You know, it bugs me when people steal your work and when you point it out to them and ask them to rectify it, they accuse you of vanity and greed.
The group Faithful Voice was formed here in Boston as a counterpoint to Voice of the Faithful and they have a web site on which they post all kinds of information about the Scandal and VOTF. It seems that in their enthusiasm, they have ignored a little thing called copyright law. I happened to find a copy of my article about the “Talking about Touching” sex-safety program posted in full on their site. When I pointed out to them that they were violating my copyright, in essence stealing my words by posting them in full, I was told that it would be taken down, that they wouldn’t replace it with a link to the full article here on my site, and they accused me of vanity.
Gee, I’m sorry that I object to you stealing my words for your own use. I advise them to consult an attorney because I suspect that eventually some big company will be sending them a cease-and-desist letter soon enough. And they should consult a priest to become familiar with the sin of stealing.
As I pointed out to Carol in her email to me, I was not accusing her of stealing my work for her blog. She misunderstood me and wrongly assumed that.
My problem was with whoever maintains the Faithful Voice web site. Don’t assume that I’m speaking about you unless I mention you by name.
Also note that anything you post on this site is public to everyone who wanders by so you may want to be careful about posting personal financial information.
The copyright law is very clear. No one has the right to post the work, with or without attribution, with or without links, in its entirety on their own site. That’s stealing. That person is using my work for their purposes without my permission.
Under the law, you could quote from the work, with attribution, but not post substantial portions of it. You may as well copy a Frank Sinatra song of a CD and post it on your site for everyone to download as they wish.
I don’t know why you find my desire to protect my work unhelpful. All I asked was that the article be taken off your site and a link to my site be put in its place.
And I only posted this entry on my site after getting a nasty reply from someone at your organization.
I would again suggest that you familiarize yourself with copyright law and “fair use” before you get yourself in trouble.
Give me a break, Carol. If they wanto sue you they could based on your own actions, not mine. You’re the one who has been posting the full text of other people’s work on your blog, not me. And it was done in full view of the public. It’s not like they will find out from me first. You’re the one who did it in public.
The people from whom you or the FV site were re-posting their work don’t need me to tell them about it. They have legal departments hunting around to find this sort of thing. Don’t blame me for your mistakes.
And according to copyright law, you don’t have to financially benefit from republishing someone else’s work to be in violation of the law. By republishing my work, you diminish my ability to control my work. If I wanted to republish my own work, I wouldn’t be able to financially benefit because the exclusivity is diminished by its uncontrolled presence on the FV site.
I suggest you educate yourself on copyright law before telling others what it means.
And I don’t think it’s all childish for me to want to protect my work from those who would steal it. If I were a farmer, I would have a right to protest if someone entered my fields and took my produce. It’s no different in this case.
Get rid of the persecution and messiah complex, Carol. You aren’t the only person doing work for the Church and for Christ. And, I hate to burst your bubble, you aren’t public enemy no. 1 to these people.
I did initially do this privately, but when I received a rude reply from the person at the Faithful Voice web site, I decided to say something publicly in case other bloggers were not aware of the legal issues they may get into.
You are the one who first brought up your own blog and the items you post there, not me. So don’t try to blame me for your own actions. Get off your high horse and get your pride in check.
Ah yes, such Christian charity. I wonder why more people aren’t flocking to the Faithful Voice banner with such gracious and kind people leading the movement.
With friends like you, who needs Voice of the Faithful?