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How Does It Feel To Be a Plagiarizer?

We blog so we can give the consumer information regarding the Real Estate Industry, our Local Areas, Businesses while giving them a bit about ourselves. It's a shame when one of those consumers reads something and then Googles it to look for other articles and finds out it's on another website too...written by another person. Or they see the same picture from one author or site and then see it on another. Shame, shame, shame.

It's stealing...it's plagiarism and you could be sued or heavily fined!

We talk about transparency and writing as if we're 'talking' with the person. Through our writing the reader will determine just how sincere and REAL we are. Especially when they finally pick up the phone and contact us. You better be like the person in those stories you're 'writing' lest the reader loses interest...REAL QUICK.

We write OUR OWN words and use our own pictures.

This is the whole essence of blogging with ORIGINAL content so everyone who reads will ‘feel' a bit of who we are as a person as well. If you cut corners and steal, borrow, copy or even think that just because you ‘gave credit' to the photographer or the writer...it's wrong if you didn't get written permission.

In our industry we get EVERYTHING in writing.

Following are wonderful 'oldies but goodies' for those that THINK they are above the law:

Taking a stand of copyright violations by the Active Rain Real Estate Network This can have a very adverse effect on the community as a whole and must be stopped.
TLW (The Lovely Wife) wrote about If You Think It Can't Happen To You...You'd Be Wrong About That...ROAR! and copyright laws when it comes to PICTURES IN YOUR POSTS on your blog. Read why she and BB are very careful about what pictures they insert into their posts.
PLAGIARISM, COPYRIGHT AND GOOGLE JUICE is one article of Lenn Harley'sthat IS a must read. One of the points Lenn states is: "Distain for the law. The copyright law doesn't apply to them or it only applies of they get caught and then only if the owner of the intellectual property is willing or able to enforce their copyright."
"A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words? How About a Thousand Dollars?" Community Guidelines Re-Visited Rich Jacobson explains that ‘this guideline is extremely important, and will help to keep your hard-earmed money where it belongs and your butt out of court. It reads as follows: Respect copyrights. Only upload content/images that you have the right to use (what you have paid for or own), and whose copyright rules allow for commercial use.'
Blog Photos: How to use images from the Internet and not get sued Kathy McGraw opens a group in Flickr where they use the ‘Creative Commons License' for people who truly want to share and allow commercial use. Check it out here: Foto Share Shop for Bloggers

Just as in our business.......

Think Twice and when in doubt......ASK!

Note: Be assured that the consumer and other professionals are wondering...what kind of professional do I want representing me?

Posted by Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman HAWAII Relocations & Real Estate on 10/21/2009 09:21 PM

Comments (124)

Plagiarism in the ActiveRain Channel

plagiarism, games people play, activerain community guidelines, activerain community support

Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
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Post is included in group: POSITIVE ATTITUDE for the Weary Soul
Post is included in group: Diary of a Realtor
Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies

124 Comments on How Does It Feel To Be a Plagiarizer?

OCT

Sally- And Lenn will sue their pants off! Great points to take into consideration except that may be preaching to the choir:) I think that when one of our own does this most of the time they just don't know this is a no-no. The spammers and those who intentionally do this are not ever going to have a conscience to do anything about stopping:) Congrats on the feature too! Love the way that gold star looks on you:)

Katerina: Well, maybe this will help those that really don't know to understand. Well, those spammers and intentionally plagiarize will get a conscience quick when they get a lawsuit.

Thanks Sally. I had no idea how careful you had to be. Certainly the writing needs to be your own, but borrowing a neat graphic? Had no idea. Thanks so much for sharing and saving me a few bucks!

Diane

Thanks Sally. I had no idea how careful you had to be. Certainly the writing needs to be your own, but borrowing a neat graphic? Had no idea. Thanks so much for sharing and saving me a few bucks!

Diane

Sally - Great reminder that we should not used other people ideas. I have seen some of them at AR but I think they are fairly new to AR and maybe they don't know the rules. Congrats on the feature.

Hi Sally. You know, this happens frequently here at Active Rain! I see the X shown on their posts. Many of the ones copying the material from another site is still UNAWARE... they also don't read posts like this one..... (I've even pointed this out to a few of them personally.... they didn't get it!)

Diane Donnelly: It's a good reminder and read some of those posts.....Lenn really has some good points too.

Rosalinda: It's not the ideas but the blatant copying word for word or taking someone's picture.

Diane: I know and I think we still have the crusader but if all of us would flag them it would help out a lot! Yeah...they just don't want to get it...and when someone is given a heads up and they ignore it....well, it just shows what kind of 'professional' they are not.

EXCELLENT advice, Sally! I just had one of my posts used--and the very next day at that!! I could NOT believe it--my first thought, why would they want to steal from me? Then, I got mad--I thought of the time I put into the post and realized that they had not only stolen my 'thoughts' from me but, my time as well.

I say--Keep up the crusading!

