Thursday, November 4, 2010

Caught in the Net

New firestorm in the blogosphere. It seems some otherwise obscure print/Web Zine called Cooks Source allegedly lifted a discussion of how apple pie recipes changed from the 14th to the 17th centuries, posted in 2005 by Monica Gaudio on the Gode Cookery website. When a friend notified Gaudio that she’d been plagiarized, not by a college student or a blogger but by an actual, supposedly professional publication, she contacted Cooks Source for an apology and token damages of $130 to the Columbia School of Journalism.

Instead, she received an email purportedly from CS editor Judith Griggs basically telling her to get over herself, be grateful that her work was deemed worthy of publication by the mag and maybe she could consider how CS improved the piece by editing it. (Gaudio’s post obviously includes text taken from original sources, so it has what we would consider stylistic and spelling inconsistencies. Griggs apparently didn’t actually read enough of the article to twig to that before slapping it into the October issue.)

Besides, Griggs goes on, “[H]onestly, Monica, the web is considered ‘public domain’ and you should be happy we just didn't ‘lift’ your whole article and put someone else's name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence [sic] and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally.”

Basically, then, it’s not really plagiarism if it’s stolen from the Web, because “if it’s out there, it’s available to everyone, innit?” Like downloading MP3 files or bootleg videos. Or copying and pasting entire pages from an online cooking magazine.

And, besides—all CS writers are ecstatic to work for them for free.

What’s interesting about this—aside from Griggs’s whacked-out view of copyright violations (she stole the entire article, which is copyrightable, not just a recipe, which is not; at least a list of ingredients is not) and her apparent belief that writers don’t really own their work, not like publishers—is the immediate marshaling of Web resources to excoriate her.

The magazine’s actual Facebook page (to which http://www.cookssource.com/ no longer links) has a gazillion comments, most (that I see) not happy about Griggs’s arrogance. But there’s a very close lookalike Facebook page, with scores more criticism. (I can only tell the difference by the taglines: the official one reads “See the Chef/Source Collaboration on the Discussion Page”; the faux one, “We invented food.”) Seems like your average Netizen can figure out which line Griggs took a flying leap over, although she's having some trouble with it.

There’s “official” media coverage, too—LA Times, Washington Post, NY Times, etc. So far Griggs has avoided responding to anyone (except the fausse Griggs on the faux Facebook page), and the CS website has essentially gone static. Probably huddled with her lawyers trying to come up with a spin that’ll get her out of the public pickle and persuade investors that her head’s not as far up her derrière as she’s made it appear.

Now that’ll be something to watch.

Oh, and Judi? My work is copyrighted and not available to you at any price. Put that in your saucepan and cook it.


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