Bloggers protest against Yahoo!

(This post is edited continuously as I get more and more links)

David Filo and Jerry Yang were once students, sitting inside a crowded trailer in 1994 thinking about the new Internet explosion and how to categorize and organize this information enormity. Their time, creativity and thoughts later evolved in to this big corporation now we all know as Yahoo!

Similarly, we are all now couple of bloggers investing our time, creativity and thoughts to express ourselves in this new and vibrant medium known as blogs. There are doctors, lawyers, house wives, farmers -- people in every social fabric finding this new medium of creativity a boon to relax from their hectic schedules or to utilize their free time. The content we bloggers provide is free, free only to entertain the readers.

Unless specified, it is not free to copy the text, copy the pictures and paste it onto some other blogs or some other type of media. There have been many cases of plagiarisation and as the blogs grew rich and professional in content, there were more thieves eyeing the content.

One such thief is none but Yahoo! itself. Yahoo! India is a subsidiary of Yahoo Corporation. When Yahoo! India launched Indian Language portals, they copied contents (recipes, poems, stories) from bloggers. Easy to start a portal, right? One cannot believe a huge corporation would do that. But it happened. Read the related stories, evidence.

1. Jif credits: Ziya

We all make mistakes, we apologize later. Don’t we all? To live in a society we have to follow such norms. We bloggers complained to Yahoo! and Yahoo! India. How did they respond? They simply refused to apologize. Yahoo! India office even had the audacity to claim copying contents is not copyright violation. The subcontractor (WebDunia) for Yahoo! India claims all was done on ‘good faith’. Contents were removed from Yahoo’s domain silently. If this was done on good faith and there was no copyright violation? Isn’t this a shame? Imagine if it was between two corporations instead of corporate vs blog? It would have been any lawyers’ dream.

Blogs are common man’s voice and oh yeah! Any corporate can swallow us. Here we are Yahoo! Come swallow us! Bulldoze us and eradicate us! Chew on our blogs and be content. Oops “content”, does that ring a bell Yahoo!?

Today March 5th we are protesting against this injustice by Yahoo! and Yahoo! India.

Hundreds of blogs have joined us against this blatant corruption and injustice by this conglomerate.

Here is a round up of the participating blogs. How to protest

2. Kaippalli writes on his blog,
Lets stop yahoo from making our creations into other peoples bastards. Stop the Bastardification of our content.

3. Devaragam writes,
Yahoo has to respond in the capacity of the entity responsible for the content of their website. Any other justification attempt will not hold water.

4. Nalan writes,
Apparently Yahoo, the giant, has a neck that has been drained of morality to the extent that has it handicapped from bending to tender an apology to a crime that it has committed.

5. Padippura sketches,
6. Jai and Bee writes,
You’re (Yahoo) a grinch. A really unsporting one. We knew it. You and your desi subcontractors all drank milk from a can.

7. RP writes,
Dear Yahoo, the stolen food appeared on your table, and so many of us have seen it before you removed it. Admit it!

8. Linda writes,
In solidarity with blogger friends, I ask you to please take a moment and read about one large corporation’s unethical infringement upon the rights of one individual.

9. Sailu writes,
I hate to give the unpleasant subject of plagiarism space in my blog. I’ve been a victim of it. Hopefully Yahoo! will have the integrity to respect the work of others as it expects others to respect its work and apologize. What happened to basic courtesy, decency and respect for other people’s efforts and work?

10. Alif sketches,
11. Jyothi writes,
In this context, 'content-theft' committed by Yahoo!India , (or Web-dunia, as the former complaines) is a severe mistake. It must be stongly condemned . Please don't steal away our dreams!

12. Sajith writes,
what Yahoo! did is simple theft, copying content from blogs without permission and claiming that its their property!. Shame Shame Yahoo!

13. Manisha writes,
They - Yahoo! - need to acknowledge intellectual property and copyrights of those whose contents they plagiarized. This holds for every other company seeking to launch a portal in India and the world over.

14. Rags writes,
I for one believe in open sourcing of information, free usage of information by anybody, but when someone(especially a corporation who are the torch-bearers of the concept of copyright violations) crosses a certain line by lifting content from an independent person, saying the original work is theirs, without crediting the content creator, then it should be dealt with seriously, which is exactly what's happening now.

