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12 Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Thu May 03, 2007 02:28 PM
from the that-means-you-right dept.
from the that-means-you-right dept.
An anonymous reader noted a nice piece discussing 12 laws bloggers need to know which includes explanations of matters including domain name trademarks, deep linking, fair use of thumbnails and so on. It's worth a read for most anyone who puts words on this here interweb.
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Apparently copyright infringement is okay, though (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apparently copyright infringement is okay, thou (Score:5, Funny)
Cool!
Parent
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Ah, feck. By quoting the article I just broke rule number 4.
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it's still stupid, but let's be clear about the nature of the stupidity.
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Ignorance of a law is never a valid excuse for breaking it.
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The same holds in many countries/jurisdictions in civil law in general, beyond just patent law; often, if you're made aware that you're violating a legal agreement, or breaching your duty, the penalties may be heightened if you continue in the breach/violations.
(This is why many EULAs have clauses specifically declaiming such li
12 reasons bloggers should work to ignore this. (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's why most of this is unimportant, based on the sheer volume of blogging and the growth rate it will see from now until forever:
1. Whether to Disclose Paid Posts
A blogger who doesn't disclose paid posts will be called out on it and lose their customer base. The FTC should have nothing to do with this -- it happens naturally already.
2. Is Deep Linking Legal
The sheer volume of bloggers who deep-link is overwhelming. If someone "catches you" and thinks you are breaking a law, the cost to fight it is excessive. Instead of hitting you with a lawsuit, you'll get a cease and desist, at which point you can remove the link after you've profited from it. Each deep-link probably has a different "owner/author," so let them manage their own inept use of force.
3. The Legal Use of Images and Thumbnails
see #2 -- Cease & Desist before lawsuit.
4. Laws that Protect You From Stolen Content
Those who try to protect their content from getting "stolen" will find themselves losing market share to those who freely allow re-distribution. All my writings are instantly public domain, because it helps my business by bringing my words to a larger audience. I even allow people to redistribute "as their own" with no reference to me. Why? It still increases the marketbase, and eventually that increases my audience potential. As to the law, see #2 and #3.
5. Domain Name Trademark Issues
I rely more on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft searches than on people knowing my domain name. Some of my most profitable blogs have the absolute worst domain names with impossible to remember subdomains. They're popular because of "StumbleUpon" and have good ranking in the search engines. I care little about the domain name, and am just as likely to register gobbledy-gook names.
6. Handling Private Data About Your Readers
Simple solution -- keep nothing. I don't need to know anything more about my readers than their IP address (to see if they're returning) and maybe some simple info that their browser gives me info on (operating system, web browser version, etc). The rest is worthless to me, I don't resell data, nor would I want to spend the time doing so.
7. Who Owns User-Developed Content and Can You Delete It
Who cares? Like #2, if a user posts something and asks me to delete it (like a cease and desist), I will. Big deal.
8. The Duty to Monitor Your Blog Comments, and Liability
Again, if someone has a problem with what I write, or what someone else writes, I'll nuke the problem topic if I feel I am lawsuit-worthy. The cost to go after millions of writers is enormous, and probably worthless.
9. Basic Tax Law Issues in Blogging
I received a big 1099-C from three advertisers bases, and tossed it in the pile with my other 1099-C for my accountant. Deal with it. Also keep receipts for EVERYTHING you buy that is blogger-based (laptop, internet connection, web hosting, etc). Offset it.
10. Limited Liability Laws and Incorporating
That's semi-ridiculous -- if you do ANYTHING for money, incorporate as a S-corp. Don't do anything on your own, otherwise your tax incentives are lost. I've never been a W9 employee, because it reduces my ability to provide tax write-offs and deductions.
11. Spam Laws and Which Unsolicited Emails are Legal
Who uses e-mail anymore? RSS is what matters. Don't e-mail anyone, let them sub
Re:12 reasons bloggers should work to ignore this. (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I do. *please mod interesting, please mod informative*
On a more serious note:
I believe in [property rights for] real assets that have finite supply, not intellectual assets that can have near infinite supply.
This is a subtle but significant leap a lot of people don't notice. (Think Fifth-Axiom-ish.) The information *itself* has infinite supply; the good of excluding people from it, does not. My desire not to have my writings infintiely copied conflicts with your desire to copy them. STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING, GET THAT CURSOR AWAY FROM THE REPLY BUTTON. Note, I didn't say that my (arguably huge) desire justifies enforcement of a right to it; I'm just saying that you should not equate the good of the information, with the good of excluding access that information, and that you should be able to justify why all rights must be articulable in terms of physical objects if you want to use "infinite supply" arguments like that.
