4 ms·

The editor who responded to her e-mail is a complete idiot who knows nothing about copyright, and is being completely irresponsible and liability to her company

The editor who responded to her e-mail is a complete idiot who knows nothing about copyright, and is being completely irresponsible and liability to her company. If she worked for me, she'd be fired, instantly (although I make sure all my editors understand copyright law -- so this is probably coming from higher up -- how could her bosses leave her so misinformed?). I too have been in publishing for 20 years, and now work exclusively in online publishing. They violated her copyright, period. We get the rights to everything we publish for a reason, and if someone publishes something of ours without permission, we request them to take it down -- most do it instantly (I've never had to file a DCMA), but that's her next step -- DCMA/e-mail her ISP. Really is mind-boggling that someone who considers themselves a professional journalist would send an e-mail like that -- embarrassed for our whole profession.

jobrahms 16y ago
I get the feeling it's a one-girl operation and there are no higher ups.
ilamont 16y ago
The thing that surprised me about this story is she claims to have worked in publishing for 30 years and has the audacity to spout this crap. Sadly, though, Internet scraping by print journalists happens a lot. Wired editor Chris Anderson plagiarized material for his book (or by his account, "failing to cite sources") and there used to be a regular parade of plagiarists having their stories highlighted on Romenesko, a well-known blog and newsletter aimed at professional journalists. A common scenario is copying and pasting from other news sources, but Wikipedia figures prominently as well. Copying and pasting is too easy and too big a temptation for people with low standards, and cheaters assume they won't get caught.
gregory80 16y ago
agreed, such people and publications are an embarrassment to journalists at large. Though I am not one to suggest getting a lawyer, I would take the steps towards that direction, including DCMA takedown and the like, as suggested by several others. If this editor has been knowingly doing 'this' activity (clearly violating copyright) a class action lawsuit against the entire company could be in short order for copyright violation en masse. Having to pay a lawyer sucks and is expensive, but outright theft and then re-branding with their own copyright is disgusting. I wonder how interested groups like EFF and ACLU would be in this story.

jobrahms 16y ago

I get the feeling it's a one-girl operation and there are no higher ups.

ilamont 16y ago

The thing that surprised me about this story is she claims to have worked in publishing for 30 years and has the audacity to spout this crap. Sadly, though, Internet scraping by print journalists happens a lot. Wired editor Chris Anderson plagiarized material for his book (or by his account, "failing to cite sources") and there used to be a regular parade of plagiarists having their stories highlighted on Romenesko, a well-known blog and newsletter aimed at professional journalists. A common scenario is copying and pasting from other news sources, but Wikipedia figures prominently as well. Copying and pasting is too easy and too big a temptation for people with low standards, and cheaters assume they won't get caught.

gregory80 16y ago

agreed, such people and publications are an embarrassment to journalists at large. Though I am not one to suggest getting a lawyer, I would take the steps towards that direction, including DCMA takedown and the like, as suggested by several others. If this editor has been knowingly doing 'this' activity (clearly violating copyright) a class action lawsuit against the entire company could be in short order for copyright violation en masse. Having to pay a lawyer sucks and is expensive, but outright theft and then re-branding with their own copyright is disgusting. I wonder how interested groups like EFF and ACLU would be in this story.