Hi Sally - I called out (quietly and privately) one blogger who posted another's post verbatim, while leaving out the signature lines at the end of the original post. Her response: She wanted to "re-blog" it, but the person didn't have reblogging activated, so she just copied it into her blog so that she wouldn't upset the original poster. What?!?!?

She did remove it from her blog after my call, but as we all know, she will continue to have it show up on search engines for some time. And I don't know if she understood my patient explanation of copyright.

With the Internet it has become very easy to plagiarize. You have to be very careful, and sometimes it is hard.

Its amazing how often I see this happening on blogs. I often use blog posts of others as inspiration for posts of my own. However I write my own material. I also link to other people's posts or source materials or attribute authors. Its not difficult, but many people are simply lazy.

Sally...

While casually searching the Internet the other day I found about 40 of my photos on various websites without proper accreditation. Fortunately, none were AR members, but it galls me that they think they can get away with it!

I've been seeing a lot of plagiarism lately on political posts. Rainers need to understand that checking the red x (or 'kersplat') to indicate that it is not their original content does not excuse them from following basic copyright and use rules. I would hope the AR Team processes plagiarism flags before all others.

Sally, I came across a competitors site the other day that was using two of my Lake Livingston photos. Actually, I liked it at first but then realized that they should have asked. I try and take my own photos for all my marketing but for blogging I like to use photobucket and google images. They make it clear that you can RE-BLOG them for lack of a better word for it.

I remember when AR announced (and Lenn) that the copywrite laws were clear. After reading, hundreds of us went back and deleted photos. It's a learning curve for sure!

You take such beautiful photos and video. You should keep your eyes peeled! Your competitors will be looking over your shoulder! Good to see you here.

Deb

Sally -

Great job compiling those top 5 must read blogs!

Being original is difficult; as a former freelance writer, I know what you are talking about. Sometimes people "forget" but it goes back to the Golden Rule.

Thanks for the information. I am fairly new to this and will watch carefully. By the way, you have a pretty name!

The words are my own (or properly sourced) and I always try to use my own pictures or from the public domain. Thanks for the blog information!

Sally, They don't care a bit, the people that steal OUR work. One even blamed ME because I had an RSS feed. I've found that you can't do anything without paying a great deal of money to an attorney. And I'm so close to doing it because the same person now has THREE articles of mine (with no mention of me) on his site. Unbelievable.......

There is so much Public Domain stuff on Photobucket and other such sites, why use copyrighted?

Sally, thanks for putting all this informaiton in one place, especially for newbies to see. I had read most of the posts already, but will check out a couple of them.

Sally, Thanks for the reminder. I often see blogs that I believe to be copied from other blogs or magazines. I think it is really sad that people in our profession stoop so low!

Sally, and what about the "bloggers" who pay someone to write their stuff. Oh, and the same stuff shows up around the country.

I agree that plagarism is bad and should not be tolerated. However, it can be self defeating. Many of these plagarists only copy articles so that their own web site has content which they hope will increase their standing on google and drive people to their web site or blog. However, if it is not original google will ignore it. They have accomplished nothing.

Hi Sally... there are people who repeatedly plagiarize material from the internet and post it... everything from "DIY" articles to funny stories taken from a copyrighted website. Just because you are helping people by offering "how to" instructions or passing along something that you find cute or humorous does not make it acceptable to plagiarize.

Sally - it's a shame we have to keep talking about this, but we do. I continue to see it, and find my own things taken from time to time. I also ALWAYS discuss it when teaching blogging foir agents and small business owners. Actually just was interviewed on this and related issues for a future mag article.

Jeff

Sally, thank you for the reminder. So many of us don't realize that using someone's photos without permission is just WRONG!
Hanna

Thank you for the very important reminder! In my book, it's like ANY OTHER PART OF THIS BIZ.. If you are not genuine and you steal anything, it WILL catch up with you.

I feel very fortunate that I own a ton of clip art. I worked as a print graphic artist for 7 years *in my former life, and I never toss anything. I have a ton of stuff that I scan and use. And while I do occassionally pull a quote... I always give link back and credit. I'm not so sure I would have thought about it, but because I'd read a few of the "must read" items on your list... I did think about it. Now I'm off to read the ones I've missed.

OCT

hi Sally, re "Think Twice and when in doubt......ASK!"... Absolutely! 99% of the time when someone asks to use my images I say yes. The key is that they asked first!

If you see somebody else named Celeste, do you sue them for copyright infringement?

I used to use any photo from Google images thinking they were free for everyone. I have learned so much at AR. Thanks for posting this. It is a great reminder.

I'll be back tomorrow folks...the contest just ended so had lots to do!

Who wants to answer #32's Question?

If you see somebody else named Celeste, do you sue them for copyright infringement?

Copyscape is a useful free online tool. Just copy and paste your text into the box provided, and the program gives you links to all the the websites that match.

Then string'em up.

