I'm considering adding a "autoblog" to one small section of my current blog. The software scrapes content and images/video and stages it for posts on my site - BUT IT DOES GIVE FULL CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE AND PROVIDES A LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE. Do I need to worry about any kind of legal repercussions here? I've heard autoblogging with like WP-Robot -etc. can get all kinds of legal stuff thrown up (but i'm assuming because no author credit is given?) As long as I provide source credit in my posts should I be ok? No advense TOS violations, etc.?
Autoblogging is not a blackhat, it depends on the content not the autoblog itself. If you have a content to distrbute or link to illegal coyprighted products then it is an illegal and against TOS. WPROBOT3 TOS also says you're not allowed to use this plugin for any illegal contents. This surely against Adsense's TOS.
An “AutoBlog†is a blog, either blogger or Word Press, which runs automatically. You only need to create it one time, add certain plug-ins to it which will deliver content 24/7, add auto-bookmark and ping….and you just set it and forget it.
Content isn't illegal (its Car-related).... basically its just pulling posts from sites like autoblog.com. But it gives full source credit. Would I be ok then?
The truth is... whatever you do, you'll live through it. The state of legal intervention in internet affairs is weak; because we are dealing intangible content and the cost to produce intangible content is not as high as the cost to produce tangible content (less money and people involved means less attention)... and if anything the re-distribution of data fuels the economy and the public education; which appeals to allot of people. That being said there are personal and social ethics involved, and means for authorities to prevent people from completely disregarding concepts of digital possession and copywrite. If you take content from another place without asking, some might care, some might not, some might be irate, some might even be happy. It's about impossible to tell. If they are unhappy they can file complaints against the DMCA which will do nothing but contact your hosting provider; and since they can be legally held responsible in extreme cases, its their policy to suspend your account until the subject matter is removed... and then as soon as it's gone they will unfreeze everything and it's "business as usual", because the hosting provider does not want to lose your business over what appears to them as petty conflicts. That being said they also do not want to have to baby sit a user who's always making them suspend their account; so repeat offenders could have their account terminated... but if this happens the user probably deserves it... Ideally, it should never even get that far. In my opinion; the re-distributer of content should credit sources and use discrimination when picking sources. If a webmaster's feelings are upset (Which can happen when the webmaster is a for-money-blogger) then a simple email to the offender to remove the content and cease and desist is sufficient. If the guy is a greedy moraless jerk then you might have to take action... but its no reason to hate the practice of re-syndication and redistribution... because your feelings will only represent a minority. (even though the minority usually yells the loudest)
Thanks for that awesome response. That was kind of my feeling as well - I mean if i'm crediting the source and providing links to the original article, if anything i'm driving traffic to their blogs for free no? Wouldn't webmasters want that?
I would. I wouldn't even care if the link back was cloaked and nofollowed if a new avenue to readership was opened up.
For me it's more SPAM then BlackHat. Almost 100% of auto blogs are worthless, provide little to no value to the visitor, it can make money but it's probably not a site you can be proud of.
Boom. http://www.hatnohat.com Be my reader. (edit: just kidding. but This blog is 100% automated and a work of quality control; and designed to attract a readerbase. And it just goes to show you that not everything automated is spam and worthless) Take a look at http://www.cubetripods.com . This is also automated and helps people with camera advice all the time. It has pulled content from a non niche site (Yahoo Answers) and made a niche site out of it. As soon as worpress/forum integration gets better we can convert it into a forum/blog community... powered by automation on thee blog and user contributions at the same time.