Yes, you can be sued for stealing intellectual property

Have you ever looked for a news item, only to find the entire article embedded on some dang site that features way too many Google ads? This is theft. Plus, it forces readers, researchers and consumers to weed through endless crappy webpages to find the actual article or information for which they search. You must be vigilant, both as producer and consumer of Internet work!

Theft of intellectual property includes photos!
This includes photos on Pinterest and Facebook! I think it criminal that people 'pin' photos on that site, the image is stored on the Pinterest main drives, or they post it on Facebook, where Facebook has its own invented rights to reproduction. I go to Facebook to see what my friends are up to, not photos that interest them.

Public domain, Fair Use, Fair Dealing (Canada, UK), does not mean you can use anything you find. I have written much about this since 1989, when I first encountered students printing out an entire CD Rom on their major project topic, and calling it their own. 

Fair Use (US Law)

Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.

Fair Dealing (Canada)

The Canadian concept of fair dealing is similar to that in the UK and Australia. The fair dealing clauses^[1] of the Canadian Copyright Act allow users to engage in certain activities relating to research, private study, criticism, review, or news reporting. With respect to criticism, review, and news reporting, the user must mention the source of the material, along with the name of the author, performer, maker, or broadcaster for the dealing to be fair. 

Read more from a US lawyer: Nine Copyright Myths of the Online World.

There are many high-profile bloggers who run ads and take sponsors for their blogs, but most, like me, take photos for fun. I have sold a couple. It irks me to see photos stolen and used by someone else. We must take great pains to credit photographers and teach our readers that we have sought permission to post such photos.

You have to do the legwork, searching for photo credits, determining if the photos are Creative Commons, or not. Ed, a Muskoka blog buddy, has a fabulous 'Photo Use' page that outlines proper protocol, as well as good Netiquette.

I have had my photos stolen, as have my friends.
Read about Ed's issues:

I recently discovered my photos showing up on a Facebook page promoting a local Muskoka magazine. How I ended up on that Facebook page is another story. They opted about 3500 people into their group without anyones knowledge or permission, very surreptitious.  Anyhow, I am honored that people like my photos and share them with friends however in this case I noticed something rather peculiar. The watermarks I normally use to promote this blog were missing and replaced with someone else’s name.  That’s odd I thought and started thinking maybe someone took a similar photo but as I continued to search I found additional photos of mine with someone else’s name.

It takes substantial energy and cost to go after people who use photos without permission.
But some, with money and power can go to great lengths to do so. Have you read about BlogHer's issue? She was sued, and bitterly regrets her ignorance. Ignorance, however, is no excuse. She has come clean and writes a warning:

Blogger Beware: You CAN Get Sued For Using Photos You Don't Own on Your Blog

bit.ly/T1nnoo

One of the things I learned early on was that a post with a photo always looked nicer than one with just text. So I looked at what other people were doing for pictures.  And mostly it seemed that everyone was grabbing pics from Google Images and pasting them on their sites. Sometimes with attrib…

There is a service to help photographers who have been ripped off.

ImageRights

www.imagerights.com

ImageRights will check the sites it monitors against all of the photos you upload to your account.  Upload one time and your work is done.  We will report back to you when we find them being used online.

Check out Copyscape! Another useful resource.

Twitter ads – save me

I have a Twitter account. I believe in social networking. Not that I have much to market, and I don't play well with others, but I like keeping in touch, especially during those cold, frozen Muskoka winters, like Snowmageddon in Dec., 2009 (we had 60 cm of snow, other parts had 100+ cm). The Internet, specifically Twitter, kept me in touch with our recent federal, and more recent provincial election.

When turkeys fly from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Twitter is desperate to make money. I can understand it. The only reason Facebook exists now is to make money. Same with YouTube. I've since gone over to Vimeo, where I can control more of the content.
There are two ways to make a profit through Twitter.
Firstly, self-promoted, paid-for ads like this:

See the orange arrow?
"Promoted by" Official AARP Tweets.

I do NOT follow AARP. Firstly, it is the American Association of Retired Persons. But I can't block the ads. They are a pretty right-wing group, that engages in self-promotion: white, upper-middle class Tea Party afficionados. They have a Canadian group affiliate, which publishes US data, and the data simply doesn't apply in my three areas of interest: healthcare (a totally different US system from Canada), education (ditto) and politics (circle of influence).

The Canadian CARP, pretty much seems to flog itself, and it is owned by the Zoomer media group. A for-profit conglomerate owned by Moses Znaimer. This doesn't bother me, except that they engage in self-promotion and much government lobbying, while claiming that CARP is non-profit.

Back to Twitter...
The 2nd way individuals make money off of Twitter, is by being paid to pretend to be a real person and selling things. There are ubiquitous, no-name, tweets by people who do not self-identify. Companies have become smart and hire people to send out tweets on their company's behalf. Pretending to have found a terrific 'new' product or services.