Sally, thanks for the post. I didn't know how easy this could happen. Gonna pay close attention.

I would caution one against making too many presumptions, though. For example, recently I gave our ActiveRain community full approval to use my "pesky home inspector" list. I did not place any limitations on how someone can use my list, nor do I require that they acknowledge me as the source. They are free to "plagiarize" me until their hearts are content. That, of course, presents a quandary for me.

What if someone finds my list on my site and theirs? Perhaps they'll look at the date to see who had it first. But is the damage already done? Should I not allow any of my work to be used freely for the common good? Hmmmmm.

Additionally, my list has been around for about seven years, and I have given about 10,000 home inspections over at the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors free reign to use it as their own, too.

Much of what I do is like that. If you find it on my web site, in my ActiveRain blog, or anywhere else that I visit on the Internet, and you think it can help you, you should feel free to use it. If you'd like to tell me you're using it, great. If you'd like to acknowledge me as the source, that's great, too. If you'd just like to make off with it, that's also fine.

I'll return to my previous question, though. If I post it somewhere and give people the freedom to use it without acknowledgement, and they do, does it damage both of us if someone finds both of us?

And problem grows. .as the Internet grows. Personally if you feel that my picture taking abilities merit you using it one of my pics on a blog talking about your grandmother. . you are welcome!

Hi Sally, I have "googled" a few posts I ran across and been very surprised at what I found. More like disappointed to be honest. Russel does bring up a very interesting point though, we need to be very careful about judging others if the work used was not our own. If I am not the victim, without research, and extensive research in some cases, judgement should be deferred to an expert. Interesting thoughts Russel, you do tend to stretch the mind. And it is a conundrum!

And oh oh, let me let me answer!!! @ Aaron, spending so much time writing and taking pictures, I for one do not appreciate anyone that uses my "stuff" without asking. At the end of my post it says that most likely I will say yes, but ask me. It is my work, I spend blood, sweat and tears over my work. My being the key word. But more to the point Aaron, the problem is that the law takes it seriously. (Just ask Lenn Harley how serious she takes it.) People get sued over this very thing and usually those who are the offenders pay a heavy fine. I hope you will rethink this because we here take it very seriously. :( Perhaps you were just funnin us???? So many people share so much of their ideas here, give away so much, it is just the right thing to do to ask before you use something. UNLESS the reblog button is green and you do it the proper way, LOL.

Sally,
Nothing to add -- you said it all and very well. But, perhaps Lenn can add something. LOL!

Sally,

Good information here thanks! We teach a few social networking workshops and this info will benefit everyone!

Paul G. Guenther

Sally:

It still amazes me when I see someones blog post that has obviously been "copied and pasted" from a magazine article or something else from the Internet. I wonder just what that blogger is getting out of doing that - Google juice? It is not worth it when a prospective client realizes just how unoriginal (and thoughtless) that person is.

I appreciate the fact that AR has the reblogging feature. When people reblog my posts I like it because it is spreading my name and information around and that is the right way to do it. There is no excuse for plagiarism.

Great information. Thanks also for posting the links to other blogs on this topic; I'll definitely check those out.

-Scott

This is probably the most informed group of people around, when it comes to this topic. And yet many of us find ourselves being plagiarized by our fellow Activerainers. In one case, a long-time member who happens to also be an attorney (No, not Brian) copied one of my posts in its entirety for a mass email. Little did he know one of the recipients would recognize it and forward it to me. Now THAT is someone who knows better. In most cases, however, I believe it is ignorance - and we just have to educate, as you have done here.

Great job, Sally!

I've sort of been through this myself. I used to sell children's clothing on ebay fulll time. I can't tell you how many times my picutures and descriptions were used/stolen. Ebay does nothing about it. The other sellers didn't respond to my complaint so, I used to change the URL on the pictures with a porn pic. Ha, that'll teach 'em!

I know the other day I re-blogged Debe's blog because it was a great post! But, I did put Re-blog in the title and I hope I did that right.

Unfortunately those that plagarize and violate copyright don't care. Until they are hit with a letter from an attorney with a huge fine to pay they will continue.

I see it on here more than I should...The ones who cut and paste political commentary without attribution to the verbatim source. The thing that is amazing is it is not always the newbies who are just "learning!"

It's amazing to me to see things posted elsewhere that I know are not original though I have not seen this with any of my posts (so far). Could be that I write too MUCH like I am talking to someone! Sally, it's god to see you again and thanks for posting the info links!

Sally - It's disgusting and those who participate should know better. I recently experienced plagiarism from a Realtor and an attorney--one posted my entire blog in their web letter, and the other posted 75% of it on Zillow. I emailed both and have yet to hear from either one. Interestingly, both are new AR members.

I make a point of gving credit where it is due, and use quotation marks often. I think that rather than plagarize an article or post, if you give credit it is more impressive, becasue it shows that you are searching for information and using good sources.

