Copyright Infringement is not a Death Penalty Crime

My life is dependent on others respecting copyrights and copyright laws. I'm an editor, a writer, a publisher and blogger.

Because it is my livelihood, I was incensed when I heard about the Cooks Source magazine copyright infringement situation. (For those who need the Clif's Notes update, the editor of the magazine printed an article that she picked up from a blog without the permission of the author. When the author confronted the editor, the editor was snarky, claimed everything on the internet is in the public domain and was unrepentant.)

Of course, when you tick off a blogger -- they blog about it. This story has taken on a life of its own.

Initially, I was all about the public humiliation of the editor of the regional magazine. I logged onto the magazine's Facebook page and got a kick out of the comments. It was amazing to watch the number of people who "liked" the page just so they could comment grow from fewer than 300 to more than 2,000 today. The support of the author was fantastic!

Partway through the day the comments started to turn. They were no longer talking about copyright infringement and plagiarism. The comments turned to her looks, her weight, her lack of intelligence and included vulgarities and death threats. People are making fake websites in her name and the magazine's name.

Seriously, does copyright infringement warrant death threats!

The more I look at the comments on Facebook, the more I wonder why so many people who are not involved in this incident continue to write truly nasty things about the editor.

Which has led me to start feeling sorry for her! I know what she did is wrong. I know her response to the article's author was totally inappropriate and unprofessional. But the level of outrage, the personal insults, the vulgarities and death threats are overkill.

Enough people. Give it a rest.
_____________

One of the FB commenters actually sent a private message to me using vulgarities! A little extreme for copyright infringement.