15. Kannooran says, BOYCOT YAHOO INDIA!!!

16. Krish says, Yahoo!India (Malayalam), please do not lift contents from Malayalam blogs without prior consent.

17. Bindu writes,
I don’t want blogs to be an easy prey for any thieves to steal from them. (translated)

18. Nirmala writes,
Plagiarism : copying, illegal use, breach of copyright, bootlegging.
Example: Yahoos malayalam portal

19. Swarthan writes,(with audio)
This is parody of the famous Yahoo! yodle. I'm posting this in protest of Yahoo!'s plagiarism. The above yodle simply means, "Shame Shame, Puppy Shame." You don't deserve more, dear Yahoo!

20. Meenakshi writes, Yahoo, you are already due!

21. Dreamer writes,
Yahoo and webdunia has been the bullies of the school, who does not really bother to understand (or atleast pretend to) the depth of the water which they stand on.

22. Sakshi sketches,

23. Radheyan writes, I am keeping the black background sans a letter(Also to tell nothing here for yahoo to steal)

24. Wakkari writes,
Those web pages are protected under copyright law by Yahoo!, not by their content providers. It is not the responsibility of the concerned bloggers to know the various contract details of Yahoo! India.

25. Parajithan writes,
First, Yahoo! ‘surprised’ us with a reckless act of plagiarism. And, inevitably, forced us to question them, as well. A sincere apology, a few words, could have healed the wound and gained Yahoo! its credibility back.

26. Anita writes,
Dear Yahoo!you owe an apology to Suryagayatri, rather than tactfully removing the contents and blaming it on your sub contracters, i don’t think this is much to ask for.

27. Shaheen writes,
But to see Yahoo! do it is akin to supporting plagiarism and not promoting creativism. With all respect, it is undermining the good faith Yahoo! has developed over the years and it hurts.

28. Indosungod writes,
Yahoo used to be a company I admired from it days as a start up till a fews days ago,NOT ANYMORE, after their stand on the issue at hand and certainly not after I read some pretty offensive comments made by whom I suspect are their minions. It makes them look guilty as hell.

29. Sandeepa writes,
It would not do Yahoo much good if they rise up one morning to see an exact replica of their portal with their Logo, Design and Content stolen, right ? And that's why they have lawyers drawing up statements

30. Mullappoo sketches,31. Achinthya ( a non blogger) says,
Shameless theft - give it a highsounding euphemism namely plagiarism,be it done by a high profile glittering star like Yahoo or a nindescript blogger, be it that of a spicy sambar recipe or a well-intentioned, well-researched article on the ill-effects of pesticide - will always be theft. That too of the cheapest kind. A small sound - yet I hope to add mine to the clamour for justice.

32. Indira writes,
Not only Surya Gayathri, we as a food bloggers community do not think she has been treated fairly by Yahoo. So today is protest day against Yahoo and other stealers

33. Kithcen Fairy writes,
We are joining our hands against the shameless act -"Copying contents from others" .

34. Anjali writes,
We really feel let down that our loved Yahoo has choosen to lift content and tried to pass if off as their own.

35. Arundhathi writes,
I have been shocked by Yahoo! India's lack of respect for proprietal information. Fellow Bloggers have been attacked by Yahoo! where the big corporation has actually lifted content off their blogs, and posted it on the portal without any credit to the source. Incredible!

36. A.Yunus writes,
Yahoo! You are a Thief! A well renowned and shameless thief! I am ashamed to have wondered at your ability and technology at times. Iam ashamed to see that you use the power, fame an technology to steal!

37. Sul sketches,
38. Saptavarnam writes,
It needs a real great heart, courage to accept the responsibility of a mistake and Yahoo! India lacks all these. Passing the blame to their content provider WebDunia itself is some silly sort of childish excuse.

39. Umesh writes,
As a person who blogs in the Malayalam language, I protest the plagiarism and copyright violation Yahoo! and Yahoo! India did in preparing their Yahoo! Malayalam page. They prepared their pages by copying articles from Malayalam blogs without asking the permission from the authors. This is unfortunate and condemnable.

40. Advocate Sakeena, says
So far as the action of Yahoo or webdunia is against the common interest of bloggers, I also join and express my protest against those inceidents happened to the blogs of Su and others.