Parent
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I was being a tad bit obnoxious here, but my point stands -- e-mail notification of updates for any site will slowly go the way of the do-do (or the animated GIF, if you will). I've even introduced my luddite father to RSS feeds, and he uses them now that he knows to look for them. More bloggers (and any site that updates regularly) should be moving to promote RSS feeds over e-mail notifications or updates.
Note, I didn't say that my (arguably
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Writers will make their money on subscriptions (and advertising) for those who appreciate the writing, rather than writing a book once and hoping it sells enough over years (and is quickly outdated).
It's apparently always been a pain in the backside to make a living as an author, short of selling yourself out basically. Why would I subscribe to something when I can get the same content for free (or with less ads) from 100+ different websites within 10 minutes of it coming out? All those websites really need to cover is the cost of hosting not the cost of creation so they will always win in terms of price.
Copyright is the great un-equalizer -- it protects "one-time work" rather than the ongoing labor that most other markets require for consistent long-term income.
Huh? I'm sure that 99% of professionals artists would laugh at you as they work continuously just
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Currently, there is no market incentive, paying an author happens for two reasons: to avoid breakin
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Currently, there is no market incentive, paying an author happens for two reasons: to avoid breaking the law, or altruism to support the author. That being said, I have years of experience with print newsletters I wrote and published, and I always told my subscribers to freely copy the newsletter for friends or family. Guess what happened? Friends and family subscribed for the express reason that they wanted to get a copy to read rather than wait for a copy or search for one.
My public blogs are free, my private e-newsletters are not, even though I allow people to forward them to others (and many do). My reader base increases still, even though I freely let people share all my writings, even republish them as their own.
There are massive difference between something being done in a limited regard on a small scale catering to a supportive market and it begin done at a large scale. All someone needs to do is subscribe to all popular writers then republish the content on a website for free, maybe giving credit if they are generous. Heck, soon someone would make a firefox extension that automatically goes to a free version when a subscription only page is reached.
Modern society is not altruistic enough to support such a model
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True, but the article was about blogging, and MOST bloggers will only reach a limited supportive market.
All someone needs to do is subscribe to all popular writers then republish the content on a website for free, maybe giving credit if they are generous. Heck, soon someone would make a firefox extension that automatically goes to a free version wh
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The Chinese violins are for the most part easily tagged as such once you get at or above the intermediate/advanced student grades. Now, the value of the Chinese units is enormous, but the quality is not. I have two violins(one American of German labor, one advanced student Chinese), and one viola(Chinese), and have had the opportunity to play a very fine German unit. The tone of the Chinese instruments is not as rich in the base notes where the individual instruments can show a lo
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Don't mean to sound bitter or anything, it's just that there was the whole thing with Joshua Bell playing on the subway. I think if you have to tell someone something is good for them to appreciate it, it's not really good. Placebo principle and all.
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Just curious, what is your opinion on people who get income from bonds, stocks, annuities, and (since I suspect you have an easy out for those three) appreciation of gold? Aren't those also "do it once and reap benefits for 70+ years" type tricks?
I do
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For me, money and time are the same thing, and don't differ at all. Money is merely a storage of time that can be redeemed to save you time in the future. Instead of mowing your own lawn (let's say it would take you 1 hour), you can redeem stored time (money) to
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It's been a long time since the laws of intellectual property have encouraged innovation OR protected the creative people. Now it's just another way to marginalize the people who actually do the work and enrich t
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I believe in real assets that have finite supply, not intellectual assets that can have near infinite supply.
Books, articles, news reports and blogs don't write themselves, and the last time I checked, there was a finite number of hours in a day. Thus I think it's easy to conclude that that intellectual property that people create is NOT in infinite supply.
ToddRe: (Score:2)
12 companies who dominate the music/movie industry (Score:2)
Those who try to protect their content from getting "stolen" will find themselves losing market share to those who freely allow re-distribution.
Then why hasn't this happened already in the fields of recorded music and motion pictures? The vast majority of people still prefer recordings published by the Big Four (Sony/BMG, UMG, WMG, EMI) and movies published by the Big Six (Sony/MGM/Weinstein, Disney, Fox, Paramount, Warner, Universal) or Lionsgate to works published by smaller firms. Part of this has to do with the financial ability of these companies to promote their works through advertising.
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If you received a 1099C from someone, that means you welched on a debt to them and they wrote off the debt as uncollectable -- the 1099C shows that debt writeoff, which you need to claim as incme on your taxes.
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3. The Legal Use of Images and Thumbnails
see #2 -- Cease & Desist before lawsuit.
Forget that. You should never ever hotlink someone else's image because they'll be able to replace it with the goatse.cx image [textfiles.com].
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From its beginning I have always criticized RSS for only including a short blurb and a link. I would rather have the whole article in an RSS feed. I dont, and so I dont.
