Blogging
Blogs and websites are…Often it is hard to distinguish one from the other as both look and operate similarly.
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The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a “safe harbor” from strict liability for copyright infringement to online service providers that satisfy its requirements.
A June, 2010 ruling by a U.S. District Court in New York in favor of YouTube established an important precedent for blog sites for avoiding strict liability for copyright infringement by blog posters.
The DMCA
Online service providers such as blog sites are vulnerable to claims for copyright infringement if visitors post infringing material on their websites, even if the service providers are unaware that the material is infringing. This unfortunate result – that’s often quite surprising to blog site webmasters who are unfamiliar with copyright law – is due to the strict liability principles of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Signed into law in 1998, the DMCA protects online service providers from strict liability for copyright infringement by their users if they:
* post a specific DMCA notice prominently on their websites,
* register with the US Copyright Office, and
* promptly block access to, or take down, allegedly infringing materials if they receive a notice from a copyright owner claiming infringement, or if the service provider has “actual knowledge” that it is hosting infringing material or if the service provider is aware of facts or circumstances that should make it “readily apparent” that there is infringing activity.
This protection by DMCA is known as a “safe harbor”; it completely protects the service provider from vicarious liability for copyright infringement.
The YouTube Case
YouTube’s online video sharing service permits users to post videos to the YouTube site which then can be accessed and viewed by anyone who visits the YouTube site.
Viacom International sued YouTube alleging that YouTube was liable for copyright infringement of numerous videos for which Viacom owned the copyrights. Viacom argued that YouTube was aware that some of its users posted infringing videos on the YouTube site and that this awareness disqualified YouTube from the safe harbor protection of DMCA.
The YouTube case involved the third bullet point above – whether YouTube’s general knowledge that some of its users post infringing content on the YouTube website can amount to either:
* “actual knowledge” of infringement, or
* qualify to make it “readily apparent” to YouTube that there was infringing material on the YouTube website.
The court rejected Viacom’s argument and ruled that YouTube was not disqualified from the DMCA safe harbor. Specifically, the court found that YouTube’s general awareness of infringing activity by some of its users did not rise to the level of “actual knowledge” or knowledge that would make it “readily apparent” which videos were infringing. The court noted that YouTube had removed allegedly infringing videos promptly after receipt of notice sufficient to identify specific infringing videos.
Finally, the court ruled that YouTube had no general obligation to police its website for infringing videos and to determine whether specific videos were infringing.
Conclusion
In general terms, the key rulings of interest to blog sites were that:
* YouTube had no general obligation to police its site for infringing videos, and
* that YouTube’s general knowledge of infringement, but not of specific infringing videos, was insufficient to disqualify YouTube from the DMCA safe harbor.
Blog site webmasters should be aware, however, that there are specific requirements that must be satisfied in order to take advantage of the DMCA safe harbor. It’s essential that these specific requirements be satisfied in order to qualify for DMCA?s valuable protections.
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This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com for MayonWebHosting Blog
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Microblogging; it may sound small due to the “micro” word; but I tell you; it’s one of the giants on the internet when it comes to traffic, promotion and sales for your blog. You must know which microblogs can give you the best benefit.
Without even visiting the web-page, a good Keyword Analyzer will have a module that will tell you whether or not links on the page use “NoFollow” tags. This lets you avoid you from wasting your time on building links from sources where you receive no search engine benefits. It’s otherwise known as Follow or No follow.
Let’s proceed to what makes microblogging so attractive, not only to marketers, but also to customers. The fact that the fewer words make them easier to read, understand, and digest. Another is that readers get to be curious about the microblogs, since its brevity only allows for teasers and promotions. If done right, microblogs can attract large traffic into your site.
Let’s look at the top 5 giants when it comes to microblogging:
1. Twitter.
Tweeting is now the trend. And no, it doesn’t mean making bird-like sounds. Twitter is a microblog which allows people to post status messages, called Tweets. Twitter’s interface was made to be user-friendly.
2. Plurk.
Plurk is a new player when it comes to microblogging but it’s faring well. It attracts many people, especially those that would like a visual representation of their microblog posts, which Plurk provides.
3. Jaiku.
Obtained by internet storm, Google, Jaiku was first obtained in 2007, and has since been closed to users first to start with the beta testing.
4. Pownce.
Another one that’s very similar to Twitter in the way it presents its microblogs, is Pownce. However, unlike Twitter it has a 140-character limit.
5. Spoink.
Crazy name, lovely microblogging platform. Spoink allows microblogging from mobile phones. While this may not be considered an innovation since many microblogging sites are already ahead of that, but Spoink is one up above the rest because it allows podcasts to be featured from everywhere.
Now, affiliate marketers should seriously consider going into microblogging. Before you proceed with microblogging; first weigh your options whether it’s important for you and your business and whether you’ll target the right audience.
For affiliate marketers and the like, microblogging is one of the things you would want to get into. With the certain age groups that it targets, the customers might probably be into microblogging sites. So just from there, you can already see what a big prospect market, microblogging sites can be. Aside from that; it can help build up your site’s awareness and also add up to your credibility.
Also, if you are too busy to scout for updates about the other sites that are relevant to yours, you can also get generous updates from microblogging sites too. Given though, that you do take time to do the search required to do just so. Aside from that, microblogging sites help expand your business and gain some contacts or followers.
So now that you have seen and read the importance of microblogging; you ask yourself where you can get more information?
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This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com for MayonWebHosting Blog
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Blogging and How to Inspire Interaction
Any webinar presenter will tell you that one of the most valuable parts of every webinar is the questions and comments part at the end of the webinar. Don’t skip this step.
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