04 November, 2008

Dear Times Of India

Dear Times of India

In light of this post by Jyothsna of The Cooks Cottage, I’d like to inform you of a couple of things:

1. Everything on the internet is copyrighted by default. Blog posts and articles posted online cannot just be picked up and used without permission. This is especially true if your reporters put their own byline on it.

2. This applies to photos as well. (On that note, well done Twilight Fairy.)

I assume that your repeated infractions of copyright result from ignorance, not malice or apathy. Thus, it would be nice if you could educate all your staffers and editors on the points mentioned above.

And no, I am not implying that you are the only newspaper that treats the internet as a free resource. But you’re the biggest, and should lead the way by addressing this issue in your code of conduct. If you have one, that is.

Regards

Amit

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The hall of shame: 1, 2.

More open letters here.