Intellectual Theft

I don't know if you guys here in my tiny corner of the world have been following the theft of the chick who has no life of people's blog posts. It looks like this "Emu" Carolyn Dwyer chick has stolen every single blog post on her website from someone else. Maybe there's one or two that are her original thoughts, but other than that, she is lifting entire blog entries from other writers with no credit, claiming them as her own. It's OUTRAGEOUS. I am really offended, and ticked off, and all those things. I was alerted of this yesterday in reading one of my daily favorites, This Fish Needs a Bicycle. I will not give a link to the Emu site-- she does not deserve the traffic--but you can see for yourself by getting there through the Fish essay if you really want to read it. But there are two email addresses that appear to be active if you want to participate in encouraging Carolyn to stop her ridiculous theft:

cld_1980@hotmail.com
aussieinchicago@yahoo.com (email addy's courtesy of this article).

Look, Tequila Mockingbird says it better than I can: You do not have to have a blog. If you can't write something original, don't write one! Don't steal someone else's ideas! It matters, it is theft, it is wrong, and you are not impressing anyone. ANYONE. Sour Bob is apparently on this, though. I get little shivers down my back when I see the wrath of Bob potential.

To quote my own comment on Fish's blog:

YAY! I'm so glad to see Sour Bob on the case!

The issue sometimes my students don't understand about intellectual property theft.

Plagiarism is that. It steals someone else's ideas. Sure, on a blog, or a poem, or whatever, it's not an idea that right now is making a million bucks or something. But what if I took my computer software, scribbled out Bill Gates' address and said "Kim Wells Microsore ScreenDoors". And tried to say "well, yeah, I invented this. And my copy is only 5.99." Then everyone would see what was wrong with that-- you're stealing people's livelihood, money right out of their pocket.

Writers make a living with their words, their ideas, their clever turns of phrase. It DOES matter when and if someone steals it. It matters just as much as if they walk into your house and take your checkbook, taking all the money out of your bank account. If stealing is wrong, and we pretty much all say it is, then stealing IDEAS is wrong too.

Quite clearly, it matters, because otherwise, why would 85 people (give or take the few trolls) be commenting? There are usually between 10 & 20 comments on this blog. I keep checking back because it gives me a sick feeling to see that smug face on the cheater stealer liar's website "getting away with it." And I want her to take the damn thing down! . . . It's not like someone has a gun to your head and forces you to put together this entity known as an internet diary/journal. You don't have to steal someone else's life to post on a blog you claim as your own. Why do it? It IS sick in that Single White Female sort of way. Sick. Sick. And if you don't get that, then imagine someone knocking you on the head and taking your life away from you. Your thoughts, your livelihood, etc. Taking whatever is your most precious possession away. That is what our thoughts are to writers-- one of our most precious possessions. If you don't get that-- then there's little hope you'll understand. But those of us who do are all for this Emu chick getting her comeuppance.

Let the public tomato-throwing festival begin.