer, is it the NEWSPAPER owner,
or some agency representing the GOVERNMENT? INFRINGING into the RIGHTS of THE AMERICANS,
IS an OFFENCE by itself.