Comments on How to properly steal content for your law blog | Real Lawyers Have Blogs http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/ Leading legal publisher and lawyer, Bob Ambrogi, posts on the never ending problem of law-related blogs that consist entirely or almost entirely of posts taken from other sources. ...[L]et me offer one example. The blog purports to be that of... en-us Copyright 2008 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:57:42 -0800 Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:58:23 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss trout@bretttrout.comb (Brett Trout) Lawyers, at least in Iowa, would be well advised not to rely on "fair use" alone. While it is not illegal, and the general public is free to do so, if you are a lawyer in Iowa taking someone else's "ideas" without attribution will apparently garner you ethics sanctions. Looks like I may need to start adding citations every time I refer to "fair use."

http://blog.bretttrout.com/2007/09/iowa-lawyer-sanctioned-for-plagiarism.html

]]> http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#761411 http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#761411 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:20:20 -0800 kevin@lexblog.com (Kevin) Good point Brett, lawyers have the additional restraints of legal ethics. Though something may be legal, it may be unethical as defined by their state's ethical rules - or even states where it's arguable they are marketing themselves - and with the Internet is concerned that casts a pretty broad net.

]]> http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#761513 http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#761513 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:02:43 -0800 elefant@myshingle.com (Carolyn Elefant) Fair use or not; attribution or not, posting large blurbs of content in a post without any value added commentary is simply a stupid idea and makes for a dull blog. Like you, I read dozens of blog posts each day. More and more, bloggers are simply writing a lead line like "Here's an interesting idea" and than posting a 10 paragraph article. If I wanted to read a news article, I'd go to the site where its posted via link. What I want from my bloggers is commentary on the article, what's right, what's wrong, what's unique, why it should get me excited or motivated or angry. Bloggers shouldn't only be thinking about fair use, but being creative or adding value to content.

]]> http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#762466 http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#762466 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:55:23 -0800 michael.law@bellnet.ca (michael webster) I routinely post, sometimes verbatim, AG and FTC press releases, with a link back.

Most times I have some commentary on the underlying fraud or scam, but for example today I don't have any commentary.

I post the entire AG or FTC press release because often the link will go dead in two or three months.

]]> http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#762757 http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#762757 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:27:12 -0800 jordan@opencontentlawyer.com (Jordan Hatcher) My blog is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, and so people are free to copy it and put it up on their blog as long as they attribute.

I use the Scottish version:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/scotland/

]]> http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#769756 http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/09/articles/blog-law-and-ethics/how-to-properly-steal-content-for-your-law-blog/#769756 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:57:42 -0800