Busybee
Norgdom
Perth MusicWhen copying ain’t right
One of our readers alerted me to a story on nativelandz.net which a copy of a story I wrote on Watching the Wandjina.
The article appears basically as I wrote it (typos and all) with a short introduction - it has my byline By Bronwen.
I have no problems with it on a personal level and I’m impressed the issue has been picked up elsewhere. I think it’s a great story that raises many complex questions for indigenous and non-indigenous people that would be of interest to others. A link would have been appropriate though.
But what if it was another Cit J’s work that had been used like that? Our terms are that copyright remains your own and with that some of the responsibility for pursuing copyright infringment lies with the individual owners. But I would also like to see our Cit J’s rights protected.
What I would like to pursue this year is for other oganisations to use our material through a proper channel with some payment that then goes to those Cit Js. It would be something Cit Js would opt into. But let me know your thoughts on this.
I know that a number of news organisations keep an eye on our site and it really provides a great chance for someone to make a name for themselves in front of an audience. So there is always that possibility of a break for someone out there.
Keep up the great work and hope to see you round the norg …
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 am
Hi, how you doing?
My name is sky and i work with Nativelandz (im senior admin).I just thought i might look into this for you and apologize on behalf of Nativelandz. i noticed that there wasnt a track back link on that article, and it seems someone has added one, but i can add it directly to the article if you would like.
We also found your article via google news, and unfortunately our site makes no money or gets any funding of any kind, so we could never afford to pay for articles, or news.
One of our editors found your article, and said it was really good, and wasked if he could add it to the magazine.
If we offended you at all in any way please let me know, i truly am sorry and we can delete the article.
We usually try and go through all the right connections whenever we add anyone elses work or articles to the magazine. We never claim them to be our own work if it isnt.
Unfortunately at the time your article was added, we also go hacked into, had hundred of spammers as well, ( you might have seen, if you had a chance to read any of the other articles.. not sure if you did, but all the spam comments are gone now.) and we are still repairing alot of the damage that was done. So i must admit, i got a little slack and was solely concentrating on fixing the site, and not the content.
anyway, just wanted to say it was a great article, and if you would like me to take the article of the magazine, i will be more than happy to comply with your wishes, we do not wish to offend anyone, especially talented writers speaking on behalf of indigenous issues.
Thank you again for being so understanding in your article above. We wish you all the best, and please feel free to email me privately.
sky