It is hilarious what some people think about copying pasting on the web – They feel it is free reign to just pick up any content and use it on their web property. However, most of the times, it is an internet newbie that does these things.
But what will you say when a premier tech magazine in India does it? Not only does it do it, but defends it as well. Just check out this tweet from Silicon India guys:
The tweet clearly states that – Silicon India being a news site, they have the liberty to copy paste. To be honest I am dumb-founded by this response. As of writing this, Silicon India seems to have removed the above tweet, but you can check out the discussion on it here on facebook. I can also understand that the person who has tweeted this may not know heads and tails about plagiarism. Even then, it is a shame that Silicon India does not take care of what what has been spoken on their own official twitter feed.
The Background
Here is a quick walk-through as to what happened…
A Pune based Social Media site, Lighthouse Insights, had published an interview with Gautam Ghosh on completing 10 years of blogging. Parts of this interview was published by Silicon India (the article on this url has been deleted) in its entirety. Vinaya Naidu, Founder of LH Insights, put up a blog post explaining the plagiarized content and here is the excerpt of that.
Excluding the first two paragraphs (which obviously have been lifted from other source), the article starts with the introduction of Gautam Ghosh and a little excerpt from an article on Forbes, where author Shel Israel had interviewed Gautam tagging him as a ‘Social Media Thought Leader from India’.
This is the same excerpt we have displayed on our blog. How can two different content producers choose to display the same excerpt from a massive article? Besides, SiliconIndia did not even provide the Forbes interview link.
Everything in between quotes has been copied i.e. All of Gautam’s responses to us.
While a few sentences have been edited smartly, while conveying the same idea, two paragraphs were not tampered with at all!
Currently neither the tweet, or the article remains. The editorial team at Silicon India seems to have understood their mistake.
If it was me, I would expect a serious apology from Silicon India!
What do you think?
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@facebook-1376946371:disqus please don’t threaten he might sue us. but why is this sharad guy without face. hmmm covering all exits :P okay may be he comes back and says these are not my comments :) @cc85301a36a88d87ef3c964c734f91d6:disqus
rest i am confused he is now aware of the meaning of copying and inspiration.
The twitter screenshot is nakli and it’s done to spoil our reputation by our competitors. I never sent a tweet that said “that gives us the liberty to copy paste”
Are you saying that whole tweet is wrong or are you saying that they have edited your tweet to add
“that gives us the liberty to copy paste” ? In any case, if you were not at fault, why delete the tweet which you sent in first place…?
We did not send any tweet, it was made up to spoil our name. These people wanted publicity, so they made it up!
Are you pretty sure no one from your office did that? I mean is that twitter handle yours? If not, yes we could say someone made a fake account in the name of SI to defame you guys. But if that Twitter Handle IS yours, then, well everythings as clear as daylight unless you’re wearing cheap sunglasses inside the ground floor of a “to-be” demolished building!!! XD
Sharad, do you really work at SI? I mean are you their official voice anyway? You are not logged in and hence there is a chance that SI can always demand later that they do not own what you are saying. And in any case if you are the official voice, my 2 cents – stay shut man! You are spoiling your own case with your Neanderthal like thinking ability
This is 15 min of fame for everyone.. :-) this is just hype & ignorance thrown around for good measure… SI probably realized their mistake made by a rookie & took appropriate action wherein it seem these guys are now cashing in on the hype to get more clicks… that is low even after all the plagiarism thingy…
Oh Come on dude! Grow up! How would you feel if someone copied from you in exam and then topped the class!! Please don't tell me you would be generous enough to forgive him!! And please do visit the LHI blog atleast once. With the quality of content they have, worrying about clicks should be the last thing on their checklist!! :D
15 min fame yes we would love but by right means. seems you are a loyal fan of SiliconIndia good to see one atleast here. so i think for you the coping of the article and deleting was cool :) then i really don't want to tell you anything. the comments here are enough to answer your esteemed thoughts.
and let me tell you one thing if i want to cash in by the clicks then i will prefer to shut down Lighthouse Insights.
Vijay S Paul yaar yahan sab apni apni dukaan khol kar baithe hain itni hai tauba macha kar kya prove kar rahe hain, SI article credit bhi de raha hai, delete option bhi hai kisi jr copyrighter ki wajah se ab kya jaan loge unki… is tarah corner karke blaimail jaisi situation banana is a cheap trick dude…
Prasant Naidu I'm not a big diehard SI fan, most of there content is shitty. I am speaking about what I see & feel… I am not defending them but rather saying that creating a hype out of an issue that can be solved amicably is rather foolish.
Excuse me?? SI ne article credit kab diya? Aur waise bhi, kya guarantee hain ki koi Jr Writer se galti ho gayi? Unless you yourself know the inside story!! Arrey bhai, are you a blogger? If not, am sure you won't understand the time and dedication spent behind writing a post. If yes, am sorry you still feel that way.
