So I've been attending a craft class for the last two weeks and had to spend the night in Cincinnati on my way to DC to spend the 4th of July with my son. Last year he was deployed so it's going to be great to get back with our 4th of July tradition.
Was doing a little internet research in the hotel to pass the time this evening and found numerous instances of other websites stealing my written word. There was a tie for my favorite thief - one was an arts and crafts site that actually stole my article, my image and my bio and posted it as their own.
The second went into a big hoopla on their policies page about other websites not stealing THEIR copyrighted material and included the following as one of their policies:
XXXX (I have deleted their name) has a no-questions-asked return policy if within fourteen (14) days of receipt, verified through UPS, FedEx, or USPS Tracking, you return your purchase.
We do recommend however that you ship it back via USPS with Delivery Confirmation. This is done at www.usps.com. As soon as we receive your order (in its originally shipped condition), you will receive a full refund less the amount Maire Loughran originally paid for shipping. Refunds will be processed in the same manner as the original payment.
Returns are not accepted after fourteen (14) days.
As you can see, they in essence copied an entire section from one of my articles, and didn't even bother to take the time to remove my name and insert their own.
After I get back to work, I'm going to have to deal with both these websites and quite frankly, I find it irritating. What about copyrights don't these online businesses understand?