Sally,

Thanks for an extremely well written and to the point post. Giving credit where credit is due and asking for permission is a must to keep you out of trouble.

Sally,

Keep it up. I sometimes worry that a comment or phrase I use may have been something I heard or read a few days earlier without realizing it. I have found it reassuring to post first then do my daily blog reading. I believe that helps keep my thoughts clear.

You know, I believe most people would be flattered to be asked for their information to be used, but it is insulting to think another "unoriginal" person would hold himself/herself too good to be considerate of someone else and simply ask. Isn't that exactly why we have jails and fines?????

GOOD MORNING SALLY! I didn't think this happened anymore! Especially with photos! A couple times I wrote something and then down the road saw that someone else wrote something really similar - or at least had the same thoughts as I did - only different words. If I see it, I write the person and tell them that I had the same thought process just so they don't think I copied them. Good reminders for us all! -- Gabrielle

Sally, thanks for the "oldies but goodies list"...I will be reading them.

Webmaster and agent alert! - Who Owns the Material on Your Web Site? (Copyright management - is there intellectual material theft on your web site?)

http://www.carolyne.com/websitetheft.html

One way to know if your blogs are being used elsewhere is to set up Google Notifications.

I'm still considering myself "newbie" and I know I'll make mistakes. This is an excellent post and I'll be reading all of the others mentioned.

I hope if anyone sees me doing something wrong here on AR, you'll let me know QUICKLY! I don't want to be in a position for a law suit. I know I'll be much more aware after today.

Woo-hoo: Right on with this. I saw a post the other day that I KNOW was a copy and paste from somewhere else...and then to see all the comments on how wonderful it was; blah, blah,blah. IF I were that Realtor, I'd crawl in a hole and hide.

Probably need a post like this every day to keep the stealers at bay...or actually fine them.

Great reminders! Always ask and get it in writing if it is not yours!

I don't understand this with the ability here to reBlog. If the info is valuable then share it through that avenue. If you don't have permission to use a photo don't and if you do then you should give credit where credit is due. AAAGGGHHH!

AR still new to me.... I hope this does not apply for re-blog? Thank you for the information.

I guess it happens quite alot. Don't know how to stop it.

Patricia

I want to say that it is perfect OK to use 'ghost writing'. Obviously you can't claim it's your own. Why do you care if someone pays for an article or post? In fact there are people here on AR that get paid for their posts elsewhere & put them here also. Writing is a job.

Another point about Copyscape, it's not as thorough as one might believe. I've done a post on that recently and what I discovered shocked me. What it should find it doesn't! So it's not a fool proof bullet as everyone thinks. I can't even cite it's accuracy percentage - but 'not much' is not a number.

How about when you read a fabulous featured post and then find out you're reading the same thing in the Chicago Tribune or Wall Street Journal from days before? 100% copied with no source named and it gets featured and the guy congratulated!

Back to the word 'Celeste' or the phrase 'location, location, location'. Who said that famous real estate phrase? Does anyone know or site the originator? Would you sue for Celeste?

I've copyrighted 'The Blog Dog' and it's unbelievable the stuff and people who use that phrase. I could spend all my day policing stuff like that if I thought it was worth it. Lenn might know if it truly is worth it?

Sis - In this day and age, there's no excuse for blatantly plagiarizing stuff. After all, the chances of getting caught are pretty darn good. Short-cuts generally lead to long-term pain. Personally, I don't know anybody in their right mind who would plagiarize my stuff/style.

Sally,

I know all to well about plagiarism, because it's happened to me in a very damaging way. I am the owner of a business that creates marketing materials for mortgage professionals (flyers, postcards, etc.). Over the last 10 years I have designed and created hundreds of items that I offer access to through a membership service. One day I found out about a new competitor that was offering the same service and that competitor had samples that could be downloaded from their website for the purpose of review. So, I downloaded a number of the samples and came to find out that my EXACT content (verbiage, wording, text) had been stolen and used on a large number of this company's flyers. I don't want to comment about the legal side of this situation in a public forum, but I can tell you that a lot of damage has been done. I've experienced a big loss in sales all because some lazy people thought it would be easy to throw some mortgage flyers together, steal content and make a quick buck.

I often also wonder how it feels to be a plagiarizer and conciously steal someone else's work. They certainly can't feel any satisfaction or pride in what they've done. Especially when they're profitting from it. Well, at least they can't steal our pride.

When I get information about a community or my general market area........ I ALWAYS put that information into my OWN words............. when i use pictures I did not take I ALWAYS give credit to the person I got the picture form.....

It is just good sense...........

AND good business.........

=-)

My very first post, I wrote on property taxes and special assessments and someone did it to me. Okay he changed it a little but I could tell it was scripted and posted from my post. Here is the worst thing, his got much more notice on google because it was my first post on Trulia and I didn't really know what I was doing or how to position myself on search engines (still don't, lol).

I am new but always do my best not to use anything that would insult or copy someone. Thanks for the reminder to all of us!

