Tools for applying copyright protection to your blog

This article is about the steps you can take to apply copyright protection to your blog.

Overview:

Previously, I've described how copyright applies to blogs in very general terms.


This is a more detailed look at the things to consider if you want to protect your "stuff" (ie words, pictures, tunes, blog-design, code, etc) from being used by other people without permission.  It covers:

• Deciding what restrictions you want to apply
• Telling readers what the policies are
• Physically stopping people from making copies of your work
• Making it obvious when your work is copied

Decide on your copyright policy

The first step in applying copyright to your blog is deciding whether people are allowed to make copies of your work, and under what conditions.

Many people initially say "it's mine, no one else can make any copies".

But some people want to share their materials and aren't looking for anything in return - hence the open copyright and Creative Commons approaches.   Other people are willing to share provided they get some of the credit for doing the work and/or some money.  Both the Wall Street Journal (Curse of the Greedy Copyright Holders and Their Fee-Seeking Lawyers) and YouTube's Head of User Experience (Margaret Gould Stewart: How YouTube thinks about copyright - as presented at TED) have some pretty good arguments about how sharing can make more revenue in the long run.  And thinking about what you might, realistically, do when someone breaks the law and makes a copy of your material may make a policy that allows copies-provided-credit-is-given more appealing.

Ultimately the decision about what policies to apply is yours - but you need to decide what policies you're going to follow before you can do anything about them.

Telling people what they can (or cannot) do

Once you've decided what copyright rules apply to your blog, it's good to tell your blog-readers what permissions you are willing to give for use of your material:

• If you don't want to give any general permissions, you might put a text gadget with the phrase "© YOUR-BLOG-NAME" in a prominent position.
  (If you have a designer template, then the Attributes gadget already has a field where you can put copyright, provided you haven't removed it.)

• If you are willing to give permission, but only on a case-by-case basis - say so.  And tell people how they can get in touch to discuss using your work.

• If you are happy to give some general permissions (eg people can copy your material so long as they attribute it to you), you might investigate the Creative Commons options, and put a statement from them on your site.  Their site has a automated tool for adding a gadget, or you may like to add the HTML to your blog yourself.

• To protect photographs or artworks, you could put a copyright statement right inside the image, either very obviously or as a faded-yet-visible watermark.  That way, anyone who sees a copy that someone has made will know that they photos are really yours.

Stopping people from copying your work

Physically stopping frequent from being almost to turn into copies of  product is any more line of attack.

There are scripts so as to you can add to your blog so as to disable the right-click option in support of a person who is viewing the summon: This makes it harder to copy-and-paste text or to save pictures.  However I don't mention this line of attack: It's comfortable in support of tech-savvy frequent to disable the scripts or to product around them (eg to look by the side of your summon source code and text the picture location from it), and as it stops your viewers from burden other things (eg opening relations in a new-fangled window) so as to they be supposed to be able to act.

Another option is to impede frequent from photocopying text from your blog. When with disabling right-click, I don't much like this line of attack, and don't service it: As with disabling right-clicks, it doesn't apply to RSS-feed or email subscribers, and a dogged copycat can either disable Javascript, or take a screen shot and OCR it, or even precisely re-type the content.  But it might be apposite in support of a little blogs.   To act it, add this CSS regulation to your stencil:

.post-body {
-webkit-touch-callout: none;
-khtml-user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: -moz-none;
-ms-user-select: none;
user-select: none;
}

One way to care for photographs is to save them as a comparatively low outcome beforehand you upload them:  This capital they look ok web-pages (yours and a person else's), but allow very low quality if frequent try to print them or service them in spaces like a newspaper.   If you don't care for to reduce the outcome, you can remove the aptitude to click on them, so so as to they don't friendly in a new-fangled window:  This won't impede frequent who can read the source HTML behind your summon, but it will deter your run of the mill photo-copier.

If you care for to care for composition you allow serene or videos you've made, you might investigate registering your content with YouTube's Audio ID and Video ID order.   This won't impede other frequent from making copies of your product in other spaces, but it will impede them from uploading copies (or derived workings, eg their own cartridge with a little of your music) back to YouTube - or by the side of smallest amount break you a little options in support of maxim could you repeat that? Be supposed to crop up if someone tries to act so.

Make copies obvious

Rather than trying to stop people from making copies, an other approach is to simply make the original source obvious to anyone who looks at the copy.

Watermarks:

Adding a a little partially-transparent text to photos or videos deters frequent who might text your product (because it will be obvious so as to they've hackneyed it), and makes the creative source straighten to a person who sees a text.  Most photo-manipulation tools at the moment allow tools in support of count text to photos.  Make certain you keep a safe high-quality, un-watermarked text of one  photos so as to you thoughtfulness almost, as well as viewing the altered single on your blog.

Cross-linking:

Long-term Blogger-HAT readers will allow noticed so as to I'm putting more and more relations to connected articles into both position. I on track burden this to be valuable (eg did you know you can add a Facebook "like" or "send button" button to personality posts as well as to your undivided blog?)), and to impede repeating myself. But it's plus a fine tools in support of discouraging dogged copy-cats:  They don't really care for to link to me, so if they service my material they'll allow to edit lots of links). And the casual or automated ones (who don't hassle expurgation the links) precisely finish off up carriage traffic to me.

Use features that are built into other file types:

If you service your blog to distribute other items (eg templates, eBooks, diagrams), you might like to consider more sly ways of either is decisive frequent almost the copyright provisions, or precisely giving manually the believe in support of product you've ready.


Example:  Single of my sites gives away planning templates so as to are made with MS Word and PowerPoint.  I'm exultant in support of them to be hackneyed and untouched, provided the copyright attribution is gone intact.  Microsoft's File / Properties highlight has a link to my website in both stencil, and often in Windows Explorer these principles are publicized whilst someone hovers their mouse of the library.  Over instant I expect it to be a fine tool in support of building the recognition of my blog.

"Signing" your RSS feed

If you put  a statement, crediting your blog as the source into your RSS feed, then every single item that is posted has your blog-name attached: copycats either need to edit it out manually, or leave it in and show the world where they got their content from.


For example the line I have added to the feed of the blog you are reading right now is:

This article is © Copyright – All rights reserved - blogywoodbabes.
You may publish translated versions of this article on non-English language blogs provided you acknowledge blogywoodbabes as the original source.

Blogger has a feature for setting this up:

1. Go to Settings > Other > Site Feed 
2. Add the words you want to use to the Post feed footer box, 
3. Click Save Settings.

(Something I'm not sure about - will be checking and updating this soon - is the footer added to the message sent to email subscribers?)

Registering your work with a copyright-service

There are a digit of services around so as to allow you "register" the copyright in support of an piece.  This might break you peace-of-mind, or evidence to service in undeniable authorized situations.

But it won't turn into one difference to whether frequent turn into unauthorised copies of your blog-contents, so I'm not leaving into details almost it at this point.

The after that article in this succession, Dealing with frequent who allow hackneyed your product, has more assign almost how these services product and could you repeat that? They're truly effective in support of - and suggestions almost a little other, perhaps more effective, steps you can take.