Anti-Press Express

The Plattsburgh daily paper recently upgraded its website, making it easier for “interactivity.” As I explained in a previous article, I’m concerned how interactivity could be abused by a publisher, i.e., getting free content from an unsuspecting contributor.

So I clicked around the revised website, looking for any information in regards to copyright and a reader submitting material such as a photo. I went to the multimedia section; nothing there. I went to the registration page where one becomes a member of www.pressrepublican.com . No details on copyright.

I did notice that the registration form included mandatory check boxes. One box you are required to check off was that you had read the Terms Of Use and agreed to abide by them. But there was no link to the Terms.

And where was the copyright info?

I used the site’s SEARCH field and typed in “terms of use.” That took me to a page loaded with legalese –- but I found what I was seeking. Here’s the info that wasn’t that easy to locate, in the section called Public Areas:

“By submitting any information to the Public Areas, you are granting us a perpetual, royalty-free and irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, create derivative works from, transfer, and sell such information and to use your name and other identifying information you provide in connection with information.”

[ http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/static/forms/termsConditions.htm ]

There are references to the corporation controlling any submitted "information," including letters, reviews, and postings. The term "posting" covers a lot. It suggests that by posting a photo image, that "information" becomes the property of the publisher.

So if you have a potential money making photo or essay, make sure to submit it to this site so that the corporation that runs the newspaper can profit while you get zip. By clicking on that one box, you have given away all rights to your work.

Sucker.