Woo-Hoo: I re-blogged this... hope it's okay. ? :-) Looks like all the Re-Blog buttons are gone.

Good reminder - especially with so many new to blogging! Thanks for all the links back to those great posts, too:)

There will always be people breaking the law... The trick for pictures is to put a digital signature on them with the copyright info. For the MLS, they do not allow identifiable information, but for AR or any other public site, no reason not to write Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved, your name, your website address at the bottom of every picture you own...

Sally,

I remember feeling outraged when I saw our posts on a wevsite, word for word. In the comment, I asked why the authors were not mentioned? That comment was deleted.

Now, we look at it as a form of flattery as well as someone who thinks so poorly of themselves that they take someone else's work. Our blogging platform time stamps and dates all our posts, and all the original material prior to making it on line is also time and date stamped. It is easy to show the authorship of anything we post, and I am sure that holds true for everyone else.ur

Your authentic voice cannot be duplicated, mimicked or copied, yes, but it still will not be YOU!\

Wishing you continued success, Alexandra

To answer Russell about the harm with multiple uses of the same article/post, the only harm could go to the original editor of the post. Even if the "paper-trail" shows that you are the original poster, if a more authorative site used your post, they might get the google juice from the content and not you, the original poster. There is no guarantee Google will hunt down that original post date and give credit where it is due.

Although I've stopped worrying much about Google's main index vs. the supplemental index, I want to make sure my articles/posts appear on the main index with my originating web site - not some more authorative site that stole my post.

Great post, with a lot of great info! Thanks!

I have always believed that blogs should come from the heart, of the person posting. In a way, it is a daily journal or diary representing the thoughts of the person. Most of the online media encourages sharing news articles and each should be credited with the attachment. Copywrited materials should not be included without the creator's permission.

Oh wow, I cannot thank you enough for this. I have been fretting about what 'proper' blogging is regarding theuse other published information. I do a lot of research for my job and have PLENTY to blog about, but the vast majority would involve quoting many sources. I appreciate you taking the time to share this with us.

-Joe

I used to work in publishing. Believe me, copyright infringement is a big deal in publishing. I've been in on some lawyerly discussions with higher-ups on this, and from what I remember, professional writers get paid for their words, and therefore have something to lose financially. Unpaid bloggers have losses that are virtually impossible to quantify. If you take pictures in a public place of something that's part of nature, the landscape, or the cityscape -- without family or friends in the photo -- and another person was able to basically re-create the same photo by chance, then you are unlikely to have true copyright infringement.

That's the bad news. Want the worse news?

Even if you are paid for your words or photos, the costs associated with suing for copyright infringement are astronomical, the cases often are nearly impossible to prove, and there is rarely money available to get from the perpetrators.

Of course, I heard all this from lawyers on retainer from a company I worked at a long time ago, but I feel confident it's likely still true. (Isn't it funny how lawyers on retainer suddenly like solid cases to sue over, yet lawyers yet to be paid will sue over anything and convince you that you have a case? Food for thought)

Sally,

Thanks for the great reminders and re-blogs! It never hurts to re-read great information!

Kathy Opatka

Thanks for this post.

If one copies another's words or content of any sort, people who know you will know that it is not your true voice. And, future clients may also pick up on that. It is important to be original and true to yourself.

Sally,

Right on! Agree! For those who way "what can I/we do about it" as if to lament we are powerless, I disagree.

We are the professional. Those who plagiarize are not. NAR and other professional groups and MLS Boards need to step in and get tough.

AR needs to also...been beating this drum for some time and they will not or cannot step in and take action.

This hurts us all and action is needed.

Dominick

Sally, you've raised an interesting point, as have several others here. I've never been the one to "cut and paste" a blog - that's just being intellectually lazy, and I hate that. I have reblogged a few that I thought were worthy, but plaigarism is something that I have to teach as a no-no to my history students, so I wouldn't dare be caught plaigarizing myself.

Photos, on the other hand, hmm... I may need to do something like Matt Stigliano does when he posts pictures that are not his - a "courtesy of" line beneath the photos that I've gotten from Google and where they originated from. Otherwise, I would need to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to create or take pictures, clipart, etc. of my own that match exactly what I am trying to say in my blogs.

Looks like you picked a good subject by the response. There is so much room for abuse that there will always be abusers. People will always find a loophole.

Hi Sally,

This is a great post.

I'm a part time college professor, since my passion has always been writing, and I can tell you that each course at least two students get "busted" for plagiarzing their work. Further, as an author, I am very cognizant about the need for great care.

I do like that some Active Rain folks post something that I know consumers in my area will like, so when I see the little "reblog" button I push it, BUT THEN, I proceed to explain who and where the article came and how I thought my readers might enjoy it too. Hopefully, that's the right way to do things.

Thanks again for mentioning this important topic!

