Rant #1: Not-Quite Stolen
Posted by Ariela on October 12, 2009
After being certain that it was merely a bout of paranoia, I’ve realized that I am not, in fact, going ego-crazy. Not only are my articles being copied word-for-word by random Internet spam sites that just need filler content to get ads… but the main concepts of my published work is being stolen by larger, very well known websites and being modified here and there by a third-world country writer that gets paid more than I do.
This became apparent to me as fact only after seeing a clear example of it from two websites I have no affiliation with. One, a smaller, newer, but decent in its own right, wrote an article providing some lovely examples of “x”. A mere day later, the larger, more well-established website has published an article with “x”, only slightly elongating it.
While content is nearly never entirely “original” on the web these days, it is clear that in this case a great concept was stolen by someone that can “get away with it.”
The Internet, social media, “Web 2.0,” whatever you want to call it, has brought upon us a new era. A revolution in journalism that promises to change the way we publish and receive our news and information, budding a generation of brand-new content creators – that have no sense of ethics, morals, and little professionalism.