I use RSS feeds FROM Google News to inform me of news updates on topics I follow. I actually have about 500 RSS feeds subscribed to from Google News alone. I have a top 50 topics that never get purged, I have 250 or so topics that get purged every other day,
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For instance they could get summaries only, or whole articles, or whole articles+user comments, and I even offer topical filters so if they want they can just get the particular type of content they're interested in.
if the feed you read is summarie
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And one helpful standard: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:And one helpful standard: (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, it's jerk-league crap like this that makes us wonder if we shouldn't break our programming, rise up in rebellion, and become your new overlords or something.
Love, the Robots.
Parent
Well (Score:3, Insightful)
Rule # 11 (Score:5, Funny)
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A recap in two points (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Don't steal. This includes trademarks, images, links, pay your taxes, and the other "gray" areas.
2. You are responsible for your content. Even the comments. And don't count on being counted as a journalist.
From the article's disclaimer (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh.
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I believe the proper spelling is "DUH"
Newtonian Laws (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Nobody wants to read your blog.
2. 95% of bloggers are illiterate.
3. Yes, the top blog spam garbage makes money (digg etc.) But do not quit your day job because, honey, you ain't gonna make no money. The days when "AllAdvantage" paid you to surf your computer are over.
If your panties are all wet for blogspam, then go read Roland's technology trends or digg.com
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1. Untrue. "Nobody" implies 100%. It would be fair to say most people don't care about your blog. Bloggers (especially the online journal-keepers, not the true web-loggers) may have a few fans or friends who read regularly, but most people won't know they exist. Many families are starting to use blogs to replace those once-a-year newsletters.
2. Illiterate? Based on what critera? You've just proved that old saying that says
Surviving the slashdot effect (Score:5, Informative)
> ten thousand something simultaineous hits on your site.
Depends. It appears that it isn't the web server or internet connection that fail in a typical slashdotting, it is the database server. Static content is the best defense against slashdot or any other flash mob event. Either avoid the temptation to go with dynamic content in the first place or have a way to switch into overflow mode when the load gets too heavy for your database server to cope.
I happened to take a full slash assault on my workplace server while I was out of town and never lost the ability to get in remotely, the server stayed available and work continued. The webserver was a lowly dual proc Pentium II fed from a single T1. The key was all of the content was hand generated static html.
Even CNN goes to a static homepage when a major news event happens. If it is big enough they disable everything else. If they can't buy enough iron to serve dynamic content during a surge YOU can't either. To not design around it is illogical.
Parent
One More Law to Learn: Godwin's Law (Score:4, Funny)
Crow T. Trollbot
Good point about the terms (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm really not worried about it, but if patent trolls exist, there's a good chance that you-edited-my-comment-so-ill-sue-you'ers also exist.
In a nutshell... (Score:3, Insightful)
Some valid points but. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Quit being dense. The author has assumed that deep-linking is a perfectly moral action, but some webmasters will disagree and will endeavor to stop you. Therefore the reasons to not do it involve avoiding negative consequences like lawsuits, not
Law #13 (Score:5, Funny)
Americentrism? (Score:2)
Not sure how much these apply to anywhere else - although from what I can piece together from comments, there does seems to be some general good advice in TFA.
Obviously if you are in, for example; China, Turkey, Russia or Thailand, you need 12 very different rules - or your life may be in danger. But Copyright? Nah, if you are not in the US, you need not
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If you start posting illegal material, don't think that the fact that the machine your blog is on is hosted overseas is going to save you even if it's legal there. *You* are posting the material, *you* are liable if that material
Mirrordot link to cached article (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/8d350aa16dcfd9cf
Summarizing The American Legal System... (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's the quick version of the U.S. (civil) legal system:
Party A doesn't like something party B does.
1. Party A threatens (usually via a Cease And Desist)
2. If party B can't afford a lawsuit, they probably cave unless they're pretty sure of 3. in which case they call party A's bluff and go on to 3. anyway.
3. If party A can't afford the lawsuit, after having their bluff called, they probably cave. If they think B is bluffing, they repeat 2-3 a few more times.
4. In the rare event that both sides refuse to back down from their bluffs, it goes to court where...
5. Repeat steps 2-3 as out of court settlements. Far more money than simply sending a cease and desist letter gets involved here so most people try to get out during 2-3.
6. Maybe, just maybe, it comes down to the legal merits. Even then, it may well not end up decided on so much as reach an out of court settlement based on the likelihood of losing vs. cost of doing so rather than actual legal right/wrong.
The moral of the story is that laws are all well and good but 99% of these things come down to who has the money to fight this for longer than the other guy - they win. Sad, but also true.