A few weeks ago the New York Times sent me an e-mail notice along with my online newsletter, informing me of "an exciting new opportunity." The "opportunity" turned out to be a chance to pay for access to its previously free op-ed columns. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by my good fortune.
My budget being what it is, I didn't sign up for a Select account and so, reluctantly, I gave up reading the editorials. However, some readers are more ... well, let's say resourceful: Web Users Try to Navigate Around TimesSelect. They're seeking out bloggers who are posting entire Times columns, making them available on their own sites for free.
Which brings me to the question: We all know posting copyrighted material is wrong. But do you think it is wrong to read content like this, if somebody else has put it up?
Update:
PS: Didn't mean to accuse or offend, certainly! Apologies if it seemed that way. Maybe I should have worded this better.
We're not talking here about the garden-variety posting of interesting clippings, pics, quotes or poems. The blogs in question seem to be using the Times' subscription-only columns to attract people to their own sites to read them.
I'm just curious about how others view the fact that people are actively looking for blogs that are doing that.
;-)
4 comments:
Hmmm... Is this what is meant by splitting hairs? ;) C. http://journals.aol.com/gdireneoe/thedailies
Hell, no. And printing copyrighted material may be wrong, but if one is not being remunerated, I don't see the harm. It's not like our blogs are famous ...
Mal
Hi Bon and Mal introduced your journal to me. Very interesting:o) Are you allowed to post an article if you say where it came from??? My friend was just in the NY times promoting his bodyrev thing. I usually do post something like that. But I didn't this time because they mentioned other exercise items in the article. I think only the BR one works so didn't want to change anything and post. Nice read:o) Take Care Deanna Johnson
http://journals.aol.com/jcrazytrain/healthandfitness/
Deanna asks, "Are you allowed to post an article if you say where it came from???"
Short answer: nope. Not if you're talking about republishing the whole thing, or supstantial parts of it.
"My friend was just in the NY times promoting his bodyrev thing. I usually do post something like that."
Now then. Would the word police come and knock down your door if you posted that section about your friend, within your own commentary about him and the article? Nah. Especially if the section is a small percentage of the article and is the jumping-off point for your own writing. Still, the less you reprint of it the safer you are. Links won't save you, but they're always good. Especially if you use them instead of copy/pasting the article.
Here's a link to a government pdf file about "fair use," which is really what you're asking about: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.pdf. You're going to need Adobe for that, but it's worth it. The four bulleted items are commonly known as "the four factors" to consider.
For the seriously curious, or the curiously serious, here's a page at Poynter.org that lists loads of useful links on the topic: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=49&aid=1145
Hope you find it useful.
:)
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