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We all know that copyright infringement is a big issue on the web right? It is almost as bad as the wild west. People go ripping content right and left, putting on their blogs and expecting to make a quick buck with AdSense. Apart from hurting web publishers and content creators, it is also bad for the web as whole because it creates an avalanche of crap websites and poor quality content.

Many of those splogs (spam content hosted on blogs) are hosted on Google services too. Blogger most notably, but recently they started appearing on Knol too.

Google is obviously not to be blamed for people using its services inappropriately, and they do have a policy that prohibits copyright infringement. The only (and huge) problem, however, is how Google handles the infringement notification process.

Here is a quote from the page where they describe it:

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail — not by email, except by prior agreement) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

There are two things that I find weird on that:

1. Google requires a fax or regular mail letter for the infringement notifications. Now if you are outside the U.S., this is going to cost you money. Even if you are inside the U.S., it is going to be a huge annoyance and time waster, especially if you consider that you will likely be dealing with dozens if not hundreds of splogs ripping your content off.

Now they have all the rights to choose the way they want to be notified, but they should make the process of combating copyright infringement at least as easy as creating it in the first place. In other words, they should make it possible to file copyright infringement notifications via email. Either that or they should require a fax or regular mail letter for people that want to open a Blogger or Knol account.

All it takes for a guy to open a blogspot blog and start copying copyrighted material from around the web like there is no tomorrow is a valid email address. Now if someone is copying your content and you want to protect your rights, you will need to go through many more obstacles. Not cool.

2. The second thing that is weird is how they try to dissuade people from sending an infringement notification. Again it is in their rights to do so, but they should at least be consistent across their services.

How come when I sign up for a Blogger account I don’t see a message mentioning that if I copy content from around the web without permission from the authors I might be liable for damages too? How come they don’t mention the cases where people infringing on copyrights for commercial use were sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars?

If they try to dissuade people from sending copyright infringement notifications they should do the same with people wanting to infringe copyrights on the first place right?

Anyway I think this is a serious problem, and I think it is important for Google to review how it handles copyright infringement notification and allow publishers to send them via email.

If you agree, please stumble and digg this post to spread the word.

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Google Must Change Its Policy About Copyright Infringement Notification

Original Post:
Google Must Change Its Policy About Copyright Infringement Notification

Etiquetas: Article, copyright, Design, Excel, Flash, HTML, infringement, Internet, Money, Plugins, policy-about, shoes, Word

Last year we had a group writing project where I asked the readers to share their goals for the upcoming year, and it was a great success, so I will be repeating it this month.

We all know the importance of having goals, both personally and professionally, right? Goals help organizations and individuals to focus their energy and to define priorities. Secondly, goals also allow us to evaluate our performance along the way.

Writing these goals down, on paper on your blog, therefore, is an excellent exercise to ensure that you will be running in the right direction.

How To Participate

In order to participate you simply need to write a post on your blog or website sharing your Internet goals for 2009, and then leave a comment below with the URL of your entry. Readers have until next Wednesday (December 17) to submit their post.

On the following Monday I will write a post with all the entries, including a brief summary and a link to original so that readers can check the blogs of the participants.

What Are Internet Goals?

Last year the writing project was focused on “blogging goals,” but this year I am extending it to “Internet goals.” Basically anything related to the Internet is valid. Here are some of examples of Internet related goals:

• to reach 5,000 RSS subscribers on my blog
• to reach 2,000 Twitter followers
• to create 20 mini websites on different niches
• to reach $10 per day of AdSense revenues
• to launch my first eBook
• to stop my addiction to social networks
• to publish at least 100 videos on my YouTube account

You get the idea.

So what are you waiting for? Share with us your goals for 2009, and I am sure it will be an extra motivation to reach them.

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What Are Your Internet Goals for 2009? Group Writing Project

Original Post:
What Are Your Internet Goals for 2009? Group Writing Project

Etiquetas: CSS, Design, domain-names, Excel, group-writing, internet-goals, Java, Php, Plugins, recent-articles, Seo, Word, Writing, writing-content

Actually we have three winners! Surprisingly enough, two of them are tied on the first place, and one is taking the third place.

The Sponsors

First of all let’s thank our sponsors and make a recap of the prizes.

• A lifetime subscription to Keyword Country (worth $2,000)
• An annual subscription to the Trackur corporate edition (worth $1,000)
• $300 courtesy of Sponsored Reviews
• $300 courtesy of BidVertiser
• $300 courtesy of TNX
• $100 from Daily Blog Tips
• $300 in text links from Text-Link-Ads
• A 3-month subscription to the SEO Book Training Program (worth $300)

The Winners

The three winners and their respective scores are:

1. http://www.happyschoolsblog.com with 3 points (wins because of tie breaker)
2. http://www.suzannefranco.com with 3 points
3. http://www.tofugu.com with 1 point

So congratulations to Raghu from HappySchoolsBlog, he is the Blogging Idol!

Happyschoolsblog.com got 1 point for the biggest RSS increase, 1 point on the voting poll, and 1 point from one of the judges. Suzannefranco.com got 1 point on the poll and 2 points from the judges. Tofugu.com got 1 point on the poll.

Jarrod and I voted for Suzanne Franco because we thought she was the most energetic and creative competitor. She tried a wide range of strategies to gain subscribers, and most of them worked well. Her methods were very creative too (i.e. creating videos to pitch Internet marketing gurus to support her on the competition), and her percentage increase was the largest one in the competition with almost 1000% of gain in RSS subscribers.

Ricky voted for Raghu from Happy Schools Blog because he thought that Raghu was the most experienced and analytical competitor. His strategies were carefully crafted to yield the largest RSS subscriber gain, and in absolute terms he accomplished it with a total gain of 1224 subscribers in 4 weeks of competition.

The tie breaker parameter was the largest increase in RSS subscribers (you can check the rules here).

Thanks Everyone

I would like to extend a thank you to all the competitors, readers and people that supported the competition. I hope that you had fun on this month of RSS gain extravaganza, and I will see you all on Blogging Idol 3!

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Copyright by Daily Blog Tips.

Blogging Idol 2: We Have A Winner

Original Post:
Blogging Idol 2: We Have A Winner

Etiquetas: Competition, congrats, congratulations, Contest, Design, Excel, Flash, HTML, Internet, Plugins, suzanne, the-winners, winners