41. Venu sketches couple of cartoons (Malayalam)

42. Thulasi

43. Shaniyan

44. Revathi writes about a similar incident and how an Indian magazine apologized, HEY YOU YAHOO !! THIS IS ALL THAT TAKES TO RISE TO THE OCCASSION AND ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY. APOLOGIZING AND GIVING DUE CREDITS. REST YOUR CORPORATE BRAIN AND LEND THE ISSUE A HEART !!!

45. MKeralam writes,
Trying to fool the Malayalam language users certainly does not spell a fair business practice on the part of Yahoo. It is not by trampling on the rights of individuals and small publications that a giant corporation like Yahoo! India should flex its muscle. Where are its work ethics and philosophy on customer care and relations

46. Siddartha sketches,
47. Priyamvada writes,
Since Yahoo! expect others should respect their copy right, we, bloggers have every right to demand same from you. Yahoo! Stop blaming your subcontractor

48. Santhosh writes,
I protest against Yahoo’s unethical business practices in what is arguably one of the largest of its markets and demand an apology for violating bloggers’ copyrights.

49. Alappuzhakkaran writes,
We are protesting against Yahoo...! what are they doing??? stealing?? that too petty theft from the poor bloggers... ?

50. Raghavan PK says,
This is blatant plagiarism.You own an unconditional apology to bloggers for this misdeed which is certainly unethical by any standard.

51. Saramgi writes,
Dear friends, it's time to protest against Yahoo's shameless act of stealing matters and pictures from various blogs without the permission of the blog owners. Yahoo should apologize to all the bloggers whose contents are being copied and published without their approval.

52. Hari sketches and writes a comprehensive article on the story so far. Story is in Malayalam.
53. Sumitha says,
Dear Yahoo,copying and pasting the content from someones blog and claiming it as yours was so simple right?If only you had done something more simpler and that is acknowledging that person for her efforts.

54. Archana writes,
It is a shame that Yahoo-India failed to practice the proper etiquette of web publishing. If they are looking for solutions, start with a proper apology, try crediting the source for the content, and let Webdunia take some time off to refresh (or learn) their ABCs on copyright protection laws.

55. Mandira writes,
This is plagiarism, passing off someone's ideas and content as your known. Not only is this ethically wrong, this is illegal as well. As a blogger, I find it terrible, hurtful and offensive that my content (that I may have spent a day cooking, writing, and taking pictures) is in another publication without any acknowledgement.

56. Shilpa writes,
This was just a blog, but what if the same thing is done by giants like Yahoo!? what would they do if we copied their content? Would they keep quiet? Is it okay for them if we say one of my friend gave me this content, so this is not my responsibility?

57. Musical writes, These bloggers are ever willing to exchange and share their work, so why not give them due credit for their pictures and recipes, or request them for participating officially.....and don't give me this piece, as to how daal recipe would be more or less the same! Please, daal recipe may be more or less the same-but the language, presentation, little suggestions and pictures ARE NOT!

58. Trupti writes,
Support the rights of all the bloggers who share a glimpse of their families, their lives, their traditions with all of you. Protest against Yahoo's unethical ways and join us.

59. Arzoon says,
If you are that lazy that you can not bring yourself to ask somebody for permission, then you should be held accountable for the act.
A blog is an expression of an individual's thoughts. And it should be protected.
So, just join me in this protest. STOP PLAGIARISM.
Be an original. Stand out on your own...

60. GotCopy Blog writes,
Yahoo! has chosen to place itself outside the domain of any liability and asks those whose rights were violated to follow up with Webdunia. The material appeared on Yahoo!'s property. Yahoo! needs to acknowledge their mistake and tell us, the blogging world, that they will not lift content without our prior permission on the zillion other regional and language portals they will be spawning for the Indian audience.

61. Jyothsna writes,
It was unimaginable that a corporate giant like Yahoo! would resort to plagiarism!! It was appalling to hear about Yahoo! India lifting content from a blog without any attribution, credit or back link to the rightful owner!!

62. Sangeetha writes,
We take a lot of time and effort to work on our blog(s) and it pains me to see a certain section of people take such a casual attitude to our hard work. It just takes a moment to ask permission or give credit where it is due. Is that so difficult ?

63. Nupur writes,
But you know what hurts? When someone else, often a big corporation with pots of money, steals your words and photographs and uses them for their own commercial purposes. A small-time stand-alone blogger gets no recognition, no compensation, nothing.

