[stylist] A peculiar copyright infringement

[Donna Hill]

Hi Friends,
The following is the most rudamentary draft of an article I'm working on 
regarding something which just happened to me. I was more interested in 
sharing the content with you than asking for help on this, but any 
suggestions are always appreciated.
Donna

***

A Most Peculiar Form of Plagerism


When I was pursuing my songwriting career, I occasionally indulged in 
the fantasy that someone would steal one of my songs. They would become 
famous, and I would successfully sue them based on my copyright. I would 
use my PR skills to get publicity for the trial -- Famous musician rips 
off blind lady's song. I would ride to stardom and my other songs would 
finally get their day.

Now that my writing involves only words, however, copyright infringement 
has taken on a different tone. It's happened, and it's not what I 
thought it would be. I won't be sueing anybody or riding to glory on the 
event. I'm not outraged or hurt -- well, maybe disgusted a little. 
Mostly, I'm mystified.

As a writer on blindness issues and an activist trying to spread the 
word about the challenges facing blind Americans, I publish articles on 
the Braille literacy crisis and related subjects to online article 
directories like EzineArticles and American Chronicle. I don't get paid 
a cent, but the sites don't demand exclusivity, so I can publish the 
same article in multiple locations. Furthermore, other sites can go to 
these "ezine directories" for free web content and republish my articles 
to their hearts' content.

To see where my articles end up, I subscribe to Google Alerts for 
"blind, blindness and Braille." On my 61^st birthday, I was catching up 
on that week's Google Alerts, when I noticed a familiar title. I went to 
the site. When I started reading the article, I thought that I must have 
been mistaken; maybe it was another article with the same title. Then, I 
began to realize that the article was rather poorly written. In fact, I 
struggled to understand it at all. It slowly dawned on me that it 
contained the same information as mine. On closer examination, I 
realized that someone had re written my article, published it and 
thankfully not embarrassed either themselves or me by crediting it to 
anyone.

The rewrite reminds me of what might happen if someone translated my 
work from English to Chinese and back again with only the most 
rudimentary knowledge of either language. I wrote to the site requesting 
that the article be taken down and inviting them to use the real one for 
free. No reply.

Here is the first two paragraphs of my original article (August 6, 
2010), followed by the "equivalent" of the butchered version.

 From American Chronicle:

5 Shocks Braille Gave a Visually Impaired Audio Book Reader

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/174754

Block quote

At age three, before learning to read, I heard my parents talk about the 
family who lived next to us in our cookie-cutter suburban development in 
Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. I thought they were our "next store" 
neighbors. As I learned the alphabet and meanings of words, I asked my 
mother what the neighbor's sold at their store. I learned that I had, of 
course, misheard.

That wasn't the last time my ears let me down in the spelling 
department. Reading, however, is supposed to clue us in about those 
words that aren't spelled the way our ears think they should be.

Block quote end

 From Best Special Education

http://www.suite101.com/pages/article_list.cfm

Block quote

At grow older some, before finding out study, My spouse and i heard this 
mothers and fathers discuss a family who resided close to people inside 
our cookie-cutter suburban growth throughout Pennsylvania's Lehigh Pit. 
I thought we were looking at each of our "next store" friends and 
neighbors. When i figured out your alphabet along with descriptions 
associated with phrases, Gurus our mummy what are the neighbor's bought 
in its shop. I found that I had put together, naturally, misheard.

That weren't one more occasion the ears ok , i'll all the way down 
inside the punctuational department. Examining, on the other hand, 
should really hint you throughout about people words which are not wrote 
how our own hearing believe they should be.

Block quote end


-- 
Read Donna's articles on
Suite 101:
www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
Ezine Articles:
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._W._Hill
American Chronicle:
www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Connect with Donna on
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/dewhill
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
FaceBook:
www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.

Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
Apple I-Tunes
phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374

Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project
Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit
Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind:
www.padnfb.org





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