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Is it legal to pull content from other websites using RSS Importers?

by neo4evr
7 replies
I am using WP RSS Multi-Importer to do auto-blogging in my website. Is it legal?

How will I know if it is legal or not to pull content through RSS from a particular site?
#content #importers #legal #pull #rss #websites
  • Profile picture of the author JasonChan
    of course it's "legal" - as in a court of law - because Google scrapes everyone else's content every day and got very rich doing it

    but, it doesn't like other people doing it - so you might be penalised for duplicate content

    as far as the issue of pulling content through RSS - even WordPress has a number of builtin APIs that performs this function. it has be to completely legit

    any potential problem could only arise when you PUBLISH that content

    to be on the safe side:

    1. always give due credit, as in a backlink to the source of the material
    2. make it clear the content was derived from that site's own RSS feed
    3. avoid just dumping the who RSS feed onto a page - apply the best practices of general Blog Curation
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    • Profile picture of the author chg
      Originally Posted by JasonChan View Post

      of course it's "legal" - as in a court of law - because Google scrapes everyone else's content every day and got very rich doing it

      but, it doesn't like other people doing it - so you might be penalised for duplicate content

      as far as the issue of pulling content through RSS - even WordPress has a number of builtin APIs that performs this function. it has be to completely legit

      any potential problem could only arise when you PUBLISH that content

      to be on the safe side:

      1. always give due credit, as in a backlink to the source of the material
      2. make it clear the content was derived from that site's own RSS feed
      3. avoid just dumping the who RSS feed onto a page - apply the best practices of general Blog Curation
      Follow these exact steps and you should be fine. We have networks of autoblogs (that scrape content from a variety of sources) and are very careful about this.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Google is different in that they refer to the other site, etc... Using RSS content to blog without honoring the header IS illegal! It's called copyright infringement.

    The 3 "safeside" points jason listed would satisfy the copyright.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      Google is different in that they refer to the other site, etc... Using RSS content to blog without honoring the header IS illegal! It's called copyright infringement.

      The 3 "safeside" points jason listed would satisfy the copyright.

      Steve
      No, Steve, they most emphatically would not. If he's wanting to use anything more than a sentence or two that would be covered under Fair Use, the only thing that would 'satisfy the copyright' is obtaining permission from the owner to use the content. Period.

      However, I AM NOT A LAWYER. Talk to someone who IS.
      Signature

      The 2nd Amendment, 1789 - The Original Homeland Security.

      Gun control means never having to say, "I missed you."

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  • Profile picture of the author pohland
    Also Google don't like it to find a lot of duplicate content on your site.

    Cheers!
    Andreas
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  • Profile picture of the author webzie
    If site owner is providing legal rss feed for websites then ofcourse its legal to have rss feed on your website as its with their permission
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    If you want to trust your livelihood and all your possessions to people who haven't the first clue what they're talking about, by all means follow the advice above.

    If you don't, consult an attorney proficient in copyright law. He/she will probably tell you that no, under most circumstances it isn't legal unless you have written permission from the publisher.
    Signature

    The 2nd Amendment, 1789 - The Original Homeland Security.

    Gun control means never having to say, "I missed you."

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