Comments on: I Like Blog Net News, Yeah, I Said It

By: Leggo My Brand…o, Overheard on Twitter #4

Leggo My Brand…o, Overheard on Twitter #4 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:24:13 +0000

[...] Well, it turns out BlogNetNews really is trying to run an honorable site. “It is alleged that BNN does not link back to your blog. This is, bluntly, FALSE. It does link back. If you click on the title of your post, it redirects to your site. If you click on the name of your blog, it brings you to another BNN page that shows blurbs of your blog’s most current posts. Click on one and it takes you to your blog.” - Nolanotes [...]

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:50:12 +0000

Again, I don’t understand why someone who’s not even on the list is so concerned.

Smells of control issues to me.

By: Maitri

Maitri — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:08:23 +0000

Let’s get something straight: I have no beef with Greta, or the service she provides. In fact, I laud her efforts at keeping NOLA in the public consciousness by forwarding the posts of NOLA bloggers far and wide. My concern is with BNN’s methods of aggregating posts without simple courtesy emails to authors and pulling direct content into an aggregator and referring to it as new content.

BNN is not “stealing” copyrighted material

That’s not the point. Again, the point, at least in my eyes, is that in the About section, BNN refers to this as new content. BNN’s new glorified feedreader and its technologies may be new and patentable, but nowhere in there is new content. I’m not comfortable with this being called new content when it clearly is not.

Think of BNN as a news reporter. Once the content is published, it is out in the public domain.

No, in fact, once content is published with your name on it, it’s in copyright (which, in America, is life of the author plus seventy years. Yes, LIFE + 70, isn’t that obscene?). You can seek legal damages once you register that material, but it is still very much in copyright.

BNN is not a news reporter, they’re an aggregator. Reporters quote specific sentences, within established limits, to make a new story and that new content is copyrightable, with appropriate citations, credit, etc. To that end, I want an assurance from BNN that they’re not going to slap a new copyright on this material.

Call an aggregator an aggregator, not some hot new thing, and ask permission before you put blogs on there. It builds goodwill, especially in a struggling community like ours. That’s all I’m saying.

I am trying to let things like this just GO, because in the long run of life, is this what is really important?

The moral of the story: The end should not justify the means.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:55:11 +0000

I have no idea what anyone is talking about. I had no clue BNN was even around, am not listed, and am totally fine with that. I am sure most people don’t care about what I blog about and I blog for mainly myself as it is. Yes it is all about ME! Actually some NOLA blogs are too political, to ranty, to bitchy to something. I stopped reading a lot of NOLA blogs awhile ago because they were depressing the hell out of me and really who needs that? (the only blog I read from before is Ray’s) I am so glad that I found NOLA, Pete, and Goodbye to Romance, because all of them blog about things I want to read about….I have learned new things on these blogs that interest me. I have enjoyed meeting them. On BNN I could potentially find more Blogs I want to read.
I have realized while others love something, there are that many that are opposed to it. Narrow mindness is a going to rear it’s ugly head in every situation, the unablity to actually LISTEN to anothers views is not going to happen. I have been known to do that. I am trying to let things like this just GO, because in the long run of life, is this what is really important?

By: Moondance

Moondance — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:19:04 +0000

“Public Domain” is a term of art, a legal term that has a specific definition in the law. It’s not what Conservative Belle describes. Even so, from first glance, all the activities she describes are not copyright violations.

See law.com’s definition at http://dictionary.law.com/default2.asp?typed=public+domain&type=1. Of course, copyright is federal law, so that definition is only as good as the latest Supreme Court case on the matter. But essentially, something is in the “public domain” if it WAS copyrighted, but the legal protection has expired, or if the author or creator puts it in the public domain in the first place by not claiming the legal protection of the copyright when creating it. So. if you do not claim copyright on your blog, it is in the public domain. If you do reserve copyrights (all or just select ones), then your work is not in the public domain yet.

I am not an IP lawyer, I do not play one on TV, but I did take a cool seminar in law school. However, I had not heard of the internet at that time…

NOLA, did you know you were stirring up things quite this much???

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:19:37 +0000

Ditto Charlotte in #26.

By: Conservative Belle

Conservative Belle — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:04:45 +0000

Are you saying that, when an author publishes a novel, it’s in the public domain?

Umm. Yes. I buy a novel. I share it with 15 people who NEVER pay for it. I capture quotes out of this book and reuse them in common speech. And entire book club discusses the content at a monthly meeting. I write a review on the Internet and publish it (with an RSS Feed). I shared it with a teacher who has her entire classroom writes essays about this book. I may swap the book at a local flea market for another book. The flea market sells it again and they make money off of it. And so on… The original author? They get part of the $7.99 paperback price I paid originally.
[DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer.]

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:44:08 +0000

Hey, I’m linked there! Weird.

And far too lazy to read the controversy, though I’m sure that I’m right and they’re wrong. Not sure of the topic, but my right-ness is not to be questioned.

By: Momo Fali

Momo Fali — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:21:18 +0000

Well, I’m just loving this healthy debate going on! I’ll just sit back and sip my tea, while Nola stirs up all the trouble!

By: YatPundit

YatPundit — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:52:57 +0000

Once the content is published, it is out in the public domain.

how do you figure this? Are you saying that, when an author publishes a novel, it’s in the public domain?