After Googling myself, I came to a disheartening realization -- I may be one of the most plagiarized content creators on Steemit! While on the flipside, such copycat antics are a compliment to my work, mere good intentions do NOT exempt from copyright laws.
Many, if not most, social media content creators don't understand this point at all. You'll often see YouTube videos that have the disclaimer, "no copyright infringement is intended." I laugh every time I see this because it's such legal bullshit!
Imagine if a criminal shot and killed an innocent person. Would his argument be, "no murder was intended?" Of course, the judge will laugh at him, while prescribing the harshest sentence possible. Hence, our first lesson: intention does not exempt infliction.
Steemit users are likely to fall under this trap, so it bears reminding -- the law does not care whether you are a good person or not, or whether you were promoting a good cause, or doing something for the betterment of your community. Plagiarism is fraud, no matter how you cut it, or from what angle you approach it.
With that said, here are three steps you can take to avoid plagiarism on Steemit:
Unique Ideas or Data Needs to be Sourced
"Many people live in China" is a concept that is well understood, and does not need citation. However, stating that "the Chinese middle-class income is projected to grow by 20% in the year 2020" is a unique, researched concept that does need sourcing.
Either an individual researcher or a team of such performed studies and analyses to come up with this forecast. That work is not your own, and therefore, needs citation.
Your Work Needs YOUR Voice
At the same time, sourcing alone doesn't automatically make you safe from plagiarism violations. You can't just copy, paste, and source other people's ideas in a kaleidoscope of borrowed ideas. Your work needs your voice!
The telltale sign of plagiarism is that the central focus of your publication is other people's ideas, and not your own. As soon as the subject matter becomes more about your sources than about your own contributions -- watch out! You may be plagiarizing!
Know the Situation
Steemit is a commercial enterprise, and this is patently obvious because the STEEM cryptocurrency has value! You need to be doubly and triply sure that you're not plagiarizing or violating someone else's copyrighted materials.
Again, it doesn't matter if you're "doing something good for Steemit." If you copy and paste someone else's work -- even sourcing them properly! -- without contributing your own unique thoughts, commentary, or criticism, you have committed plagiarism and have violated copyright law.
Because your plagiarism is making money, you are now vulnerable to a lawsuit. If you plagiarize an established company, they can sue the living hell out of you. Not understanding this situation can lead to dire consequences.
Why Plagiarism Matters
In this internet generation, I believe too many people think that digital works are a free-for-all. This is hardly the case. As I mentioned before, plagiarism is fraud, irrespective of intention or format.
But it especially matters today because print media and advertising revenues are dying. Professional content creation companies are desperately searching for any means to stay afloat, and keep their employees employed.
How do you think they will feel if some little shit decided to skip all the hard work and procedures in the supply chain of content creation, and just accrued the reward through stealing and fraud?
If you plagiarize an individual, you may get a stern warning. But if you plagiarize material from a corporation, you are dealing with an entirely different animal, one that will likely show no mercy.