Tamara

I have never copied content. I did not fully understand the picture issue when I first started, sometimes I went overboard trying to get permission to use stuff. I did not understand the Creative Commons on Flickr. But I am real careful now.

I think it is easy for new bloggers to get confused and make honest mistakes. I had someone call me the other day and ask who writes my post!!!! I had to explain several times I do it myself!

Sally, I'm blown away by the volume of comments. I'm blown away by the number of articles AR's have written about copyright infringement. And, yet, it continues to happen within AR and beyond.

I'm sure I've done so inadvertently, and, knock on wood, not been called for it, yet. When it happens, I hope that I can display the humbleness of BB and TLW. TLW says it's less expensive that way :-) But, it is also the way of integrity.

Oh, I often wonder how people are able to track down violations of copyright and plagiarism on the internet. Maybe I should be tracking the information I've posted.

Sally, thanks for the lists of posts--I've missed some of them.

And thanks for mentioning Foto Share Shop, and to Scott, #21 who mentioned Photobucket.

Sally-- great post and I really appreciate the resources. One thing though, about finding the same picture on another site...

I download images from istockphoto, and when I download them, it tells me how many others have downloaded that picture. Sometimes it's zero and sometimes it's 100. Anyway, I went to a website that I use regularly and the same photo of the same guy was their computer expert, and I have him as a mortgage broker! Funny. We are both using it legally though.

Russel: Bottom line is there are laws and though I might consider the use of my pictures I do want them to ask me. I spend a lot of time running around taking photos so I AM ABLE to have them on my blogs, so I WILL be original with not just the content but with the pictures too. There are also some that I use from a software program I bought but they DO have a disclaimer what and what not to use them on...and which ones we CANNOT use. (cartoons with copyright, pictures of people if using the pictures)

And so the bottom line....when in doubt...ASK.

You may not care if everyone uses your lists and so forth ....and that's you. I do. I put the work into my posts and the pictures and though I don't mind someone using the same topic but putting it into their own words ...I feel it is just plain laziness to copy and paste someone else's work and claim it as their own.

Blogging is about being transparent and giving the consumer information that is honest.

How else do you think so many successful bloggers get business from their blogs?

Remember folks.....even giving credit to someone's pictures ....WITHOUT GETTING PERMISSION is not right either. YOU HAVE TO GET PERMISSION from the owner.

Sally, Great post and so on point! I saw a post the other day about a local restaurant. The verbiage didn't sound like the author - it sounded more like the chef. I went to the actual restaurant's website and there was the entire blog post, written by the chef, that was lifted and used as a real estate agent's blog. No where in the blog was credit to the author. That just feels no-so-ethical. Thanks for the Foto Share, I will certainly check it out.

Sally, This is becoming more important with legislators wanting to restrict and regulate the internet ... showing infringement as a reason "big brother" needs to regulate. I don't like that. Yet it is all too easy to access everything and anything - without clarity as to what you may freely use, use with acknowledgement, use with permission or not use at all.

Some solutions to this.

Contact the host of the offending website and report to them the copyright violation and demand they remove the offending content from the site they are hosting. The host is facilitating a violation of copyright law and must take action or they themselves could be held liable. This usually resolves the issue and the offending site is taken offline by the host within a few hours. I have done this several times.

If the stolen content is on a blog provided and hosted by places like wordpress - just contact them the same way. Usually the response time is a little longer but I have had other peoples sites completely taken offline this way also.

If the stolen content is on a google supplied blog - they will take several days to repond and only take the content you specifically point out as in violation. Google is probably the least co-operative of all places.

You can also file a DCMA request through Google to address any stolen content showing up in their index.

Another place to contact is - theplanet - if you have trouble getting hosting providers to co-operate. The planet provides the actual bandwidth to most of these hosting providers which they can pull the plug on. They don't like getting sued for copyright issues either.

Lastly there is a way to file complaints with icann who controls domains.

I rarely will do anything more than a quick email to the party stealing my content anymore before proceeding with getting their site pulled offline. They knew where the content came from and that they took it without permission so I have little patience for them.

Often they will think that it is ok to steal the content if they then provide a link back to the original source - I don't agree at all with that and still report them to their hosting providers. I have had people who stole my content actually argue with me - saying they have a right to it because they linked back. I had their site taken offline which resolved the arguement.

Bruce: Thank you for your detailed comment. Some may want to justify (that it's okay because they gave credit to the photographer or the blogger) but bottom line is if one creates their own blog and pictures you won't have to worry about a darn thing.

They can argue all they want....it still doesn't make it right. Taking those kind of risks are surely not the professional one would want representing them in a transaction.....at least I wouldn't.

Cutting corners is not for the Real Estate Industry.

Sally - Thanks for the reminder! It's one of the things that I struggle with, as I sometimes get in a funk about writing a blog post. But being in a writing funk doesn't justify my use of someone else's material! Thanks again!

Sally when you write something and it ends up somewhere else it is always VERY amazing!!! Some of it is pure laziness on another's part.

