Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook by Helen Sedwick

Author:Helen Sedwick
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: copyright, independent publishing, how to publish, blogging law, law for writers, selfpublishing law
Publisher: Helen Sedwick

CHAPTER SIX

DMCA, SPAM, AND COPPA

Navigating the Alphabet Soup of the Internet

In addition to wearing the hats of a writer and publisher, you must don the caps of blogger, tweeter, Pinterester, and platform builder. Your Internet duties will feel endless. How many followers and likes are enough? Are your Google Analytics robust? Does anyone click on a privacy policy? You will miss the days when all a writer needed to worry about was her characters’ dilemmas.

Maintaining an Internet presence through a website, blog, and on various social media sites raises a number of legal risks and responsibilities. I have already covered the risks of using images and content without permission, and Chapter Seven addresses defamation and invasion of privacy issues. Let’s look at some of the legal and regulatory responsibilities triggered by a Web presence.

THE TEN DOS AND DON’TS OF BLOGGING

1. Don’t borrow or steal. Images, music, and other content you find on the Internet may belong to someone else. Get permissions.

2. Don’t go negative. Before you launch into a potentially defamatory rant, take a look at Chapter 7. Don’t give your target a good reason to sue you.

3. Don’t SPAM. Nobody likes it, and it violates the law.

4. Don’t divulge. Privacy is not to be treated lightly. Once a secret is released into the blogosphere, it can never be retrieved.

5. Don’t solicit investors. Contributions are acceptable, but offering investments to the general public violates securities law.

6. Do monitor comments. You may be responsible for defamatory comments, so delete them.

7. Do adopt a privacy policy. Check online for samples.

8. Do disclose compensation and affiliations, no matter how small. If you are reviewing a book you received for free, say so.

9. Do verify information. So much information on the Internet is flat-out wrong. If you repeat a defamatory statement, you could be as liable as the person who made it up. Before you repeat information, confirm it with a reliable source (not Wikipedia). What would a fact-checker do?

10. Do give credit. Give credit to those who provide ideas, information, and support. Blogging, after all, is about community. Be a positive part of it.

DMCA AND TAKEDOWN NOTICES

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a mechanism for quick removal of infringing material from the Internet by the delivery of takedown notices.

I have sent takedown notices. A few months ago, I found a link on a YouTube video that read for a free copy of coyote winds, click here. I clicked and was taken to a Russian website that asked me to register with my name, address, birthday. I stopped. It was a scam, and I did not want my novel associated with a scam. I went to the bottom of the YouTube page and clicked on COPYRIGHT. I filled in a simple online form. Now the link reads This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Helen Sedwick.

If you find your work posted on YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, or anywhere else online, and you are reasonably confident the posting is

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