Essay "Be Aware of Internet Exploitation"

by Madonna Dries Christensen

Last fall, the National Writer's Union advised members and other writers to log onto the search engine Northern Light and type in their name to see if their work was being offered, without authorization, on a pay-per-view basis.

I found four of my articles listed under NL's divine Special Collection. A brief summary of each article’s content was provided, after which readers paid from one to four dollars to view the entire article. NL’s overview of their collection stated that it was "An online business library comprising 7100 trusted, full-text journals, books, magazines, newswires, and reference sources."

I e-mailed the editors of the three magazines through which I had published these articles. One editor was aware of NL’s system, but two others knew nothing about NL and took action, telling them to cease and desist. One editor told me that they allow their magazine to be archived by University Microfilms, but she understood that the material was then used by libraries and that the articles were free of charge to readers, as reference material.

Recently, I decided to follow up to see if anything had come of the protest by NWU members and other writers and publishers. Truthfully, I expected to find Northern Light up and running, business as usual. But I found this message: "Effective January 1st, 2003 divine has discontinued the sale of its special collection articles on a pay-for-view basis. Thank you for your patronage over the years and we are sorry for any inconvenience."

The Internet is a wonderful resource, but it’s wide open to exploitation and misuse. Search engines are a writer’s best tool for checking on his or her published works. I recently found an article of mine on a site unknown to me. I contacted the Webmaster by e-mail and, while she did not reply directly to my message, she removed the article. Instead, she provided a link to the publication under which it was originally published.

Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty, it’s a sound idea for writers.