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What We Can And What We Can't

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408

Quite some time ago I ran into an AR Member from South Florida, who was posting wonderful blog posts, and the only problem with it was that he used to copy the content from Miami Herald and paste it into his blog, and, of course, there was no attribution, nothing.

Well, attribution in this case is just an ethical point, it is not a legal one, and it does not mean that once you attribute it to the author and link to the source, everything becomes fine...

It does not.

The member took critique very personally and turned nasty, declaring that he was doing it as a service to his customers, and that he had the permission from the Newspaper. I contacted the newspaper, and they directed me to their Copyright page on their website.

This fight is long over, AR gods intervened, but I keep running into stolen content on AR and every time I confront «authors» (I think «author» of stolen content sounds hilarious), I get this same lame answer that members are doing it as a service to their customers. They are sort of good thieves, so it is perfectly OK to do it.

So, let's first look at what we actually can (using Miami Herald as example):

«5.2. License grant to access MiamiHerald.com

Subject to these Terms of Service, MiamiHerald.com grants you permission to access MiamiHerald.com and view the Content solely for your personal, non-commercial use. In addition to viewing Content online, you may electronically store a reasonable portion of MiamiHerald.com Content for your personal, non-commercial use by making a single electronic copy on your computer's hard drive, or a single copy on a disk or other media or a single copy in printed form. You agree, however, that you will not store or archive a significant portion of the Content or create a database using the Content.»

And here is what we can't:

«You will not in any way infringe or misappropriate any of the intellectual property in and to the Content accessible through MiamiHerald.com. This means you agree not to copy, modify, publish, transmit, create derivative works from, transfer, sell or display the Content, including logos, trademarks or service marks, or otherwise violate the proprietary rights of MiamiHerald.com or others except as expressly permitted herein.

You will not reuse, republish or otherwise distribute the Content or any modified or altered versions of it, whether over the World Wide Web or otherwise, and whether or not for payment, without the express written permission of The Miami Herald or a third-party copyright holder, except that in some cases you may use individual stories that appear on MiamiHerald.com as specifically designated by the functionality of MiamiHerald.com (e.g., e-mail a story to a friend or purchase the rights to reproduce a story for other use). In such cases we communicate such rights to you directly in the applicable portion of the Content.»

And let us try not to BS ourselves. You do not do it because of love to your customers. You do it because of:

You are too lazy to write your own content;

You think that nobody cares on AR;

Actually, you think that other members are plagiarists stupid, and do not see your gimmicks

You do it for points only;

And, of course, you can't care less about your customers after all... 

Comments (13)

MichelleCherie Carr Crowe .Just Call. 408-252-8900
Get Results Team...Just Call (408) 252-8900! . DRE #00901962 . Licensed to Sell since 1985 . Altas Realty - San Jose, CA
Family Helping Families Buy & Sell Homes 40+ Years

True! As someone who made my living for years as a freelance writer, this one really annoys me. Just comment in your own voice and post a link to the story!

Feb 26, 2012 03:17 PM
MichelleCherie Carr Crowe .Just Call. 408-252-8900
Get Results Team...Just Call (408) 252-8900! . DRE #00901962 . Licensed to Sell since 1985 . Altas Realty - San Jose, CA
Family Helping Families Buy & Sell Homes 40+ Years

FYI, I just subscribed to your blog & look forward to reading more from you. You can visit my blog at www.activerain.com/results. 

Feb 26, 2012 03:18 PM
Wayne Zuhl
Remax First Realty II - Cranford, NJ
The Last Name You'll Ever Need in Real Estate

"Serving their customers"??? Total bs, and you nailed the 5 actual reasons. Great post.

Feb 26, 2012 07:52 PM
Pat & Wayne Harriman
Harriman Real Estate, LLC (203) 672-4499 - Wallingford, CT
Broker/Owners, Wallingford CT Real Estate

Sounds like he's trying to be a blogging Robin Hood, robbing from the rich content owner and giving to the poor customer. He'll quit when the newspaper's High Sheriff of Nottingham comes looking for damages...

Feb 26, 2012 09:10 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Michelle - but this requires some action, while stealing is so tempting...

Feb 26, 2012 10:51 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Wayne & Jean Marie - lame excuse, like any other excuse, which is used to embellish the wrongdoing

Feb 26, 2012 10:53 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Pat & Wayne - I was thinking of using Robin Hood, and did not find the way, and I really like your comment.

Feb 26, 2012 10:55 PM
Mitchell J Hall
Manhattan, NY
Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn

An agent in NY posted 23 blogs on Trulia one morning between 8 AM and 10:45 AM. Every single post was  copy and pasted from either other blogs or main stream media outlets. I reported her to Trulia and sent a link of one blog to the original blogger since I remembered reading his blog a month earlier. Not sure what happened I haven't followed up.

Feb 27, 2012 12:43 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Mitchell - there is a climate of indifferency on the part of many people. I once contacted the author, whose article was republished on AR, and she said it is up to the newspaper to decide whether they want to pursue or not.

I am sure it will be getting more structured, and there will be law firms specializing on tracing plagiarism and offering their services with guaranteed collection.

Feb 27, 2012 01:09 AM
Mitchell J Hall
Manhattan, NY
Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn

Jon, the funny thing is every time I run across a plagiarizing agent their profile always states how honest and ethical they are. I suppose if you have no problem stealing you might as well lie about being honest too. LOL

Feb 27, 2012 02:07 AM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

Jon...our own POOR blog content is better that Slolen content.  Many times the public knows it and will judge you on your actions.

Feb 27, 2012 02:34 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Mitchell - this is excellent observation... I have noticed that and it was very puzzling. Biggest liars on AR run on honesty/inegrity wagon

they might even be "honest" as if they believe everybody is a liar, and they "steal" for the benefit of the public, they are good thieves 

Feb 27, 2012 06:10 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

William - it is not that they can't, it is that they donot want. So they steal because they are lazy, who are pretending to be thourough

Feb 27, 2012 06:11 AM