What do you do when someone copies your blog content?

You must have heard the word plagiarism. Ever wonder what does it mean and why we should know about it ?

Any of the following is considered plagiarism.

* turning in someone else’s work as your own
* copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
* giving incorrect information about the source
* changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
* copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward (either by refusing or by not giving due credit).

Now, are you wondering why am I talking about this ?

Well, like you I am also a blogger and have two blogs. I happened to be a victim of plagiarism many times. Several of my creations have been lifted by others without my knowledge.

When I spoke about it to Nirav Sanghavi, the founder of BlogAdda.com, he requested me to write on the topic and I thank him for giving me this opportunity.

Here I will explain you the legal aspects, implications and my experiences and how to deal with it.

The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way such as a book, a computer file, a painting or even a blog.

At one time, a work was protected by copyright only if it included a copyright trademark (the © symbol). However, now as per the laws, our works are by default copyright protected with or without the inclusion of this symbol.

Anyone who reproduces copyrighted material improperly can be termed as violator of the Copyright Act and can be prosecuted in a court of law. It doesn’t matter if you intend to plagiarize or not, ignorance is never an excuse.

In the eyes of the law any form of plagiarism is an offense that demands punitive action.

Most cases of plagiarism are considered misdemeanors and are punishable by fines of $100 to $50,000 and up to one year jail-term.

But in a case where a plagiarist copies and earns more than $2,500 from copyrighted material, plagiarism is considered a serious crime. He or she may face up to 100 times ($250,000) in fines and up to ten years in jail.

However, in India the laws are not so well defined. Generally it is acted upon in haphazard manner after somebody complains or the media cries over the issue. Sometimes if it takes a shape of copyright infringement, it takes a serious turn.

What do I do when someone steals my material ?

I take a softer approach in the beginning. I start with leaving a comment on the plagiarist’s blog mentioning his/her mistake and the consequences. In most cases, it suffices since the plagiarist is ignorant about it.

In some cases, the plagiarist tries to be extra smart and keeps deleting your & your readers’ comments. A little humiliation in front of his/her readers is the key then.

If possible, write a post on your blog citing the case and invite his readers there.

There was only one case who did not accept that he did any wrong, rather accused me of stealing his material !! But I had enough evidences to prove my point and had to ultimately report to his blogging platform that definitely did not approve such misdeeds. His readers also confronted him and he had to publicly apologize on my blog. By that time it was too late and his entire blog was deleted and he was banned from further blogging.

I am glad that till date I did not have to resort to the ultimate step of knocking the doors of court but I’ll not hesitate if the need arises.

How to prevent plagiarism

1. Display copyright policy or badge on your blog
2. Watermark all your photos
3. Enable word verification to avoid spam
4. And keep your eyes open

How can you copy if you have to copy ?

1. Put within quotation mark everything that comes directly from the text
2. Paraphrase but be sure you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words. Changing only the words of an original source is NOT sufficient to prevent plagiarism. You must cite a source whenever you borrow ideas as well as words
3. Give credit to source, but sometimes giving credit is not enough and they expect you to ask for their permission. Check for any such copyright policy.

MASS reunion n sleep over.....

'MASS' is our gang's name and it stands for Madan, Adithya, Siddharth (sid) n Shreyas. We were all together in our 11 n 12, n close friends from then on.. all of us in different colleges now, but still we make time to meet each other during holidays. The more we plan the worse it gets at times.. were planning to have dinner in a hotel called dynasty for the past 1.5 years n finally made it this time. .. din plan much ,even sleepover idea came up all of a sudden. lol....

we all met at shreyas' house, the usual hang out place for our gang.. i kinda went a bit early coz I had to chat with shreyas , it was long since we had a big chat... then madan n sid joined us. took two bikes ( scooty pep lolz..) n went to the hotel. awesome ride.. awesome dinner.. awesome bill.. lol:-)

took a few pics finally. all 4 of us together.

thats sid,shray, madan n me...

then the ride back home was awesome..went to madan's old house n few memories came down flooding before us.. then escapade scenario from the police ..:-)

the sleepover was really awesome with midnight snacks, jokes, stories ,movie, laughter etc...

memorable time together.. hope this friendship continues for ever....

cheers

American Center Logo Design Competition

Contest Description

The American Centers in India are looking for a new logo! Put your graphic skills to work and win a design fellowship to the United States.

We seek the country’s creative community to help us develop a fresh look, which will be widely displayed on all American Center materials. American Centers are the public face of the U.S. Embassy in India. The American Centers in New Delhi and Kolkata, and the U.S. Consulates General in Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad support activities that inform the Indian public about American policies, society and values. These activities range from speaking tours and musical concerts, to school outreach, workshops and conferences, English programs, and exhibits. Please review the links above to learn more about the range of our activities.

The logo must be recognizable, dramatic and reflect the presence of the United States in India.

