Forum Moderators: not2easy
The question is, will I break the "law" if I will fill my site with quotes from other sites?
Of course I will give a link to original content. I will use half or just a part of content.
Thank you.
If you were, for instance, producing a book-review site, then short excerpts from the books being reviewed would fall under the "Fair Use Guidelines" as editorializing. But if you are filling your entire site with excerpts from the content of others, and presenting that as the content of your own site (that is, the use is not limited or transformative, etc), then you would be on shaky ground, to say the least*.
Eliz.
* For specific advice, consult with a copyright attorney.
Half would almost certainly go beyond fair use. If you quote a few sentences from an article or longer text as part of your own original content, you would probably be fine. Copying half of an article would normally be way too much.
"Fair use" is a somewhat nebulous definition, and what is OK will depend on the nature of the use. For example, a lengthy literary article may quote from a source quite extensively as part of its analysis, but would probably be on solid ground. A website who just copied those same chunks of text would almost certainly be violating U.S. copyright law.
As stapel notes, any legal advice should come from an attorney practicing in your jurisdiction.
The people who come to my site--often come under great stress and during a crisis looking for support and information.
I am currently rebuilding the whole site and in the past I would place about 3-5 paragrahps of an articel with full attributions as well as a link to the site I got the information from. I also, had the habit of including a full copy of any said articles in a resource section of my website because all to often the links would take someone to a page with different information then what I had quoted and posted.
While I am in one way using this for Content the intent has not been to add content but to provide support for families in crisis... Typically these issues are in fact things that my site is all about and I have and can find more then enough content...or write it myself.
So I wonder how far this actually pushes the boundries? Also a good deal of my information cited is Government reports or information found on a government website so... I wonder if this is not actually considered public domain or public information?
I wonder if I am pushing the limits too much?
I wonder if I am pushing the limits too much?
Pushing? From what you describe, more like trampling all over and ignoring.
That your audience may be a sympathetic group has nothing to do with the issue.
If you meet a man in the street who is starving, that does not give you a mandate to steal bread from the baker and give it to him, even if after stealing the bread you point the man in the baker's direction.
The correct thing to do is simply to point the man in the baker's direction in the first place.
I am...using this for Content...to provide support for families in crisis.
Eliz.
I assume since you're an affiliate and you're selling their products, that the use of the content is "fair".
Is this accurate or is there some risk?
but that aside...
I can say that this exact issue is one reason I have not run around adding things. What I have added has generally been governement stats, rules and related 'stories' posted on their sites.
I have been careful to not do this with a private party or business. However, I did recently add a forum post to a news story which I will go and take care to correct.
Thanks for the input and assuming.
As far as business and private parties, you could always ask permission. If it's for a cause they identify with (very possible, since they're publishing that kind of content), they may be willing to allow it. That gives the added benefit to you of being able to state that you're running it with their permission.
A short quote with a link to the full article is generally covered by fair use, depending on the length of the quote and a few other things. Seems strange that you'd have that much trouble with links not going where they should. Unless, of course, the other site takes their articles down after a period of time -- which might be a case where you'd want to ask permission to republish.
There's a legal issue in that it's illegal to republish copyrighted material without the copyright holder's permission. There are ethical issues where you might find yourself weighing the rights of the author/copyright holder against what you see as the rights of your site visitors, but that doesn't have any effect on the legal issue. As someone who very well might steal a loaf of bread for a starving man (if I didn't have any of my own to give him), I'd have to be willing to suffer the legal consequences of doing so. But if I asked, the baker might be very willing to give him one.
Another alternative that's perfectly legal and perfectly ethical and maybe even better for your site visitors would be to use the information on the other sites as research material and write your own articles incorporating what you learn from them. There's nothing wrong with short attributed quotes incorporated into your own original writing, and since you're more directly tuned in to your visitors' specific needs, you may very well be able to write articles more focused on them than the articles you find on other sites.
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gatonegro -- Depends on the affiliate agreement and how much content the merchant allows the affiliate to use. Some allow more than others. Assuming the merchant holds the copyright to the material, it's up to them.
I completely respect your answer to my post and believe, for the most part, your advice fits what I have been doing.
I believe the dead links have been a result of the materials being removed on the other sites.
It has been many years since I sat in my last college class so back then the Internet was not even considered... I have always tried to apply what I know from journalism and hoped for the best!
Often a link can be content. I have recieved permission from a number of sources and will not be lazy about doing so for all.
Thanks,
Anna