Aur waise bhi, the worst part is they have absolutely no remorse on that!!!
then you haven't read the story properly.why
1. you copy the entire article of bloggers who are running it as media site 7 days.
so in return what you want a simple mention. is that wrong?
2. when a 15 yr old company does smartly then we should keep quite or just say chalta hai boss
3. now you delete the article and come on twitter after a day and say we have the right to do so. how do they dare say that ? they have got the guts because of that chalta hai attitude.
i never wanted to extend this far since i have other works to do but then SiliconIndia is taken it far so i am doing it what i can do best.
now if you think it is hype then good for you.
If you read the whole story you will see SI offered to either delete or give credit! was it falsely reported here? I might not know what goes behind creating a blog but I know Copyright law, jab SI says ki jr copywriter was even fired for this I would rather give them a benefit of doubt.. Any sane person would also know that yeh hype sirf hype hai legal claim is zero in whole here, SI gave you two option but you went with neither they deleted the post realizing the mistake & took professional action against person responsible, ab ye sab toh sirf drama hi hai na yaar. agar koi compensation wagerah ki baat hai toh I think you should be forthcoming with that, ye toh sirf blackmail hai. ek logical baat hai, baki aapki marji dost.
buddy let me tell you it is my story so i don't need to read :)
you are thinking that this is being done for money and i am doing this for ethics.don't stress your self too much because you won't understand as you are not a blogger. SI has done wrong and i have said in the post i want a applogy. i don't trust who has written the post nor i game damn which junior has written.
now if you are thinking that i am here to make money from SiliconIndia then let me tell you as an entrepreneur i am making money that can take care of my family and me too.
ab jab drama hai tooh bhai drama dekh aur majeeye leh …apni akal jada mat laga..
@Deepak Dude, since you have absolutely no idea what goes behind making a blog, what goes behind writing your own content, how much dedication and sincerity is needed behind writing a blog post…. I reckon there would be no point in trying to explain the ethical side of this… You see, its easy to shout out loud your comments when watching cricket on TV. The difficult part is going out there and actually hitting a century… Talking about sanity, am pretty much sure am very sane and so are the others who think this is totally dumb-shit behavior by SI.
Aur ji, since when did standing for the right start becoming 'blackmailing' ya dramabaazi??
Cheap tactics hai yeh, sarasar blackmail I hope SI sees this. No doubt someone junior in there organisation made a mistake, but there is no way they should be subjected to such cheap tactics to strong arm making money tricks. Oh BTW everyone have free speech freedom right you used yours & I am using mine now. You would've liked people commenting shitty things about SI but when someone points out some real shit you get all tipsy over the issue. I care because I know that you are using internet for some cheap thrills boss. Ab rahi baat akal ki toh bhai akal ki baat yeh hai ki aap log jo hai tauba machaye hue ho wo sirf nautanki hai aur kuch nahin, 2 paise banae ki trick hai toh saaf aur seedhe shabdo me maanglo unse. ye drama karne ki kya zaroorat hai. Aur suno ye jo tumhara tarika hai criticism sun kar ulta bolne ka ye sochkar ki samne wala chup hoga woh tumhari galti hai. ek logical baat kar nahin rahe bas sentiments par hai tauba kiye huye ho.
@Vijay bhai ek baat batao please, kya SI ne aapko sahi options nahin diye, kya unhone action nahin liya culprit ke upar. You chose to make it a public spetacle out of this, zero legal grounds par public me bol rahe ho copyright infringement hai. batao kaise? chalo sab batein rehne do ye batao ye logic kahan se aaya ki koi blogger ethics samajh sakta hai. iss case me sirf opportunity ka fyada uthane ki koshish ke ja rahi hai boss. agar aisa na hota toh aap apne content ko na sirf delete karwate balki ye bhi report mange ki kya action liya gaya hai. nahin aap logo ne aisa kuch nahin kiya bas sirf apne free PR ke chalte ye sab drama kar rahe ho. I dont see even a single shred of truth in your ethich ke lie fight wala claim, abhi upar comment me tumhare frnd ne khud kaha ki he is doing this for money, all i am saying that ki if that is the case be truthful & honest about your intentions not anyother way.
Dekh boss.
Point 1. Comment poori tarah pad loh. Unhone kahin nahin likha ki he's doing it for money. He said he has enough money from his work, baaki aap jo samajhna samajho. Thats all he said.
Point 2. SI ne options diye, theek. Lekin THAT should have been done first. Not after they first behave bossy and when they find out that things are going bad further, tab take a stand ki chalo delete kiya aur fire bhi. The attitude is what needs to be removed first! See, just because they think they're hot shots in the industry and industry unke ungliyo pe naachegi, plz!! Tell them to get a life rather!!
