Original Content - Rules and more
As we said, we have rules and laws in places to protect the Copyright and intellectual property, but the first rule, for me, is always “What if this Photo …. is Yours ?”
Local Guides Connect
As usual, on Local Guides Connect and in Google Maps there are clear answer and explanation about the rules, but again (as I did it already on other posts) I would like to start from the values, not from the rules.
Values
Values are the reason why, on the first position of the list I am putting again our five core values: “We’re original. We post our own words, photos, and videos that we’ve created just for Connect. We don’t share content that we don’t have the rights to.” Simply this, no more. Rights and Create, are the keywords: the rights of the Author, the rights of the ones who used his time to “Create” a content, a photo, a novel, a paint, a music. His creativity can be public, for us to enjoy, but still be his own creativity, and must be acknowledged.
On our Help Desk there is an extremely clear post about the subject: How do I follow the original content guidelines on Connect?. I don’t need to write the content here. I only want to paste the last sentence:
Posts with images or content used without the copyright holder’s permission will be removed from Connect.
A bit strong, isn’t it? Oh nooo, don’t worry, it’s absolutely appropriate. Are you wondering why?
Rules
Since we are Local Guides, we contribute to Google Maps and in Google Maps we will never publish content that is not originally ours, isn’t it?
We have rules in place for this, about photos and reviews, rules that we can reach with a few tap on our Google Maps App.
Maps User Contributed Content Policy says: “Contributions must be based on real experiences and information. Deliberately fake content, copied or stolen photos, off-topic reviews … are all in violation of our policy. If you see this behavior, please report it.
… We also reserve the right to remove content that violates our policies or terms of service, and to suspend or delete abusive accounts”
The same principle is obviously extended to Connect
Laws
In most countries of the world, “intellectual property” is protected by law and, more importantly, it is protected by default. What does it mean? Basically, it means that everything you post is automatically protected and you can claim your rights if someone uses your content by asking:
- The removal of the stolen content
- The payment for the use of your material
Furthermore, in some countries, the responsibility for the use of stolen material (yes, stolen is the word for uploading and publishing content not created by us without the author’s permission) also involves the owner of the platform. It means that the owner of the platform (Google in this case) can be held responsible for the stolen content.
Conclusion:
What would you do if you were the owner of the platform?
Personally, I would immediately remove the plagiarized content and inform whoever uploaded it of the rules. If the same action were repeated, I would remove access to the platform from those who added the inappropriate content.
The post is part of the series: A Reflection on “Original Content” - What if this Photo … is Yours?