Trying it on, so to speak.

I'm not quite done with this one, but I thought I'd try out that one. Needs work. Learning curve still rising ahead. But liking the possibilities.

Whaddya think?

Back off, Plagiarizers!

Thanks to the talents of my wonderful sister-in-law, I now have these beautiful buttons! I stuck the first one up in the right column but can't remember how to alter the HTML to center in the column (will research later). Thanks, Emily! These are great!

Content Theft at Home: First Steps

1. Emailed Blogger.
2. Read this.
3. Used a free Copyright button. It looks awful. Anyone out there with a copy of Photoshop and some skills to make something that looks better?
4. Do what blogger said I have to do... I guess this will happen instead of sleep, making the kids' lunches, cleaning the house, or finishing the changes to my third draft and getting informal committee feedback before setting a defense date? Argh.
5. Appeal to thems in the know for advice and guidance.

Blog-Stealing: The Response

Apparently, dealing with blog-stealing creeps is more difficult than I assumed. Blogger has adopted a "it's your problem, do the work" attitude. Their response, below:

Hi there,

Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged
infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the
text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website:
http://lcWeb.loc.gov/copyright/ ) and other applicable intellectual
property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material
claimed to be the subject of infringing activity.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the
items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be
liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and
attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when
you in fact do not. Indeed, in a recent case (please see
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more
information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking
removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine
was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to
pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material
available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. This must include identification of specific posts,
as opposed to entire sites. Posts must be referenced by either the dates
in which they appear or the permalink of the post. For example,
http://example.blogspot.com/archives/2003_01_21_example_archive.html#2104575.


2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above.

YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH POST BY PERMALINK OR DATE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS
INFRINGING MATERIAL. The permalink for a post is usually found by clicking
on the timestamp of the post.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Blogger to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law."

5. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury,
that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the
copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy
Mountain View, CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 618-2680, Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints


Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

In the least, they could've sent me tickets to Oktoberfest or something!

I feel so violated. Little coldspaghetti has been ripped off. Thanks to a friend's tip off, I found out that this blog is being translated into German and re-posted on another blogspot site to generate ad revenue for some nefarious folk. Here is my letter to blogger:

Dear Blogger,

Thanks to a friend's tipoff, I discovered that my blog content and photographs are being copied -- translated to German -- and posted online. I assume this is for ad revenue as the links at the bottom of the page would suggest. This is the German blog with the stolen content: http://populartravel.blogspot.com/2007/09/kalte-spaghetti-der-ein-strand-von.html

I've posted to my own blog about it, am reviewing your steps to prevent content being copied (found in the help section of the blogger site), and am writing you to request that you take down this German copied site since it is hosted through blogspot.com.

I am grateful for your assistance and sincerely appreciate your time and attention in this matter.

Looking forward to your response,
Holly (coldspaghetti.blogspot.com)

Jeez-la-wheeze!