In the past when I have had content ripped off and paraded as someone else’s I have been much less sanguine. Who can forget the episode of Greg Passuntino who ripped a blog post, and then had his pretty picture and name by the text whilst his web site continued to leech the pictures from my own server. That was his mistake! Needless to say I didn’t waste time in swapping them around hahaha (don’t ask!).
Anyhow, Today I realise Museum Media in the Netherlands has done the same thing (original), but at least this time put my name on the post with a link to the original article on this blog.
What annoys me more than anything is that not only did they copy my words verbatim, but at no point did they bother to contact me to ask if they could use the content. How hard can it be to find an email and send a message to the author? Not at all. I frequently contact people whose content I use or whom I wish to quote in a blog post to ask for permission. It’s only courteous, and in this digital age of super inter-connectedness, hardly difficult.
Perhaps if someone from Museum Media is reading this, they might like to politely email me (me@vincentroman.com) and ask for permission to re-publish my original blog post, and if not I suppose they can benefit from the naming and shaming of this blog post. Shame on them!
Just yesterday I was having a discussion with a work colleague about copyright in the context of a discussion about disproportionate reactions from copyright holders, in this case sending excessively high demands for money. Is copyright right merely a means to and end? Anyhow, I am all for sharing. I have some 9000+ photos on Flickr that are licensed as Creative Commons. That being said, at no point on this blog does it have such a license, and although, listed as ‘All Rights Reserved’, doesn’t stop me sharing with those that ask politely – It’s not like I am asking to be paid.
Given the effort that goes into writing a blog post, not just the time, but the experience you draw on, versus simply pointing and shooting a camera at a bit of graffiti, for which I do not hold the copyright anyhow, I find it a harder pill to swallow. Moreover, I hate the idea of duplicated content across the internet, for SEO and other reasons. I have taken recently to summarizing posts in other places to help draw interest and traffic, so I know how quickly it can be done to summarize something, and if so, why not in this case rather than to simply copy and paste?
The internet craves original content, however much it has generated a mash-up culture, but to simply copy and paste content is a mortal sin. Working in an industry driven by ideas and in which you are only as good as your last award-winning piece, you need to strive to search out new things, and not merely regurgitate the old. Derivative work is a big NO-NO and anyone authoring their own blog should strive to do the same. It’s one thing to reference other authors and quote them, but to plagiarise or create 99% of your own post from theirs???
For those wondering, the copyright heart is from a much larger piece by graffiti artist ©opy®ight, shot in London behind the Old Blue Last and long gone :(
Share
I am, for want of a better word, a web developer. Practising since '96 and
focused on front and back-end work with a slant for optimisation.
I love music, art, and helping people, traits which I hope are borne out here.
Read more about me and this blog on the 
Roger Busschots Mar 12, 2010
Dear Vincent,
It was not at all the intention to do plagiarism or copyright theft as you can imagine. On the contrary. Then I must say that I did my best to reach you but I cannot find your email address on your blog, even your name is not in your About text. I apologize if you didnt want attention paid to your intersting blog and texts.
Roger Busschots
Museummedia