I just read an article on NPR by Linda Holmes titled The Day The Internet Threw A Righteous Hissyfit About Copyright And Pie which relates the recent story about Cook's Source magazine recently getting caught reprinting material gleaned from the Internet.
According to the article a food blogger by the name of Monica Gaudio found one of her blog posts in an edition of Cook's Source magazine, a free but ad supported periodical. Although the magazine gave Ms. Gaudio credit for writing the article, she was obviously upset that her material had been used without her permission and sent emails off to Cook's Source to inform them of that fact. Cook's Source editor, Judith Griggs, replied with an astounding email that leaves one shaking their head in disbelief.
Griggs claimed in her email to Gaudio that Gaudio should be pleased that her blog post had been chosen by Cook's Source for the magazine because it was now "professionally edited" and published. Griggs also claimed that the web is considered "public domain" and anything on it was fair game. Umm... no.
The Internet is a wild place with no police to enforce the rules, but there are rules and copyright is one of them. It may seem otherwise since both copying and reposting are rampant; heck just look at Facebook feeds, mine included. I have tons of pictures on my Facebook page that are not my own. It does seem though that a line has emerged on the Internet as to "fair use" of copyright. If you are copying or reposting for purely entertainment purposes, such as on a forum, then the masses see it as OK. If you are trying to generate revenue with other people's work, then it is not OK. Then there are the gray areas. When I make this post, it shows up on my Facebook page. This blog has ads (not that I am making money off of them, they were a 'why not' decision) so technically all of that reposted copyrighted material on my Facebook page could be considered as "revenue generating" because I post my blog to it. Of course I don't make a dime off of Facebook, I simply use it to let my small group of friends know when I make a new post. Am I infringing copyright?
Like can happen on the Internet, this story of an injured blogger and an arrogant editor caught and spread around the world. The idea that the all content posted on the Internet is public domain incensed many and the Web Vigilantes came out en masse. Turns out this incident of Cook's Source swiping content from the web was not an one off event. The faceless Internet masses found article after article that had been taken from the web without permission, though with credit given to the authors. The more troubling finding though were the photographs that were reprinted in the magazine with out compensating or crediting anyone at all.
According to the NPR article, no comment has been gleaned from Cook's Source nor Ms. Griggs, but the Internet has spoken. Cook's Source's Facebook page has exploded with the angered denunciation of the denizens of the Ethernet and I'm sure Cook's Source will have problems with marketing and ad sales in the future. There are so many facets to this story, the arrogance of the editor, the vigilante administration of "justice", the power of communications in the modern world, that it just fascinates me.
I hope you enjoy reading the linked article and I hope it gives you something to ponder like it did me.
~Occasional Hyker