Point 3. Aur aap free PR ki baat jo kar rahein hain, sirf ek request. LHI aur SI, dono sites dekhiye aur 3-4 blog post padiye. Phir aap khud decide karain ki who needs PR and publicity based on the standard and quality of their posts!
Dekh Boss,
Point # 1 – Comment poori tara se padh loh, tumhare dost ne kaha ki he is making money, jane ya anjane unki ye intention ki iss episode se paisa kaise banaya ja sakta hai woh samne aa gayi par shayad unhone ye expect nahin kiya hoga ki SI apni galti dekh kar koi proffessional tareeka bhi apna sakti hai. Itna aasan thode hi hai kisi ko uth kar gali dena aur phir expect karna ki bas ab to murga halal. Ye toh bhai bahut galat wala BLACKMAIL hai..
Point # 2 – Aap poore event ko chronicle order me dekhiye, I think yeh toh tabhi pata chalega jab hum sabke samne woh emails ki copy aayegi jisse aapne shayad SI ko threathen kiya ho kyunki firin jaisa strong kadam koi bhi company aise hi allegations se dar kar nahin uthayegi unhone na realize kiya hota toh woh koi option dete jhi nahin. Unki taraf se toh abhi tak koi reply aaya hi nahin hai boss. unhone poori event ko bade hi professional dhang se handle kiya hai. Aapne unke bare me itna kuch likha aur bola hai ki aap khud legality ko thin kar chuke ho. ye kya bakwaas hai ungliyo pe naach, please use civil language. Aap ek professional ho brother koi jaahil gavaar nahin. I would speak to some guys at SI lets see if they can make there emails public, I dont think aapko usse koi problem hogi…
Point # 3 – SINCE YOU ASKED; I would definitely read the blogs at your site, but with this poor attitude I don't think I would recommend anyone to do same.
Hello!!
Please note, am in no way related to LHI, so SI ko jo ho ya na hon, I seriously don't care!!
Second, unhone pure english main likha hain ki yes he is making money as an entrereneur. Ab since when did mkaing money as an entrepreneur become a wrong thing to do? Don't connect it with him trying to 'Make' money from SI. He has mentioned them differently, toh please read it sensibly 'in the way' he has written and not decipher your own meanings.
Third, about what you mentioned in Point #2, "I" in no way have "threatened" SI. AM not even in the frame. So first please do get your facts right and straight!! Auraapne bilkul sahi kaha ki SI is handling this VERY PROFESSIONALLY! Please do make me understand ki how in your part of the world such actions are deemed professional!
Aur agar aapko hindi itni acchi tarah aata hi hain toh aapko itna toh zaroor samajh main aayega ki ungliyon pe nachaana is not exactly a bad usage! Its sarcasm. Samajhta hun ki aap jaahil gavaar nahin hain!! (BTW, I reckon jaahil gavaar is a worse usage than ungliyon pe nachaana :P )
And please do speak to guys at SI if you have contact with them. would love to see some response from their side finally!!
Finally, read the blogs if you want to differentiate the quality yourself. Kisi ko khush karne ke liye nahin boss :D . I don't compel you to do anything nor do I compel you to accept my points of view!!
Chalo! Good Night Ji. Kal office jaana hain. I have a life outside this :P
Anyways, great talking to you. You have a great future ahead. And a wonderful career too with Simplify Social. All the VERY best!!
Branded company or website should not act like newbie to Internet? They will steal the content and post with their name it is a blender mistake which is not known to them?Same should not be done by Silicon India..I suggest to change the title of post in different way instead of ”
SiliconIndia says, they can have full right to Copy-Paste article!”. Because new readers mindset will become its right thing..
There is such a thing as international copyright law.
can you share more here :)
Blasphemous….sue them.
glad if you can spread this so that will not happen to others
I think an apology is appropriate, but it's also not necessarily the best idea to now publicly diss them beyond what you have professionally done here already. There's no need for a sh*tstorm, if you know what I mean, because they made a mistake, kind of admitted it (yes, an apology would be appropriate!) and they've learned the lesson. Is there a way to turn this around, to unite against copy paste, or to find a way to co-educate readers, but also e.g. college students, etc, that 'creating content' is a creative task?
must say i love the indian defence
Arun Prabhudesai our article has got the cached link of the article :)
guess then they have the right to call themselves stupid as well..not much else one can say!
I can't wait for the next time they phone up to invite to one of their events. They will get a reply they didn't see coming :D
stupid and arrogant :)
Neil Sequeira they have got some already :D
Did they actually say "that gives the liberty copy paste" ?
this is a rampant thing and we the biggies think they can avoid it :) we bloggers know what it takes to produce original content.
You have never taken inspiration from other article?
