Internet News Needs Standards!
Intervention Magazine: Just over a year ago, I had posted a comprehensive report, “Blacklist Grounds American Passengers” on Intervention Magazine. It described how airlines have been grounding American political activists considered “high risks” simply because their names appeared on a government blacklist. “Green Party ‘Terrorist’” was a new version of my original article, having been rewritten with critical information deleted and unauthorized copy added -- it was a rip-off of my original piece.

Without my permission and knowledge, someone took my “Blacklist Grounds American Passengers,” rewrote, added, and deleted whatever they pleased, which is an obvious violation of my copyright. This new artilce represented a theft of my intellectual property.

The “Green Party ‘Terrorist’” had been posted on numerous Web sites, but I traced this new, corrupted copy back to its source at one Web site, AlterNet.org. Here, the title of the pirated piece is “Green Party ‘Terrorists’ Not Allowed to Fly.” My name is on the byline and it had been postdated to January, 2004, altered copy and all.

I wrote to Don Hazen, Executive Director of The Independent Media Institute and Executive Editor of AlterNet.org that: “Without my knowledge and consent, AlterNet.org has re-written and otherwise altered one of my copyrighted articles, ‘Blacklist Grounds American Passengers,’ first published under that title at Intervention Magazine. You posted a drastically modified version of my article at your Web site AlterNet.org.”

I am still waiting for Mr. Hazen’s reply.
- posted by Sophont @ Saturday, January 24, 2004