Are We Risking CiteHR's Future by Posting Copyrighted Materials? Let's Discuss!

This is a friendly reminder to all CiteHR members about posting copyright material.

PLEASE DO NOT POST COPYRIGHTED BOOKS AND OTHER MATERIALS.

By posting this material, you increase the risk of having the site closed down for copyright violations. Is this what you really want? Do you want to lose the valuable resource here at CiteHR?

I have removed two postings today which included copyrighted books. They were both clearly identified as copyright material.

Dear Aussie John, the interest to share easily camouflages the ignorance of copyright infringements. Please share a few guidelines that need to be kept in mind before posting any material. Here are a few that I follow for authentic information sharing:

- Share the source from where the information is received.
- If the content is protected, request permission.
- If the source remains unknown, declare it.
- Refer to and link the content.

Please add any other points I may be missing out on.

My criteria are very simple: I check for the © symbol or any wording that says things like "Copyright" or "All Rights Reserved," etc. It is usually found in the first few pages of every book. Sometimes, it will appear at the end, but that is rare.

Sadly, many people are confused by the notion that if it is an eBook, then it is freely available. That is not correct. Many books, whether printed on paper or electronic (eBooks), are copyright material. Just because a book is in PDF format, this does not necessarily mean it is free to distribute.

Many of the copyrighted books that have appeared here on CiteHR are illegally scanned copies of printed books and may have been downloaded originally from illegal file-sharing sites.

I also notice from time to time that the copyright information has been deleted. When I suspect a book like this is illegal, I check Amazon, etc., to see if it is a book that is still in print and being sold.

Copyright owners are now becoming more vigilant and doing whatever is necessary to protect their rights and their livelihoods against pirates and thieves. I would not like to see CiteHR being prosecuted for distributing illegal material.

I understand that not all people can afford to buy the books and materials they need. HOWEVER, that does not give anyone the right to steal other people's material.

There are libraries in cities, universities, and colleges where one can search for material. There are second-hand bookshops which may stock such books. For employed HR practitioners who need reference books, they should put a business case to their management team recommending purchase for company use.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards

I would like to clarify that CiteHR itself is actually not at peril when copyrighted books are uploaded on our network, as long as we comply with each and every takedown request. We keep honoring such requests from time to time—we've been contacted by many well-known authors and industrialists with takedown requests, and we comply with all of them. This was reaffirmed by the dismissal of the SOPA act in the US.

However, there have been cases when companies have wanted to know who the user was (when sensitive information was distributed). I can remember a couple of cases when we were contacted by cybercrime officials for information, and we had no choice but to comply. So it's best for users to follow the rules and only upload material they have created themselves or have permission to distribute.

Regards,
Sid

Please add pointers to be kept in mind to avoid plagiarism. I use this Plagiarism checker site to check the validity of the content before sharing. For others, what should be kept in mind to avoid it?

This is an effort to support the intent of sharing and value contributions made by our members. We ensure we work according to the guidelines, give credits rightly, and do not single out someone who is trying to share.

Regards

First of all, thanks for bringing it to the notice of all the members, though there will be a few users who will be unaware of it when the post gets older. I am proud to say that I haven't posted any such material. I agree with all the guidelines you provided to the users who are reading it. I would like to know if there is any possibility of exceptions like plagiarism. Once again, I would like to thank all the senior members for your valuable suggestions.

Best regards,
Shravan.

Greetings of the day, Dear All Seniors, as we all know, our administrator has already posted the following instructions (under Manage Attachments) for all the people who post or attach material. However, this problem is still ongoing, and respective owners are making complaints about it.

“Upload only material owned by you or where you have permission to distribute the material – legal action can be taken by copyright owners. Check for the copyright notices before uploading.”

Now, it is our (Members) moral duty to follow the same, but as this problem is still ongoing, I would like to ask something. Is it possible to check the authenticity of every attached document before or after posting? If someone is doing the same, then why are these copyright materials not being recognized and deleted immediately? Do we have any other alternative to prevent or fight back against this problem because it is not a simple and ordinary problem?

Checking involves time. Moderators have to go to Google or Amazon to see if the book is available and check if it has any instructions on copyright. It all takes time. I only look at those threads that I am interested in. I am sure the same is the case with other moderators.

Simhan is right, we do not have time to check everything. I generally skim through the list of postings with attachments to see what is being posted. Anything with a large attachment is usually a book, and I target those.

Awareness of Posting Internal Material

But it is not only books that are a problem. Members need to be aware that if they are posting material generated within their own organizations, i.e., PowerPoints, manuals, policies, etc., then this material rightly belongs to the organization, and you need to make sure you have specific permission to publish outside the organization.

There have been many postings here of material I would regard as strictly confidential to the relevant organization. If the management of your organization became aware of these sorts of postings, you could end up in serious trouble.

Sharing is helpful to everyone, but please think very carefully about what you post, and as we keep saying, ensure that YOU own the copyright or have specific permission from the copyright owner to post the material.