Auto blogging How legal is it?

[cowsgonemadd3]

Okay so I started two auto blogs thanks to the advice here. Now I am a 19 year old guy from the USA and I wondered how legal it is to use others content to get ad revenue from? My name is on the hosting plan so....
I think auto blogging has good potential to make me some money if I go into niches but anyways I just wondered.

 

[Rick4691]

Google "fair use", and make your own judgment.

I think this site gives some good guidelines:

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm

But my personal guideline is that I use only the first third of full feeds that are longer than 1000 words and always link back to the source with "Read complete story at ... " no-follow link.

I figure I'm doing the people publishing full feeds a favor by aggregating content and linking back. And I put up a policy page stating that if they would like their feed removed they should request it through my contact page. With that, I am trying to show that I'm acting in good faith regarding fair use of an someone's content.

 

[MattBlethen]

Sounds like a pretty solid idea. I set up an autoblog and it has yeilded absolutely no organic traffic and is not ranking for anything. You can find it at autoinsurance*krbluebook*com (replace "*" with "."). Any advice would be very much appreciated. Im also 19 and delving very deep into IM.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[c0ntenth|ef]

autoblogging takes some effort just like everything else if you want it to rank and have traffic just copying stuff and posting it usually wont be enough, try to do some keyword research for your niches

 

[hotcheats]

OK, so unless you are taking the content from normal and, what's worse, popular blogs/websites u might get a DMCA complaint and I think it doesn't matter whether you are 19 or 99...

BUT...

If u take:
-just an excerpt and leave a nofollow link to the source
-content just from big guys, like YT videos, Y! Answers etc.
-rewrite or rehash it the way it will be a unique to search engine


....you won't have any troubles as everybody in autblog business are doing it, incl. me and if you'll stay "under the radar" meaning that, u are not going to promote your splog too much in the way u do with normal websites, especially in some Web 2.0 sites. Remember, autoblogs are just products for making money, not your dearly beloved websites that u caress for many years LOL . Enough said

 

[Rick4691]

...

BUT...

If u take:
-just an excerpt and leave a nofollow link to the source
-content just from big guys, like YT videos, Y! Answers etc.
-rewrite or rehash it the way it will be a unique to search engine


....you won't have any troubles as everybody in autblog business are doing it...

I really don't think you have to restrict yourself to just the big guys, although content from them is a lot more dependable --- if you get an RSS feed from one of my sites for example, you might get a couple of posts this month, and then nothing until December.

I also think that if you put a generic policy page up that explains the idea behind an aggregator site and gives content owners an opportunity to "opt-out" of inclusion in your site, you: a) build up trust and goodwill with someone who takes being scraped /ahem/ being aggregated the wrong way; b) you set up a legal defence for yourself based on both good faith and fair use; and c) anyone who really objects to being aggregated won't even have to resort to a "cease and desist" letter --- they just opt-out their feed(s).

I'm sure you can find five new feeds to replace any one feed that opts out.

And remember the "fair" in fair use --- if you treat people and their content fairly and explain why it is fair, they're less likely to complain and/or go legal .

 

[riolas]

100% legal. Don't worry about it! People won't persue it, they will just try and scare you

 

[shm03]

Worst thing that is going to happen is that you get a complaint from the owner of the content and you have to remove it.

To make it fairer make sure you only post an excerpt and have a ******** link back to the original.

Thats probably the nicest way to do it, if you are gonna be more evil then just steal all the content and don't have a link.