You might have noticed that my face is appearing in more of the cover images for my article and in more of the cover images for my videos. There is a reason for that and its not that Ive discovered a brand-new vanity in my mid-40s. The factor is that in my on-going battle against websites that republish my content without consent it is much simpler for me to show evidence of ownership and creativity when my face is in the cover image. If youre interested in the explanation of that, read on..

I like to share the title or a little summary of your article with my staff, is that all right?
Yes, as long as youre not republishing the entire thing and or passing it off as your own. If you want somebody to check out the entire article, give them the link to it..

You may have discovered that my face is appearing in more of the cover images for my blog site posts and in more of the cover images for my videos. The factor is that in my on-going battle against sites that republish my material without authorization it is much simpler for me to prove proof of ownership and creativity when my face is in the cover image. Filing DMCA takedown notifications is lengthy and even when filed effectively some hosting companies still require even more proof of original work and ownership. Being able to state, “hey, thats my photo of myself using my favorite flannel shirt” is a lot much easier and faster than composing an explanation of the originality of my blog site post.

I get a lot of follow-up questions Whenever I publish something about copyright. These are a few of the regularly asked questions..

Can I forward your newsletter to my colleagues?
Yes, obviously. Strike the forward button in your inbox and share it as I wrote it (over-use of hyphens and parentheses is among the trademarks of my article so dont be lured to modify those out)..

I embedded your YouTube video into my class/ school site, is that alright?.
Yes, thats completely great as long as youre using the embed or link provided by YouTube and not downloading the video then republishing it (read YouTubes TOS for more details)..

If Youre in a Similar Situation, resources.
If you have a website or blog that is also regularly scraped, here are some resources that may be valuable to you..

The majority of the websites that are stealing my work nowadays are doing so through automated methods. Its relatively simple to compose a script that scrapes all of the material from an RSS feed and imports it into a various site. Truncating or stopping my RSS feed stops a few of the thieves, however a lot of have actually moved onto using scripts that scrape straight from the site rather of from the RSS feed. Thats a little harder to stop so my option is to submit DMCA takedown notices with Google to get them to eliminate the angering material from their results pages. In addition, I then submit DMCA takedown notices with the websites hosting services..
Filing DMCA takedown notices is time-consuming and even when submitted properly some hosting companies still require even more proof of original work and ownership. Being able to say, “hey, thats my image of myself using my preferred flannel t-shirt” is a lot simpler and faster than composing an explanation of the creativity of my blog site post.

Help Understanding Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use.