I posted late Friday (US EST) my weekend cryptic question here, but now its time to pressent the case for the prosecution against WebProNews.
I read WebProNews, have since the days it use to be an ezine delivered to my inbox, back in the dark ages before blogging emerged. Sure, I don’t read it as much these days but the blog related stuff gets picked up in my Google News Feeds. A lot of their stuff is republished from other sites, Darren Rowse of Problogger is one such blogger (and no: similar to Darren was the “Pro” in the puzzle) but they also hire their own writters as well. One particular writer has stood out for me recently because he keeps writing about stuff I’ve seen elsewhere, or even written about myself: Jason Lee Miller.
Mr Miller is creative, I’ll give him this, because when he writes he usually tries to put his own spin on things, or as the case may be, re-writes others ideas and presents them as his own, but it really, really pisses me off when time and time again I see anyone presenting idea’s, qoutes or otherwise as their own, and don’t give attribution. Sure, a lot of bloggers are ametuers and don’t know any better, or if you dug through the archives of the Blog Herald I’ve probably done it by accident once or twice as well, but when your a paid writer for a leading internet portal you shouldn’t just know better, you do know better, and when you don’t play by the rules its not an accident, its a concious decision.
Item 1: idea theft
Vigilante killer blogged confession: The Blog Herald vs
Killer Confesses Through Blog: WebProNews
Times: my post at the Blog Herald was posted at 1am 9 September US EST and followed from an AP article that referred to bloggers hailing the murderer as a hero and only mentioned in passing that he had blogged it. I also refer to a post at the Dark Side Blog that refers to the confession but uses the words “Michael Mullen confessed online, then apparently deleted it” and refers to the blog post as a “AOL WebPages”
The post at WebProNews was later the same day. I am unable to ascertain when, but I didn’t discover it until the next day (my time), so one would presume that it would have been during the day US time.
The words are the same story but re-written. Same link to a shot at the DarkSide Blog (although he doesn’t actually credit DarkSide as providing the details, basically a deep link without credit, that sucks in itself) and a link to a Seattle Times piece that doesn’t even mention that the murderer blogged a confession.
There was one phrase I used in the Blog Herald post that was unique, in that it was gramtically incorrect but factually correct, I tossed up whether to use it or not, but I did because I thought people may not know what an AOL Journal was, so I used the term “AOL Journal Blog”. Nothing significant you may well think, only problem is so did the post at WebProNews. I’ve Googled the term, it has 100 hits, many of which aren’t used the same way (for example AOL Journal/Blog etc…). Technorati shows 20 hits, again mostly variations, with 2 blogs using the term after me, one quoting my story, one quoting the WebProNews story. Basically its pretty close to being a completely unique use of words, and certainly is in terms of THIS STORY. Coincidence? Bullsh*t. No one uses this term and then I use it and it mysteriously appears in a story on the same topic at WebProNews which completely fails to credit any source…..
But just in case you think this might be a one off case, I’ve suspected Miller for a while on the old idea/ content/ quote theft side, so I’ve done some more digging.
Case 2: quote theft
Staff sacked after email fight, News.com.au
vs
Woo Hoo! Secretary Email Catfight!, Web Pro News.
I picked up this one because News.com.au is one of my daily reads. This story has been run across the world and has featured on sites such as Slashdot and others, but if you were reading WebProNews you’d be thinking that Mr. Miller broke the story and spoke to people, because the story is full of direct quotes from News.com.au without any credit, accept a very small passing mention, without a link to the source, towards the end.
News.com.au:
“Yesterday I put my lunch in the fridge on level 19 which included a packet of ham, some cheese slices and two slices of bread which was going to be for my lunch today,” Ms Nugent said. “Overnight it has gone missing and as I have no spare money to buy another lunch today, I would appreciate being reimbursed for it.”
WebProNews:
“Yesterday I put my lunch in the fridge on level 19 which included a packet of ham, some cheese slices and two slices of bread which was going to be for my lunch today,” Ms Nugent said. “Overnight it has gone missing and as I have no spare money to buy another lunch today, I would appreciate being reimbursed for it.”
with NO mark that it was taken from news.com.au,
but wait, there’s more:
News.com.au:
Ms Nugent taunted Ms Bird for being blonde. Ms Bird replied “Being a brunette doesn’t mean you’re smart, though.”
Ms Nugent e-mailed her co-worker: “Let’s not get person [sic] Miss Can’t Keep A Boyfriend.”
WebProNews: Miller re-writes it a little bit for effect:
Apparently, nobody talks to Nugent that way, especially not a dumb blonde like Bird.
“Being a brunette doesn’t mean you’re smart, though,” scolded Ms. Bird.
Forgetting she had already gotten personal, Nugent responded with “Let’s not get personal Miss Can’t Keep A Boyfriend.” Hissssss. Reeeeer, Scratch!
The only reference to news.com.au from Miller, with no link at all
“This is magic. You can’t script this sort of stuff,” News.com.au quotes a “high flyer” as saying.
Case 3: wierd attribution
(am I blacklisted from WebProNews??…If I wasn’t before :-) )
Yahoo threatens to sue Spanish blog network over information from third party site: The Blog Herald
vs
Yahoo! Spain Threatens Blogger Over Piracy How-To: WebProNews
This ones slightly different, because Miller has at least credited his direct source, the Search Engine Journal where I’m occasionally syndicated with permission (although he fails to actually link to the article), but what’s even more bizarre is that he quotes me referring to the Blog Herald in the story!
The Blog Herald:
“Julio Alonso of Weblogs SL has advised the Blog Herald via email that he believes this is the first time one of the large internet companies has sent a cease and desist letter to a Spanish blog.”
WebProNews:
“Julio Alonso of Weblogs SL has advised Blog Herald via email that he believes this is the first time one of the large internet companies has sent a cease and desist letter to a Spanish blog,”
So he’s writing a quote from the Blog Herald, mentions the Blog Herald but doesn’t link to it as the original source.
Case 4: different takes, same mistake
Kill your competition on Blogspot day: The Blog Herald
v
Saturday Is Flag Day For Splogs: WebProNews
This one’s a bit different, because this case isn’t as strong (I don’t have the exact posting times) but I do know one thing for sure, when I originally posted I got mixed up and thought the proposed “Flag Day” was the forthcoming Saturday (September 10). I realised a bit later and amended the post, but not before WebProNews published 10 September as the date and used the same reference points. Interesting…..
Others:
I’m not going to dissect a whole lot of other posts from Miller because I’ve got other posts to write, but I’m going to list a few that he’s mysteriously reported like it was an original idea.
Make Way For E-Driving, links to third party site without written attribution for a story that featured on Weblogs Inc’s Engadget and others (idea theft)
Kazaa Rocked In Australia Court: stolen quotes with no source reference.
Geek Discovers Girls stolen quotes, no source, featured widely prior to appearing on WebProNews.
And thats only September. There are probably a lot more examples as well.
Fair use some might say? what’s fair about ripping entire paragraphs from commercial news sites and presenting them as your own without attribution?
If you’ve got any other examples of dodgy practices by WebProNews or others make sure you leave a comment or drop me an email. I know from reading the comments at the earlier post that it looks like WebProNews and Jason Miller aren’t the only ones doing this sort of thing.
Update: photo is from the very excellent “Rumpole of the Bailey” of which I own at least 5 VHS tapes of the series. (c) Thames TV. Got to go and buy the rest of the series on DVD. Leo McKern (RIP) was also Australian, and born in my home town of Sydney.