@cc85301a36a88d87ef3c964c734f91d6:disqus do a favor to me pick up a dictionary and try to search for the meaning of inspiration and copying. or just google it or talk to a sane person in your vicinity you will get a reply. and still not clear call me i will explain you. your office has my no :)
Thanks Arun for highlighting this…After the hours of hardwork we put in behind an article, these guys feel they have the liberty to do that! Seriously WTF!
Yesterday when #OccupySiliconIndia trended after 3 hours of strenuous efforts from our community, they (SI) called us up. Gave us two options: either they will give credit or delete the article. We asked for a public apology, they said ‘We will not offer an apology’!
Please note that SiliconIndia did not reply to our email we had sent yesterday morning nor to the tweets we sent to their twitter handle @SINewsUpdates.
Today at about 5pm onwards they began to tweet us from @SiliconIndia asking us to delete our post;) When we didn’t agree, SI started denying that they did not lift the article at all! They also deleted their earlier tweets.
what i meant was mistakes like these happen when you are big organization with lots of content writers.. you should be more mature abt it…
you faked the twitter screenshot.
Dear Sharad – I am glad that someone from Silicon India has atleast come ahead to respond. Yes, Mistakes do happen, especially when you are as big an organization as Silicon India. However, what I find appalling is your lack of remorse for the mistake that happened.
Also, though a possibility, I doubt, the screenshot is faked…Some one will not go to such lengths to justify based on a forged tweet…
Bottomline is – You are still not tendering an apology…if you did that on day one… I doubt Prasant / Vinaya would pursue this matter further…
Not everybody comes up with genuine news. It’s a practice that people take inspiration from other blogs are rewrite the article. How is this stealing? If that is how it is, then everyone is stealin…
Sharad – Infact, I would go to an extent to say that 90% articles are written based on inspiration from others… But inspiration and copying is different… I have the link to your article based on Google Cache –
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:75zK8t39wDQJ:www.siliconindia.com/qacity/news_desc.php?nid=125738+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk . Please compare and see how much of it is copy and paste… Even if 1 line is copied from somewhere, you need to give attribution to it… if there was a small mention of LHI name in the article, I am sure those guys would have proudly promoted the article on Silicon India itself…Finally who does not like to have their content read by wider audience.. I hope you understand what i am saying..
Sometimes its hard to verify the credibility of small blogs. Small blogs mostly copy from other websites, that’s why we linked to Drizzle. I hope it’s clear now.
There is no need for spoiling our reputation this way. Otherwise, we might feel compelled to consult our lawyers.
Okay. So you say small blogs copy from other websites. Is that why you copied from the LH Insights blog??
Was that an honest acceptance to your mistake? :D
Hi Sharad,
Absolutely thrilled to see your response here!
Firstly, I would like to ask you (assuming you are in a sound state of mind) “What kind of bozos are running your tech site?” Like seriously, look at all the kindergarten stuff you don’t about the WWW:
– You delete an article but you do not know about Google cache!
– You delete a tweet from your timeline but do not know that a copy of the tweet has already hit timelines you have replied to!
– Every tweet (even deleted ones) have an id generated by Twitter, I will embed that tweet code into our story, instead of a screenshot;)
– You do not know the powers of social media, you need a serious version update yourself!
You can consult all the IP lawyers in the world since you need them more than we do. If you just take a cursory glance at #OccupySiliconIndia tweets, you might want to go back to the cave you came from.
I’m sure you must be struggling to delete your comments here and while you find a ‘miraculous’ way to do that, let me tell you friend “You have put the final nail in your own coffin”
15 years of existence and this is the ‘smallness’ you can resort to!!
But there is something called Digital Karma and your payback time starts now…..
I would say sue them…if the person acted foolishly from tweeting – that's their downfall of giving their password to an invalid… A twitter profile should be representing someone who has the ability to identify right from wrong…not Oh I didn't think people were listening… SUE THEM!
a friend from twitter has come ahead to help us :) thanks
If they have deleted, then they realized… Probably a junior must have tweeted that wrong info… followed by a senior member intervention. So lets be generous and forget it.
well when your content is your bread and butter then you can't be generous :) rest it is is not about junior senoir it is about the attittude and SiliconIndia has shown that we do it and do what you can.
the deleted link is here :) https://dl.dropbox.com/u/97949593/Gautam%20Ghosh%20%20Indian%20Blogger%20Who%20Interlinked%20Social%20Media%2C%20HR%20and%20Business%20-%20HR%20News.htm
Hahhahahha, You made my day. ?? ?? ????, ??? ?? ???? ?????….. Awesome. Does this guys knowing word called “DMCA” (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)
and you have made our too Jaydip
Obviosuly they need to admit and apologize on this . I can understand it happens at times when some one who did the story might have done it deliberately , but when they come to know about this, at that point of time they should show some concern and act professionally . I only hope there should be some serious law on this soon !