This is pretty sad. Here is a great graphic, a timeline of the advertising Twitter began:

The History of Advertising on Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]

mashable.com/2011/05/26/twitter-advertising-infographic/

by Todd Wasserman -  26 May 2011 – Twitter has to make money somehow, and it won't be by charging for access. Here's an infographic explaining Twitter's foray into advertising.

Healthcare
The worst is in my area of advocacy: senior healthcare. Many self-promote by posting tweets about dire data, especially US-based healthcare insurance companies, or for-profit retirement homes, home care services, who are simply not unbiased in promoting their services to those with money. I tend not to follow those whose identities I cannot determine.

For more reading on big name stores:

Zellers is Killing Itself to Live on Social Media

The First Day of the Tim Hortons Twitter Account

Advertising Laws
The law says, in both the US and Canada, that if you are posting an ad, you must say so.
One of the CBC shows I follow is "The Age of Persuasion": and they then wrote a book, "The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture" Plus they have a good reading list on advertising.
An interesting show if you want to know more about how advertisers suck you in. When I taught media  literacy to my gr. 8s, this would have been an effective tool.

From an advertising lawyer:
The misleading advertising laws apply to "any" vehicle used to promote a product, no matter how minor in nature the promotional vehicle is.
The Canadian Code of Advertising Standards is clear. Even disguised advertising techniques are specifically addressed. Canadian consumers can and should submit complaints.

Movember

Slactivisim?

Advertising campaigns are taking into account the impact of Twitter. In fact, many of the fundraisers are doing so, too. Take the Movember campaign. On December 1st, there were a huge number of special galas for those who raised a significant chunk of change. This bothers me, as there is no information I can find on how much of there money actually goes to prostate research or services.
The Movember hashtag (#Movember) garnered a lot of attention, and managed to get a lot of men to encourage friends and family to contribute to the Movember fundraising. I don't know where the money goes. The Movember webiste is a bit vague. I believe this is slacktavism at best, and a waste of money at its worst, but there is no accountability for the money.

I tweeted, after listening to someone speaking of a party they attended with their boyfriend:
#Movember = December 1st: a series of GALA PARTÉS - is this where the money raised for cancer goes?
Yup. They sponsored big parties for those who raised big funds. Where is the accountability for such?

Is plagiarism, journalistic navel-gazing, becoming a trend?

Is it me? Or is on the rise? Or maybe it is just more easily found out? Certainly, my blog spam has increased. I've left Google+ because I had 29 strangers add me to their 'circles', which meant either blocking their stupidity, or removing their inane posts from my notifications. How ridiculous and what a time waster. If I wanted to waste time, I'd be doing that reading about people I like!



Plagiarizm or Plagiarism.
In the meantime, back to my point. Plagiarizm or Plagiarism. Depends upon where you live and write, or steal from!
Plagiarizing politician Koch-Mehrin outrages scientific community

Scientists in Germany convinced Silvana Koch-Mehrin to step down from the research committee of the European Parliament. She briefly joined the committee earlier in the week - after losing her Ph.D. due to plagiarism.
She is the latest German politician to lose her doctorate, since former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigned on March 1 after his Ph.D. was rescinded due to plagiarism that earned him the nickname "zu Googleberg."

German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism row

Imagine!

Then there was the Canadian medical school Dean who plagiarized a speech to grads. What was he thinking? He resigned as dean, but isn't gone, he's still a professor.

Med School Dean Resigns 

17 Jun 2011 – Philip Baker will stay on at the University of Alberta as a professor after admitting to plagiarizing a speech.

Should Law Grad Lose His Diploma for Plagiarized Speech?

20 May 2011 – Should Law Grad Lose His Diploma for Plagiarized Speech?

With the mess in the UK, journalists hand-in-hand with police, conducting illegal activities, I shudder.

Phone-hacking scandal spreads to other British newspapers

Jul 24, 2011 – Trinity Mirror group, publisher of Britain’s left-leaning Mirror tabloid, is facing allegations of intercepting voicemails

Journalism
Journalism has changed, too. Gone are the days when the journalists would write about the news, they didn't create, or become part of, the news. (This is different from investigative journalism.) Our local paper featured the first person account of one reporter who participated in the 2nd Annual Perth Kilt Run. Seems like navel-gazing to me. Dunno. First-person items that laud themselves, and their journey. I think one needs perspective to write about something as a paid professional. Blogs I can read at my leisure, newspapers delivered to my door I want to have facts and food for thought.

We have several big newspapers, all on-line in Ontario: Ottawa Citizen, and Toronto Star.
What I loathe about these newspapers is that their on-line presence now include time consuming videos, with ads, that slow down my getting information.

I wanted to see Jack Layton, as he spoke at his press conference, 'raw video' that would show his spirit and his demeanour. I had to wait through an ad for cars. The fine print reads, 'Advertisement: video wil start shortly'. What is a pain is that you can embed the video on your own blog, but the ad comes with it.

The big papers in Toronto and Ottawa do not feature many stories about surrounding areas. The Citizen is a little better than the Toronto Star, in that Perth will get covered, e.g., the young man killed in a hit and run [Fatal hit-and-run leaves town reeling July 25, 2011], or the Osgoode man killed in a traffic incident [Single-vehicle crash kills Osgoode man, 22]


But the Toronto Star is hard-pressed to cover a big region, like Muskoka, where a million people might travel on a long weekend.

