Autoblogs are not illegal but are hard to manage. Remember that google does not like duplicate content this is why people who make money from autoblogs have over 50. They aren't a waste of time if you know how to utilize them, you can make a good amount of money. Just because people say (c) John Doe does not mean it's actually copyrighted. In order to copyright something you have to go through a long process which is explained in simple terms here http://www.weblawresources.com/Copyright/copyright_how_to.htm Remember that a lot of people do not copyright something that is free since you have to pay fees to get it copyrighted most people get a GPL license.
If a feed is published, it is because people want subscribers...and allowing others to use the feed comes with the territory, that's why it's called "syndication". RSS feeds are set to allow headlines only, excerpts, or full text by the publisher of the feed, so you are allowed to use what ever they make available...that's why they make it available to be used. If you take it upon yourself to physically go to the site and deliberately copy and paste the full article, you could run into problems, especially with news sites like AP, Washington Post and others. They do not play that at all. Quoting sections of an article with in reason is generally OK. Quoting by definition means giving credit to the source If you are doing a number of them, I guess you could make some money...it all depends on the context. Just posting RSS from the same sources to fill your blog isn't very effective, but there are ways where autoblogging could work for you. 1. Having a killer domain with significant type in traffic. 2. Great incoming links responsible for good traffic. 3. Partial automation...Such as autoposting product descriptions from a source, yet adding original keyword rich text for serps. 4. News aggregators like Pop Urls, and All Top..they are not necessarily 'autoblogs' as much as they are syndicated headlines. 5. Capitalizing on a niche or sub-niche....such as combining all the news from every coin collecting source. 6. As an addition to original content to provide more information. ..and I am sure that there are others that people find effective. The type of autoblogs that I hate, as do many webmasters, are those that don't add anything original to the equation and just scrape content as the sole source of text for their "niche" blog. Not every type of autoblog is a waste of time, but something like just having a blog of headline news, and scraping CNN, and Google news is, to me, a waste of time.
Actually when you create something it is automatically copyrighted to you, whether you write © or not. Now, as the creator, you're free to choose less restrictive licenses or make it public domain.
I thought that protection of published original material was assumed, and provides some rights against raping and pillaging, but copy writing commercial property such as song lyrics or programs required additional registration. Am I wrong ?
That is correct. From the U.S. Copyright office http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what When is my work protected? Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Do I have to register with your office to be protected? No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.â€