64. Madhuli writes,
‘Nahi Chalega, Nahi Chalega PLAGIARISM nahi chalega’. It cannot happen, it canonot happen, plagiarism cannot happen - *translated from hindi)

65. Dhanya writes,
Yes I have heard the voice against Internet plagiarism. Exactly what I have heard may vary, depending on what I have read, or been listening to, and so been filtering the information or opinions that we all may encounter. But everyone is worried about it – And for good reason, I am with it!

66. Kunjans writes,
I strongly believe Yahoo should atleast admit there mistakes. They bother so much about protecting their on content (Please read yahoo's copyright notice if u have not). How can such an entity just keep quite when they are accused of a theft.

67. Maneka Nirmal writes,
Art heist - Yahoo guilty as charged !! So what makes it ok for someone to take your recipe, publish it to the world and call it their own – NOTHING !!! And what do you call someone who is blatant enough to take your recipe and then change some lines to call it their own – A THIEF!!! And what do you call someone who would partner with this thief for making a profit – A CORPORATE THIEF!!!

68. Kay writes,
This is outrageous! They didn't apologize... they didn't say that this will not happen again.. nothing! Shame on Yahoo! And those of you who say that we should take it up with Webdunia, either you don't get it or you just don't care.

69. Biryanikutty writes,
Yahoo School Of Plagiarism - Happy news for those 'wanna be great author, but no ink in my pen guys/gals'. IT giant Yahoo has started an online free demonstration on how to do it effectively. According to Yahoo, it is as simple as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V as long as the keyboard you use, has got these 3 keys on it.

70. Prapra writes,
Yahoo!, its time for you to rise and 'shine' (if they can). We dont[sic] want you to be the role model for the world ahead. Its time..... not for you in this case of copyrights infringement, but for any corporate or individual, big and small to keep their emotions and ego aside and acknowledge their opposition.

71. Chandrika writes,
It is sad and shameful that a corporate giant like Yahoo India which ought to set a good example, is stooping down so low. Webdunia and Yahoo India could take a leaf or two from the book of publishing etiquette.

71. Vini writes,
Plagiarism is indeed a very annoying plague that eats away at creativity.Yahoo,you being the big corporation here,why don't you set an example by apologising?You will only gain more respect from us if you do that.


Above List PLUS the following list too...


Other Bloggers(Most are in Malayalam) joining the protest which follows roughly the wiki format:

1. ChandraShekaran Nair in Malayalam and Hindi blogs
2. Sisu
3. Pothuval
4. Kevin Siji
5. Shaanwaaz
6. Shiju
7. Balu
8. Kiranz
9. Thusharam
10. Appol Shari
11. Sugatharaj Paleri
12. Salini
13. Reshma
14. Sankuchithan
15. Moonstruck
16. Idangal
17. Visaala Manaskan
18. Navaneeth
19. Panikkan
20. Thamanu
21. Siji
22. Aravind
23. Viji Pinarayi
24. Bijoy Mohan
25. Leo Paul
26. Pathali
27. Gayathri's
28. Mridul
29. Shajudeen
30. Peelikkutty
31. Ittimalu
32. Lapuda
33. Remesh
34. Aravind Ghosh
35. Prathibhaasam
36. Lizabeth
37. Sandoz
38. Tharavadi
39. Vallyammaayi
40. Ageesh Parameshwaran
41. Vichaaram
42. Prasad
43. Satheesh
44. Rajeev
45. Panikkar
46. Ithirivettam
47. Chechiyamma
48. Kareem Mash
49. Nandan
50. Santhosh Balakrishnan
51. Cibu
52. Vishwaprabha
53. Kannoos
54. Chethana
55. Charukesi
56. Uncle
57. Satheesh(singapore)
58. Kaithamullu
59. Sreejith K
60. Mani
61. Sunil
62. VishnuPrasad
63. Evooran
63. Durvirodhi (Hindi)
64. Kisan (Hindi)
65. Gini
66. Poonaji
68. Saha
69. Drishyan
70. James Bright
71. Usha
72. Snehithan
73. Kochu Guptan
74. Patteri

A salute to blogger Suryagaythri for standing up for her rights!

Thank you all my dear bloggers for participating in this protest. We need to be heard. Yes!