We all know how the internet has changed our lives in so many ways. Since I started blogging and through reading fellow blogger posts many hot internet issues have come to the forefront of my thoughts. It's still the WILD WILD WEST
A-SOLDIER-IN-THE COPYRIGHT BATTLE by Lenn Harley and others have written about copyright infringement. Cut and past and plagerism is a big issue for REALTORS, bloggers and webmasters.
TLW "The Lovely Wife" ... Blog Back Worthy inspired me to write this post when we were box chatting last night about Authors and publishers and Universities suing Google for scanning their books.
Google's recent acquisition of You Tube might make Google an even bigger target for copyright law suits.The whole Web 2.0 movement empowering individuals to tell their own story but many are downloading copyrighted material.
In the Napster case the judge told Napster to remove all works that they did not have the rights. You Tube is different than Napster the user is creating their own works to share. The music-file sharing business was technology that pirated copyright music.
Google's defense is "fair use" Using it for another purpose. They say they are doing it for the writers good. I think there is a big difference between people expressing themselves on a social network and scanning every book in the world. Google's profits are from advertising revenues, perhaps an innate conflict of interest? A Catch 22 because of Google's dominance in search? Google has very deep pockets.
The World Wide Web has been around for about 16 years but it is still the Wild Wild West. There are so many legal issues that new uses of technology have brought to "old economy" laws that have not been resolved. These legal decisions will have profound affect on the real estate industry.
I started to blog in July as an added value to my website and business. I realize now as a Real Estate blogger I have a responsibility not only as a REALTOR with a code of ethics but as a blogger a "citizen journalist" in the "new media"
This became clear to me when Craig Newmark founder of Craigslist commented on my blog NO Fee or the Old Bait and Switch about unethical Manhattan apartment rental brokers abusing Craigslist. He asked me to help him out and quote him right and wrote that he's been working on this problem for several years and he has kicked many unethical brokers off the site.
I did some research and in every article about Craigslist even from a couple of years ago he mentions the problem with apartment rental brokers in Manhattan. He says he calls them himself and says I'm Craig from Craigslist and the unethical brokers say "Oh yeah and I'm the Easter Bunny" I know he is for real and there were unethical brokers long before the internet.
In many ways Craig Newmark and Craigslist is the anti-Google. He started as a free email list of events, jobs and apartments in San Francisco. It is still free. It is the 7th most popular website in the world and has been in the black since 1999.
Only employers pay for help wanted listings and more recently the rental brokers in Manhattan primarily to reduce spam and bait and switch. Craigslist is quite profitable just from the employer job listing revenues. Imagine the $billions of revenue if he charged for listings.
Another important internet issue that I am now aware of because of Craig Newmark is Internet Neutrality. Keeping the Internet neutral fair and free. Internet neutrality is being threatened by a bill in Congress that would allow internet service providers to play favorites to websites that will pay the telecommunications companies big bucks to operate faster. Right now businesses on the internet are on a level playing field. Just like the airwaves and public highways.
Network Neutrality - is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.
Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.
The World Wide Web, the information highway, the new media still in it's infancy with many unresolved legal issues. It's still the WILD WILD WEST.com
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