Earlier this year I posted an off-hand entry
about a scam call
I received. I guess it soon got a plum Google spot for the query
"Government grants scam" and it's been getting almost one comment a day
ever since. Today I came across a comment whose author was requesting
permission to use the posting and sibling comments in a book.
I have written a book on Winning Grants, titled "The Grant Authority,"
which includes a chapter on "Avoiding Grant Scams." It is in final
stages of being (self)- published. I want to include comments and
complaints about government grant scams on this Copia blog. I think
the book's readers will learn alot from them.
How can I get permission to include written comments on this blog site
in this book?
I'd never really thought about such a matter before. I e-mailed the
correspondent permission, based on Copia's Creative Commons
Attribution
licensing, but considering he seemed especially interested in the
comments, I started wondering. I don't have some warning on the comment
form that submitted comments become copyright Copia's owners and all
that, as I've seen on some sites. If I really start to think about
things I also realize that our moderating comments (strictly to
eliminate spam) might leave us liable for what others say. It all makes
me wonder whether someone has come up with a helpful (and concise) guide
to IP and tort concerns for Webloggers. Of course, I imagine such a
read might leave my hair standing on end so starkly that I'd never
venture near the 21st century diarist's pen again.
BTW, for a fun battle scene viewed in the cold, claret light of pedantry,
inquire as to the correct plural of "conundrum".
[Uche Ogbuji]