Eligibility

• Open to Indian nationals age 18 and over.
• Employees of the U.S. Government and their immediate family members are not eligible.

Contest Rules

1. The logo must be the original work of the designer. The designer must certify that the logo does not violate any copyright.
2. Submissions of qualifying nature will become the property of the U.S. Embassy, care of the American Center. For any submission the Center takes ownership of, the Center retains the right to change the designs to better fit its needs.
3. No limit on number of entries per person. Group entries are acceptable, but prizes will only be awarded to individuals.

Logo Guidelines

1. The logo must have a strong symbolic component such that is recognizable by itself without the words "American Center" beneath it.
2. The logo must remind the viewer that the American Center is part of the U.S. Government presence in India. It must be appropriate as a U.S. Government symbol.
3. The logo should be usable in monochrome and color media.
4. No gradient colors.
5. All fonts are acceptable.
6. The logo should be simple enough to be used in a variety of mediums from letterhead to billboard size.
7. Submissions must be in .GIF, .JPG. or .BMP format, and include the designer’s full name and e-mail address. The designer is welcome to send a short textual description of the logo along with the design. (optional)

Prizes

The contest will award prizes for up to three designers. Top prize is a design fellowship to the United States.*

*Visa eligibility applies.

All submissions must be received by Jan. 15, 2009.

January 23, 2009-Selection of finalists. Finalists will be posted on our website.

January 30, 2009- Awards ceremony at the American Center, New Delhi

For more details, contact us at amcenternd@state.gov, or 011-2347-2289/2290.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day, I hopped into a taxi and took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly, a black car, jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'

He explained, "Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. NEVER take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on with the routine life." Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...... 'Love the people who treat you right.. Pray for the ones who don't.'

A very rightly said quote: Life is 10% what you make and 90% how you take!

hols atlast!!!!!

finally exams are done.. my god three weeks of toil.. came home at last. had an awesome dinner at garden n a wonderful journey as most of us had booked together. today was my friend bathri's birthday. so me n ajay planned for a surprise for him. got a cake n went to his house. cut the cake n had lunch there. he was awestruck n was like really nice having friends like you. turned out to be a wonderful day for all of us..

How can I make my blog load faster?

The speed at which your blog loads is critical to attracting more readers to your blog. If your blog takes a long time to load, many readers may leave your blog before they have the chance to read it. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help your blog load faster and attract more users:

Posts

Your blog's load time can be affected by the number of posts you display on your main page. You can easily edit the number of posts displayed of the main page from the Settings | Formatting tab. You can then select the number of posts you want to display on the main page. We recommend displaying 10 or fewer posts on the main page.

Third Party JavaScript and Links

For optimal blog load speed, i recommend using Google/Blogger widgets, JavaScipt and links. However, if you need to use third party JavaScipt and links, your blog will load much faster if you put all JavaScript at the bottom of your blog. If you have third party JavaScript and links in your sidebar, put them in at the bottom of the sidebar.

Images and Media

The more images, videos and other multi-media you have on your blog the longer it will take to load. However, images and other multimedia are important to attracting users to your blog, so it is important to optimize the load speed of your images and media. Here are a few tips to increase the load speed of your media:

• Decrease the size of your images or use thumbnails that link to the full-size image.
• If you use third party images, consider uploading them to Picasa Web Albums via the Blogger post editor.
• If you have a large number of images to display, you can upload all your images (from a vacation or event) to a Picasa Web Album and link to the album in your post or sidebar.

Other suggestions

• If you've added any custom CSS to your blog, make sure you put it at the top of the page.
• The most important content of your blog that catches readers attention should load the quickest. To help you identify which items are taking the longest to load you can use Stopwatch. To use Stopwatch, enter your blog's URL into the text box and click "Start StopWatch". Stopwatch will then open your blog in a frame and will record the time it takes for everything on your blog to load, including images, videos, widgets, etc. Take note of the items that take the longest to load and modify them appropriately using my suggestions.

Mumbai blasts..

Hi,

I just signed an urgent message calling for unity following the attacks in Mumbai. Read the information below - Thanks

--------------------------

Dear friends across India and the world,

We're all feeling the shock of the awful attacks in Mumbai. All our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

The attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: our unity. If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists will have won. They know that hatred and chaos feed on division. As radical extremists, their only hope of winning is by turning the rest of us against each other.

Let's deny them that victory. We're launching a message to extremists on all sides and all our political leaders, one that will soon be published in newspapers across India and Pakistan. The message is that these tactics have failed, that we're more united than ever, united in our love and support to each other, determined to work together against terror and call on our leaders to do the same. If millions of people sign it, our message will be unmistakable, click below to sign it and please spread the message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/india_undivided/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

It's time to speak out, let's do it together.

Thanks

Decision making

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian as well as Sourav who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

'Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right.'

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put erasers on pencils.