Well, it kills magazines anyway.
First see Gawker: Magazine Editor Steals Article, Tells Writer ‘You Should Compensate Me!’ wherein one will find the following written by the editor of Cook Source magazine to an author who found her article published in the magazine without being notified:
But honestly 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.
Yes, it does happen and when it happens in one of my classes you fail the course. The notion that anything on the web is public domain is a rather remarkable one.
Well, after much negative publicity, the magazine appears set to close down. See the Statement by Judith Griggs, editor of the magazine and author of the above quoted e-mail.
I will have to remember this one as yet another example of why plagiarism has real and serious consequences.