Just another great reason that we need to learn to use our own words and pictures to communicate with others.

Great article all the points you bring are good I always like to think that by publishing original content you are pleasing good old Google.

Absolutely right on the money. Keep it original!

Today I searched an article a mortgage broker sent me via email that he signed as his work. It didn't seem like his writing so I googled it. I found three sites that published the exact same article and each author claimed it as their work!

It may be that e-mailing has been part of the cause of increased "copy and paste and post" habits. Has anyone received an e-mail that contains the wisdom of Maxine, then forwarded it ... or perhaps even copied and pasted it into a new e-mail to send to your personal list of e-mail exchangers? If so, were you careful to give the creator of Maxine cartoons full credit? Did you have written permission of the cartoonist or even the person who sent you the e-mail to copy and promulgate it? It appears the Internet has perhaps introduced us to habits that can quickly turn into communication practices we might not have been tempted to use in the snail mail or fax days of yesteryear. Habits and/or haste certainly don't make a technique right or ethical or legal, but in this faster moving world ... the real estate profession included ... it seems plausible that one could get caught up in either or both without necessarily meaning to cause harm to someone else. Productive and informative blogging is one way to teach and/or remind members of our profession to use caution, think it through, and do it right. In summary, you did good, Sally.

Dwight "Dee-Jay" Hayes, Ph.D., Realtor®, President & Principal Broker, Veterans Realty Inc.

Ah Ha...

I knew if I looked around hard enough I'd find the person responsible for digging that post out of Rain Heaven :)

We can't be reminded of this enough Woo Hoo Sally. There will always be someone who thinks the rules don't apply to them.

TLW...ROAR!

To Carole, I received that same excuse that an RSS feed connotes permission. NOT!

Sally so true so true. Of course one of the experts is Lenn Harley and she will let you know all of the ins and outs.

Hi Sally,

Plagerism is terrible. I had not thought a lot about it until someone on Active Rain stole one of my posts before we were allowed to re-blog. It took me demanding that he remove it from his blog more than once to get it removed.

It is hard... because in my heart I want this person to do well but when I see him as an Ambassador to Active Rain...

A few years ago someone broke into my home. I felt violated. Stealing your blog or your writings creates the same feeling.

I put it aside... and then I deal with it when I try to leave him positive comments.

One time I saw in the MLS a property listed for sale that I had sold about 3 years prior (I had represented the Seller). Well, I clicked on property listing for details, and what do I see??????

The agent copied all the photos of the property that I took with my own camera then. The agent copied (verbatim) the property description AND adcopy.

TLW: No kidding....can you imagine how many are not following rules for business, real estate and the list goes on. What part of 'there are rules with anything in life' do some not understand?

What are you pointing at on your tortoise? Did you put something in the photo, to help you detect it as yours? Or did it already have a distinguishing mark?

It seems that if you want a lot of comments and points, plus a featured post, write about plagarism. It is always a hot button issue here for some.

Personally, I think that this horse died a long time ago and rather than keep beating it trying to get it to move, you should do as others have. If your personal work has been plagarized, take legal action, contact the offender's office, or contact the service that supports their blog, bb, report it to AR, or whatever.

Don't get me wrong, I do not like to see anyone's work copied illegally. But venting will not change it a bit. You are preaching to the choir. Go after the bum that is waiting outside the vestry with his copy-and-paste button.

But so many keep posting this topic here time and time again, it is a bit like ranting against a social injustice but not being willing to write your congressman or march in protest.

Hi Sally ~ GREAT POST!! Original material speaks volume about the individual! I have noticed that most 'high-ranking' rainmakers are very creative and original!!

John: Thanks for sharing but it wasn't a rant. It was MY opinion on the same subject. You can personally have your own opinion...but this platform is soooo HUGE that some (as you can see in the comments) appreciated it. Again, thank you for sharing. :)

Like TLW this explains why I got a comment on an old Post :) Anyway, just today I was reading about someone taking other people's pictures and linking them through HTML- effectively STEALING Bandwidth. They "thought" it was OK, but it is not. It is illegal!

The thing here is that almost all the older Bloggers know better, (doesn't mean they follow the rules though) and these types of educational posts keep the newer generation of bloggers informed, and the more experienced ones, well it's like a continuing education class.

Good to see you bring this subject up, as I have seen some people posting a lot tying to get that #1 spot, and some of them have totallly plagurized material from other sites. Not a good way to be #1 in my opinion. Last but not least is this cannot be tolerated by people that know better, but just want a quick and easy way to get to the Top!

Plagerism is bad. However, reblogging is a big part of activerain. Everytime we make a post here we make a choice on whether to let someone repost our blog.

Also, as to someone elses post about there using photos they took thats also a big part of being a member of the MLS is that our listing can be reposted through out the Multiple Listing Service so that we can bring the greatest number of buyers together with the greatest number of Sellers.

