The Great 2010 Copyright Debate

In a great debate over copyright that has seen social networks like Twitter and Facebook going crazy with comments; blogger Monica Gaudio discovered that her work had been used in a magazine without her permission. The magazine Cooks Source simply lifted her article from the internet, crediting her with a acknowledgement but assuming that they could just use her work without her permission because it was available freely online.

Monica then confronted the magazine by email and phone, asking for an apology and compensation. In response she received a controversial reply from the Cooks Source magazine that can be read here. The response seems to imply that Monica should be thanking Cooks Source for the improvements made to her writing style, and furthermore that she should be grateful that the magazine gave her any kind of acknowledgement since her original article was freely available online. The magazine’s response has seen the social networking sites respond dramatically with people from the general public taking sides in the argument. Information about the response from social networkers can be found here

With the controversy still strong, Cooks Source released a statement on the website; but the statement has raised further questions about the past practices of the magazine.