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Problem with AutoBlog options

I noticed that if the Autoblog plugin does not find the feed authors name in the blog, it will replace it with a user name from the blog. I would believe this is a violation of copyright law and could pose a problem for some bloggers, especially if a major news source was being used as a feed. They do like credit for their work.

Seems a simple workaround would be to add the name to the admin aliases, and then assign that alias to the post.

If the blog admin wants to change it to look like they wrote it, then they can do so at their own risk and I as a site admin will have taken at least some little step in preventing a copyright violation.

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:46:54
  • Barry
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    Unless, we create a new user for every external author, I don’t think there is much that can be done here. Unless you can think of another method.

    And to be honest, if you don’t have permission to be pulling in the feed in the first place, then you are violating the original authors copyright anyway.

  • Kirk Ward
    • Syntax Hero

    My feeds come from a US government site where content is released under a Creative Commons license. I am led to understand that this allows me to use, but does require author attribution.

    Every source I know of requires author attribution, even with permission. That is their whole interest in making their content available … the link they can get, or at a minimum, their name recognition.

    If you know of sources, or licenses, that do not require attribution, I would be interested in knowing of them.

  • Barry
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    If you complete the part in the Autoblog plugin to put a link back to the original post, then that should cover you with Attribution shouldn’t it?

    You could also change your theme to check for the existence of the custom post field called “original_source” and not display the Author details for that post if it exists.

    Alternatively, take Grubers approach (on daring fireball) and change the permalink url for the imported posts to point directly to the original article – I wrote a plugin to handle that a while ago (but it will need a slight change to integrate with autoblog).

    http://jakespurlock.com/2009/09/how-to-point-your-post-permalink-to-an-external-site/

  • Kirk Ward
    • Syntax Hero

    Which Creative Commons license? I thought most of them just required a “where did it come from?” reference.

    Business.gov, part of the Small Business Administration licenses under Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License, which says …

    You are free:

    * to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work

    * to Remix — to adapt the work

    Under the following conditions:

    * Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

  • Kirk Ward
    • Syntax Hero

    If you complete the part in the Autoblog plugin to put a link back to the original post, then that should cover you with Attribution shouldn’t it?

    The SBA feeds are merely excerpts, and all references, including links, are being stripped out.

    I have acquired a desktop application called “Feed Editor” which allows me to import the entire article and insert the author details. I can also include a link to the original article. If I complete that section of the plugin, will it pull the link back to that or the link to the feed I created? Also, where will it show up in the post on the bloggers site?

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    Business.gov

    heh Guess which site is blocked today by the library? :smiley:

    You may want to review their copyright policies. If the article is produced by a government employee, it;s released under public domain. Only third party material is required to be referenced as you mention.

    As to the third party material, I can;t find anything right off to say that a link back doesn’t cover credit. I would think you would be fine as long as you make mention is someway where it was coming from. At least that’s how I would handle it.

  • Kirk Ward
    • Syntax Hero

    Unless, we create a new user for every external author, I don’t think there is much that can be done here. Unless you can think of another method.

    Would it be possible to use my original suggestion and create a new “alias” for the blog admin and use it if the author does not exist? That way I will have done my part to give the author attribution.

  • Barry
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    Unfortunately, I’m not 100% sure what you mean by “alias”. If you mean the nickname in the profile, then you can only have one of them, and changing it will alter the name on all previous posts when they are displayed, so it wouldn’t really be of much use.

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    I thought about this one on my walk home last night and I’m a bit torn.

    I could have sworn that the sample feed url you pointed us to was for a forum but today it;s for articles with descriptions. Have I gone nuts?

    I have bloodwork I have to run to. I’ll write when I get out of there and I look at a forum rss feed link if I wasn;t dreaming.