I am not sure I understand "trackback etiquette" if there is any. I just received a trackback ping for someone who apparently was commenting on a post I made on my blog. I went to the other site and found that they had quoted (read copied) 80% of my post on their site and commented about 8 words on it. My first reaction was that they are simply ripping off my content (which I did not give them permission to use) and publishing on their site. But, then I figured I would ask if that is how people who use trackback normally do it. You can see the whole deal (remove the space after the first period http://phones. blogcarnival.com/archives/2005/04/nokia_pc_suite.html
Personally I would say that ripping off all the content is a bit cheeky... Was it wrapped in <blockquote> tags? If so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I think general blog etiquette dictates that if someone else takes your content they must do at least one (better more) of these things: 1 Trackback 2 Blockquote 3 Link to source Also, if you are offering syndication of your posts through a feed, the liklihood that they are reposted increases.
I never did understand the trackback thing. Then again, it took me a long time to understand why people blog.
I think the law says if you reuse copyrighted material you are stealing and no link back or credit given to the author exempts you. PERIOD! It is not subjective to the program that presents the material. Public domain material is marked as so with instructions on use. Per copyright law, anything else is assumed to be copyrighted unless otherwised stated. Consequences can vary.