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Showing posts from August, 2015

Disclose, disclaim and attribute to avoid lawsuits and readers' ire

Our purpose is not to scare you with legalese. But it IS our purpose to guide bloggers on legal and ethical aspects of blogging. ATTRIBUTE THE SOURCE When we copy a quotable passage from somebody else's website / blog / presentation / press release etc, we must give due credit to the source. Even more important is to give adequate attribution when using somebody's audio, graphic or audio-visual material. We have discussed it many times in the lat five years, so will leave it at that. Would like to add just this bit: giving credit does not mean you can use any material; we need to abide by copyright laws when using others' content. DISCLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH A BRAND When we, as bloggers, endorse a product or service, we are legally bound to disclose our relationship with the brand and benefits being derived through that association.  Federal Trade Commission of the USA has issued comprehensive guidelines , with examples, on how to disclose promotion of a brand