This is always a hot topic around here. However, plagiarism is never going away. The Internet makes it too easy.

Kathy: Ongoing topic as it's an ongoing problem. And as you know we constantly write (may in different ways as we all humans have different thinking...therefore...different opinions..) to hopefully reach a few. Those who just don't get it....don't want to get it.

Bryan: Reblogging is not the same. It's us showing that the post was worthy of bringing up again on our own blog. It also makes sure to have everything ...including author's link in the post and we can add why we reblogged it. We also have the ablility to turn it off. It's our choice whereas stealing is just plain stealing. No knowledge etc. How you connected the two together is not correct. And the mls is not reposting it....it's up there once...for all to see. Now when another member gets that listing (if withdrawn by the first) and they steal the pictures and put it in as their own...again it's stealing and reporting to your local board/mls will get the offenders a hefty fine as well.

Tigard: That may be true...but the true...honest....real estate industry professionals can set an example and lead by example. Unfortunately, not all will follow suit....shame.

OCT

Hi Sally, Very well written blog! I am relatively new here (about 1 year), but I always try to use my own words. I think others do too. Mabe they are doing this unknowingly.

Hi Sally, As usual, your reminder is absilutely correct. So many agents stillelieve that using original work of others is allowed on the 'net ! Well done !

OCT

I have two kids and this is stuff you should only have to tell kids. A person knows when they are copying straight from someone else. I must say, though, with all the blogs in the sphere there have to be some that touch on the same point and say similar things without ever reading each other's blogs. In the end it's all about authenticity.

OCT

Nice post and the links to those five blogs are greatly appreciated.

I can't believe folks are so lazy that they steal a picture or an article. Take 5 minutes and write your own.

NOV

Plagiarism, copyright infringement, violating another person's intellectual property rights in any manner is not only wrong, it is illegal!

In the academic world this has become a major issue. We put a very strongly worded warning in every course syllabus and yet students will still try to get away with turning in work that is not their own. I even had two students in a class who turned in the same identical paper for a take home final exam. When confronted they claimed they had collaborated in doing the writing so it really did belong to both of them. However the steps they took to camouflage what they had done with comical. They used different type fonts, different spacing and margins, apparently assuming that with the number of papers to be graded in a short time I wouldn't notice.

It was an excellent paper so I gave both of them half of the credit, i.e., 50 out of a hundred points which moved each of them from a high A in the course to a D for their final grade. When they complained I simply told them that the university policy permitted me to drop them from the course with a failing grade so they should be glad they got off lightly. I think I got their attention.

The key issue is permission if the material being used is extensive and full citation and credit even for short quotes. Virtually anything I write is available for others to use and share, provided they ask my written permission if they want to use more than a few sentences, and in all cases that the cite the source which includes not only my name as the author, but the website, or blog where they found it.

NOV

Let's all get along. When you hear someone tell you information and then you pass that on to someone else does that mean you should sue them for sharing that info?

I think our Ego's are getting in the way most of the time. If you are putting information together to make a profit from then use the proper channels for copyright etc. Sharing is not a crime.

We as human beings share many of the same qualities and feelings. So we are not as unique as we would sometimes like to think. Many people have the same thoughts and/or feelings as someone else but the other person has the ability to put it on paper more eloquently. I know, I know, that all the ego maniacs have made laws for this but GET REAL. We are all from the same energy source.

Don't take yourselves so seriously.

NOV

Theresa: We're talking about STEALING other people's writing. If one cannot write their OWN content then they need to quit blogging. Blogging is to give a little of us in our writing ...to relay info to the consumer in our OWN words. It's the same as a best selling book. Are you going to steal that authors book and claim it as your own...or that you're authorized to do so?

Ego has nothing to do with it. I wrote it...I took the picture....therefore...it's MINE.

It's serious to steal. It's not borrrowing...it's not sharing. Plagiarizing is STEALING.

Surprised this post is still going, but I need to back up Celeste here - plagiarism isn't a new law that started with the Internet and ego has nothing to do with it. Theresa, some of my posts take me a long time to think up and write out, along with finding and uploading the right photo(s) or clip-art (that I have paid to use in most cases unless I found it on a free & clear site) to go along with it. So it's my ego if I fight for my rights against someone who just goes ahead and steals my hard work by cutting and pasting it, adding it to their blog or website without asking my permission or giving me a link or any credit for my work?

I belong to a real estate forum that has banned members after finding out they "stole" content. I fought to keep a newbie on after he was informed what he did was not acceptable but the site owner would not tolerate it and feels that people should know better than to steal other's photos or writings. Again, nothing to do with ego - it wasn't the forum owner's stuff that was stolen. But this forum owner takes plagiarism very seriously and it is not tolerated.

Judy....I think some just don't want to 'get it' :) that's okay though...because we put these topics out there for people to learn....if they don't want to ...well, there's always consequences for ones actions.

thanks for your input...yeah...I couldn't believe it was still going on too :)

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