Hmmm… who has copyright to content on your blog?

Might not be as obvious as you think. Particularly if you’re not only linking to but excerpting liberally from content on other sites. And that content, presumably, is copyrighted. Interesting article titled “Who owns your blog?” by Cheryl Gidley in today’s iMedia Connection. Gidley describes herself as a former senior marketing executive for a division of GE Capital. I think she’s being a bit naive. This problem is not confined to blogs. It’s the same thing as the controversy over “deep linking.” It’s part of the bigger problem of digital rights and paid content. If everything is freely available, it’s hard not to link to it… or quote from it. As Cheryl is now an independent consultant, I would urge her to insist on a bio blurb at the end of all her articles. This should include links back to her site, newsletter sign up, bio, etc. That way she always benefits as her article(s) are passed around virally.