Don't submit to DIGG if...

[TheNightOwl]

Don't submit your own content to Digg if you want to retain the actual copyright of your work.

By publishing to article directories you're giving them and other publishers the right to republish and redistribute that work, but most of them have as part of the TOS that this doesn't transfer copyright.

Not so, I just discovered, with Digg.

Go to the FAQ page and read (what is, at the time of this post) Point 8 under "Submitting":

Frequently Asked Questions

You'll see this:

"Once a story has been submitted to Digg, it is dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero Public Domain Dedication, available at Creative Commons — CC0 1.0 Universal ..."

Fine in most cases, I suspect.

But if you're digging top quality stuff that you'd like to retain the copyright on, then perhaps think again.

*** Mind you, this only applies to submitting your own content ***

(As far as I can see / Or how I interpret the CC page linked to)

Otherwise it'd be a joke. As in... let's say you've got content on your site that's only on your site and which your legal notices say is your property and is not to be reproduced and blah blah blah...

Some random websurfer comes along, reads your A1 content, thinks "Hey! Lot's of other people would like this too!" and consequently Diggs it.

WTF? Your copyrighted work is now suddenly in the Public Domain? I think not.

The CC page says:

"The person who associated a work with this document has dedicated this work to the Commons by waiving all of his or her rights to the work under copyright law and all related or neighboring legal rights he or she had in the work, to the extent allowable by law." [Emphasis my own]

Which my non-lawyer brain interprets to mean "If you didn't got no rights to it in the first place, you can't be givin 'em away, like".

All the same, other Digg users might not know that. They might think that anything and everything on Digg is automatically in the Public Domain on account of that point in the FAQ.

So, as I said, perhaps that good stuff of yours is best not submitted to Digg after all.

Any thoughts?

TheNightOwl

[johnjimat]

that was a good information. i never realize about it untill you mention it. thanks

[civ]

That applies to the story you submit - the title, and little blurb you write about the link - not the content at the destination.

[ravijayagopal]

I agree. It applies only to the content that you typed in at "Digg" -title, blurb etc.

Otherwise, imagine someone submitting a competitor's links to Digg and forcing the competitor's content to become CC without their permission. That would be hilarious :-)

- Ravi Jayagopal

[kabong]

yeah, I've seen many people banned on Digg

[GarrieWilson]

Originally Posted by kabong

yeah, I've seen many people banned on Digg

What does that have to do with the topic?

[pbennett]

I thought that was the whole point of Ezine and places like Digg. You write and article and they publish it. You get a link back and they steal your article.....lol

[MarkMilan]

Originally Posted by pbennett

I thought that was the whole point of Ezine and places like Digg. You write and article and they publish it. You get a link back and they steal your article.....lol

Digg isn't a directory. They don't store your webpage, but just link to it. If you submitted your webpage to Digg, it would be odd if they somehow gained copywrite for your webpage just by linking to it

[TheNightOwl]

Originally Posted by civ

That applies to the story you submit - the title, and little blurb you write about the link - not the content at the destination.

a-ha! That makes sense.

That's why I was scratching my head and doin' the WTFBoogie.

Still, a reminder to read the TOS very, very carefully at these kinds of sites, no?

Thanks, civ.

TheNightOwl

P.S. Clearly, I didn't read the TOS clearly enough!