...[L]et me offer one example. The blog purports to be that of a company that provides services to the legal profession. All posts are 'signed' by the blog's author and relate to the company's services. But virtually every post is the full text of an article taken from another source. The blog does nothing to indicate this. It does not introduce the piece with an explanatory note and it uses no quotation marks or indentation to suggest it is taken from elsewhere. Only if you click through to the second page of the post and read to the very bottom is the source attributed. Granted, this is better than no attribution, but it is misleading and sure to confuse many readers.

In another example, the blog is purportedly written by two authors, both of whom provide services to the legal profession. The blog's description makes it sound as if its posts are the authors' observations. Here again, virtually all recent posts are taken in full from sources such as Law.com. This blog does better than the other, in that it identifies the source at the bottom of the post on the first page, rather than at the bottom on the second page. Again, however, no introduction identifies the article as from elsewhere and no quotes are used to show this.

Bob says he has no idea if these guys asked permission. I bet my house they didn't. Heck, most of them do it to for Google Juice driven legally related keywords. They're looking to run google ads or market ill conceived legal services products to unsuspecting lawyers.

Bob, you are being way too polite in your post assuming some have received permission by offering a few small steps to remedy this lack of transparency. Let's just have rules on how to steal blog content. No need to create new ones.

We'll use Greg Storey's 'How to properly steal the design of a website' as a guide.

In abbreviated form (with subtle changes), here's 4 of Greg's 5 rules we can label, 'How to properly steal content for your law blog.'

1. First things first, admit it: you suck. You're a moron and a cheat. It's likely that you'll never ever really achieve anything in life because you lack the talent to create or to do anything for yourself.
2. Learn. Yes, put some brain cells together, and learn how to properly edit HTML [write a blog post]. Sure, you think you already know HTML [content writing] because you've been able to cut-and-paste someone else's code[content]—that's why you're a thief. Most people would use that code [read that content] to learn how to craft their own work, but since you're a scumbag you only know how to get away with the least amount of work.
3. When you send that email to the original designer [blogger] asking if it's "okay" that you took the design [blog post] in the first place, I just want to know one thing: are you doing this before or after you've tried to mate with oncoming traffic? Please re-read step number one and then come back here.
4. This is quite possibly the most important thing you need to know. There are no circumstances that will ever make it a good idea to link to the site you stole the design [blog post] from. None. Zip. Never, ever. Zero circumstances. Maybe when Armageddon starts, but you should make it quick because...well, hey, it's Armageddon, and it's not going to wait...

Don't get me wrong. We're America. We have Fair Use - and I am a liberal fair user. Bob and I are talking of the clowns who take content in entirety with little or no attribution.

But as media consultant, Amy Gahran, explains you can blog without the time sink. The key:DO NOT treat it like writing an article or report. That is, make blogging part of your ongoing processes for research, notetaking, and communication.

A blog post is not (or at least, it shouldn't be) a writing assignment you must prep for and deliver as a finished package. Let go of the idea that you must have everything nailed down, organized, and edited before you publish.

Amy offers some techniques to accomplish that mindset. I've added a few comments as it applies to the legal profession.

• Blog your initial brainstorming. At the point that you start to get intrigued by a topic or question, blog it. A post can be as simple as, ‘I’m starting to learn more about [X], and I’m wondering [Y]. Here’s why I’m curious about that. Do you have any information or views on this? Please comment below.’ Excellent way to start discussion among leaders in your niche area of the law or the industry or group of consumers you represent.
• Blog your research & discovery. Did you just pick up an interesting tidbit about a topic you introduced in an earlier post? Blog it. As a lawyer, drawing attention to yourself as a center of discussion on a subject, establishes you as an authority.
• Blog your interactions. Did you just have an interesting conversation relevant to a topic you’ve been blogging? Ask the person with whom you conversed if you can blog the relevant portion, and whether you can identify them. If not, have them be anonymous. This is especially easy with e-mail or IM conversations, since you can just copy and paste.
• Use your blog as your backup brain — or at least as a public notebook. Get more mileage out of work you would have done anyway by managing information and communication publicly? Instead of keeping your thoughts, notes, and conversations to yourself, post them. Why let good legal ideas you've read be the victim of post it notes on magazine and outline pages on your credenza. Blog them and show people you stay up to speed with developments in the law. Not only will this information be useful to others, you're more likely to find it.