Question about using copyrighted content for my own blogs

Listen to Suzanne.

Also be aware that as soon as someone takes a photo or writes a unique piece of content, that image or content is copyright protected. The originator does not have to formally file for a copyright in order to enjoy the protection of the law.

If you want to be safe and display great original content for your site, create it yourself.

Steve

Just curious if anyone addressed this question of where to draw the line between content curation and flat-out borrowing someone else's work?

Well, here's the facts: It's perfectly all right to use copyrighted material if you have the permission of the copyright owner. If you don't it is illegal. That's the answer in a nutshell. People who use works without permission are violating the copyright even if they attribute it, unless the owner has made it available as such. A great deal of it goes on on the web, but they are all at risk if they do it.

I haven't seen mention here of Creative Commons licensing. This is something new people have been doing since the web began. Some copyright owners make their works available to varying degrees of use, usually requiring an attribution and a link. You can find a great deal of Creative Commons images and works through sites like Flickr, Wikicommons, and Googling the term.

I am going to repeat myself, but this time a bit more directly.

Which would you prefer... Some one else's good content on your blog? OR your blog to be listed on Google?

As of the 2011 Google "Panda" update that cracked down on "Borrowed" content, it makes absolutely NO SENSE to post anything other than ORIGINAL content. You can only harm your potential page ranking by doing this.

The google bot that scans your site has no clue you have permission, no clue you left a notation, it just knows it is duplicate text.

If you are so inclined to still share another's content it would be suggested to do so with a link from your page to theirs. This actually in many cases can be a benefit to your page ranking due to association with an "Authority" ( There are many factors involved in that determination, so it is still not highly suggested. ) I will admit that when possible I do try to link to Wikipedia as a source of Authority.

Above and beyond anything else the above practice, is 1) legal and 2) SEO more friendly than posting the text on your site.

In regards to Photos. Copyright is copyright. If you do not have "Written" permission to use it, DONT! When it comes right down to it, it is often very easy to grab your phone or camera and create a image that you need. I use dang near 100% original photos with all my work. The "Dang Near" is actually images a customer already has.

I have this theory... Pinterest is the Model for future online image use. Each image on Pinterest maintains its author tag. Regardless of how many pins that image has gotten, it links right back to the 'Site" of origin. As a Photographer I think it would be damn nice to go to a website and see exactly where my image is, and where it shouldn't be!

hope that helps!

You have a friend... ask the friend where their traffic comes from... does it come from Google, or does it come from their social media efforts. I am going to heavily lean to the side of no google traffic. And all I can say, the practice is not for me.

Plain and simple the internet is huge, most people don't chase down people that use their content, its to time consuming, but the reality of it is, its not legal. So it becomes a moral issue.

Rob, there are two kinds of "borrowed" content - with permission and without.

With permission content is easy - stay within the terms of that permission and you're golden.

Without permission is a slightly grayer area. There's "fair use" - using small bits of content (typically ~10% or less) for purposes of commentary, critique or education. There's the kind of "borrowing" you noted on many blogs, where the intent is to create conversation. Both of these are generally accompanied by citations and live links.

Then you have the last type of "borrowing" - content theft. AKA copyright infringement or theft of intellectual property. "Rewriting" - copying something and changing the order of the paragraphs or substituting a few words to make it "unique" also falls in this category, AKA "creating derivative works."

If you decide to go down this path, please don't confuse "not getting caught yet" with "okay to do."