I love the smaller, more local papers, like Perth Courier (Metroland Media), EMC news. EMC publishes in Smiths Falls, as well as Perth. They kindly featured a story about my interview with Dr. Brian Goldman.

Author's research aimed at caregivers

Posted Jul 14, 2011By Chris Must
EMC News - "It is possible to live and die with dignity, but it isn't always certain," writes Jennifer Jilks in the introduction to her book, Living and Dying with Dignity. Jilks, who recently moved to Perth after living in Toronto, Ottawa, and Muskoka.

I love seeing the sights of Ontario

Along that line: I just heard about a local non-profit blog: The Millstone

  The Millstone is an on-line community newspaper focussing on the town of Mississippi Mills which includes  Appleton, Almonte,  Blakeney, Clayton, Pakenham, and Ramsay Ward,  and on the town of Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada. It provides an intelligent and informed source of news and opinions. Its name pays tribute to the strong history of mills in the area.  

Beaverton memorials to mills
me an' Sir John!

The writers are members of the Almonte Press Club. I like this idea. Having been a published education writer, mentor, and workshop leader in Curriculum and Technology, I am keen on keeping my hand in sharing what I know, what I see and what I do.  (Yes, we old f@rts used technology in our work!)

No longer can I share opinions in the staff room, it is good to be able to discuss world events with remote friends. 

Copyright laws in Canada

There are some bloggers finding that they are prone to theft of their intellectual property. This include images and written content of all kinds. Sam, in Singapore, created a succinct post on this. He also told me to visit: Copyscape, to determine if your site has been plagiarized.

I think that most media would find it is a crime. When they pay a journalist to write a piece, how can a blogger just reproduce it? Which is what they are doing. I contacted a media outlet, and they did not seem too concerned since the blogger had posted the original URL location. But I think it a slippery slope. Fairness aside, when we can read the entire news article elsewhere, why not post a reflection on the article, with a link? You are not adding to the body of knowledge by recreating a news item word-for-word.

In my mind, many are happy to have you quote a few sentences, but some people copy the entire post. Some put a link to the original post. but I don't think that is good enough.  In my mind, we amateurs are not so much reporting news, as presenting a take or a rant on an issue. Even news 'reporters', the professionals, are embedding their work with bias and a left or right point of view.

Copyright Act - R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42 (Section 29.2)

29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned:

(a) the source; and

(b) if given in the source, the name of the

(i) author, in the case of a work,

Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Full Document:  

• HTML | 
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• PDF [758 KB]

Act current to 2011-11-14 and last amended on 2005-12-12. Previous Versions

If you put on your site that it is copywritten, then it is an infringement. I think the media must clamp down on this. You have to teach others how to respect your rights and stand up for yourself.

Lorelle explains what to do when you find your work has been stolen: talk to them, print out violations, request they do something. I would say demand it! I have blogged about plagiarism, an issue in universities, as well as high schools. I often had to teach students the difference between copying paragraphs and rewriting in your own words. Unfortunately, some parents did not see the problem! However, with incidences of Economic Espionage, we must be vigilant and set high standards across the board.

TIP:
One important thing for those with photos is to avoid putting such high resolution photos on that may be used by someone else. I keep mine, or try to, lower than 640 pixels.

Click on the icon to read about other points of view.

Plagiarism

Interesting issues regarding a clash between a Ryerson University professor and a student, who created a Facebook study group. I think this is not a culture clash, or, if it is, it is a clash that has endured over time: students aiming for top marks and professors attempting to assess and evaluate a student’s knowledge and skills. There is a huge difference between assessment and evaluation. To assess is to assign a mark. To evaluate you are gathering information about the student and the teacher and the teaching methods. ‘Homework’ seems to be a term mistakenly attributed to a chemistry experiment. Assessment may be a means by which the professor determines knowledge that is lacking on the part of the student(s).

The purposes of assessment are for accountability, feedback, and classification or certification of students. With the issues in post-secondary education, it is up to the professor to determine if the student has prerequisite knowledge. Many students go to higher education without the basics they need. I think the interview made a mistake, in that to have a technology expert to weigh in on the issues negates those who attempt to assess and evaluate students. The university wants to ensure that student gain knowledge, rather than just data, information and facts, and are able to apply them to their work. The professor made a mistake in that his evaluation of the assignment should be based on the work turned in, originally a B, and not the behaviour of the student. Likely he assigned an ‘F’ because he assumed that the student cheated.

There is a difference, too, between a study group where students have peers to ensure that students are assisted with gaining knowledge, or tutors who cleverly determine how to lead a student to knowledge, and website that provides answers to problems that must be solved and where learning may not occur. Facebook, being unregulated and unsupervised by parents, teachers, or others in positions of clarity, young people are doing what they ought not to do. The media attention is grand in that it will help students understand that sometimes they just have to do as they are told!