Thursday, June 21, 2012

Thou shalt not steal. ...


What do you say, when one fine morning, you find out that there are actually companies/portals/websites, that have no qualms copying some one's blog posts, word for word, title for title, and have the temerity to claim copyright ? This has happened to many friends who blog, even some who take excellent photos.

Some sites  have almost all their content  copied from somewhere else.  Blatantly.

While FB friends mobilize as if by magic , and consolidate energies to right the wrong, even within the hour, some even pinpointing other bloggers who have been plagiarized and their work copied at the same site mentioned above, one wonders why this kind of cheating is done, and why so called educated folks have no qualms doing this.

One then looks around, reads the newspapers, watches the news, sighs, and keeps quiet.....

 (image courtesy Google)

Riches that she dreamt of .

As she
at 4,
walked
trailing her mother
in the supermarket

Chocolates
in shining wrappers,
in heaps
in bins,
to be bought by weight,
and
the tiny hands,
slid up the side,
and then down,
clutching two,
stuffing them under the tee,
simply thrilled with the sudden bounty....

Back home,
the mother noticed,
and distraught,
turned around
and went straight back to the store.

" Ask me, and you will get,
but never ever
lay your hands like this
on what is not yours
"
she said,
and taught the child
to apologize,
and had the stuff billed
at an admiring
store counter.

Years on,
the child
continued to learn
the advantages of truth.

Unlike the child,
some never learned
and as grown ups with their own kids,
learned to steal knowledge candy.

Fate has a different treatment
for such folks.

Wordy treasures
of a blogging lady
blatantly stolen,
kept in fancy shelves
and called his own,
by an unfortunate fellow
who made a living that way
calling it,
"Education".

He didn't know
how to fend of the
arrows and bullets,
announcements, and accusations
of an army of women bloggers,
Senapati B.
fighting in the forefront
of a plagiarism war,
as
even the electrons
that flew through the air,
jumped levels
and spit black energy at him.

"Did no one tell you
never to touch what is not yours ?
"
they asked;
and asked him to
empty his shelves and pockets
to return the stuff.

And apologize.

Unfortunately,
the fellow,
was surrounded,
not by angry house womenfolk
but
by powerful folks,
who blatantly stole what was not theirs,
changing titles,
putting new covers,
modifying rules,
and abusing the law,
which quivered in their presence.

The little child ,
studied,
truthfully slogged,
and got educated.

The other fellow,
with different role models
got,
a doctorate
in Chorshastra***....



*** Chor = Thief,  Shastra = Science of,

26 comments:

  1. Nice! By the way, I just read it on FB today.... When one steal a idea, it is plagiarism and when one steals many ideas it is research!

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    1. This particular thing was a gross copyright violation. I too read today the quote you mention. Thats why the guy got a doctorate in Chorshastra////:-))

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    2. NO..you are supposed to reveal your source of information in research paper...it is something already searched but you are doing re search!~!!

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    3. I agree. Footnotes, links, citations, references ~ this should be done in research...

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  2. Fantastic, Suranga! So true too - I wonder what role-models these people had growing up.

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    1. Corinne, Thank you ! So much depends on what values you learned as a child !

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  3. Yes, a fantastic post. This line quoted by Amit was thrown to me too today when I objected to someone else's material being copied on a fb group...Actually in research we always acknowledge and write reams of bibliography.
    It's always frustrating to see someone's work copied.

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    Replies
    1. Sangeeta, thank you. And yes I read the conversation about copying from the FB group, and the fellows shameless reply. Sick, isnt it ?

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  4. It is very difficult for the younger generation to stick to values and progress in life when all around them they see scamsters, murderers,terrorists, do not get punished and are roaming honorably in society. They feel one has to be well connected and moneyed...values do not matter...

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    1. Anonymous, yes, what a terrible time to be young and impressionable...

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  5. While it is true not all our 'ideas' could be original and unique at one point, giving credit to the 'geniuses' who invented their masterpieces is due them. I do 'borrow' but not steal.

    What could be done? I read that some plagiarists have been banned from their respective groups. They have been 'branded' as such. But what else could be done after exposing their 'crime'?

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    Replies
    1. Melissa, thank you for commenting. Borrowing with permission and proper attribution is advisable. The borrower/who gives no value to that , is really a thief.

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  6. You are abslutely right Suranga. It is a reflection on how they were raised. Very Unfortunate.

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    Replies
    1. Magiceye, thank you . The sad part is that these things are happening very frequently.

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  7. So true! People are lax about lifting someone else's work, ideas or compositions without any qualms. Definitely, it is not only the morals that are low in this case but also the feeling that they can get away by doing it. It is only when hordes of people descend upon them that they have no respite. I am a professional writer and all my clients check my work for plagiarism. It is standard practice. So, for the site to say that they had no clue sounds fishy. Either they are really dumb or really smart. I wish we could lodge a cyber complaint and ask for damages when our work is plagiarized.

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    Replies
    1. Rachna, thank you for the comment ! Once something has been stolen and publicised as one's own creation, nothing the party says can be believed.

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    2. Exactly, so is a larger and tougher punishment possible?

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  8. Wonderful...Knowledge, education, values, everything is tossed out just for name and fame??

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    Replies
    1. Janu, the only name and fame they get is that of a cheat and plagiarizer ....

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  9. I have had entire sentences plifered from my post. Then there are the subtler burgaries that are tough to pin down. At times, I take comfort in the adage that says, 'mimicry is a form of appreciation', and at other moments I just let it pass.

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    Replies
    1. USP, I guess, it is the sign of the times. Some steal other people's money, and some steal other people's minds.

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    2. I even saw one blogger using another's tweet as their status update. Or, one esteemed blogger using a comment on her own wall as a comment on another person's blog that I also go to. Now, I wonder what we can do about this menace! To an extent small or large, don't you think everyone is doing it?

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  10. Lovely poem Suranga Maushi...
    I am glad all of us Bloggers are so united in their stand against Plagiarism and are ready to fight for each other..

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  11. I have had FB status messages and entire book reviews lifted from my blog. One smart Aleck lifted the whole book review and actually sent it to the author of the book as his own - Can you believe it. And once confronted these guys are not even apologetic.I wonder what sort of upbringing this is !

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    Replies
    1. Such folks exist, because their parents encouraged them to treat the neighbors mango tree as their own, without asking the neighbor's permission. Then it was mangoes. Now it's stealing intellectual property.

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