Plagiarism and copyright

In the battle to preserve an economic base for original journalism, including the necessary expense, skill and labour invested in what are sometimes long inquiries, it’s vital that copyright is protected. This protection must deny others any right to reproduce the material published on this website, or material by Brian Deer published elsewhere, other than, say, as a single copy of a single item for personal offline reference. Plagiarism has become an endemic problem. Journalists, writers, academics, or others who plagiarise* Brian Deer’s narratives, research [including documents obtained] or insights may face civil action and/or public criticism.

Standard charges. Due to repeated infringements, a standard charge is in place for the unagreed use of Brian Deer’s copyright property, however acquired. Without prejudice to rights to damages for infringement or plagiarism, the charge per item is 1000 US dollars for the first month’s or part month’s usage, plus 500 dollars per month thereafter, plus costs and expenses incurred in the collection of fees.

Among other things, copyright and plagiarism protection allows credit, follow-up and a flow of information from visitors to this site to accumulate here, and not be lost, diverted or exploited elsewhere. Many visitors have mailed this site, often supplying invaluable information, insights or opinions. You can contact Brian through this page. Recommendation of webpages is customarily achieved by creating hyperlinks – and links to this site, or individual items on it, are much appreciated.

The material on this website is copyright as indicated. All rights are reserved. The copying, storing, redistribution, retransmisson, republication (including in blogs), transfer or commercial exploitation of material on this site is expressly forbidden.

*According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to “plagiarize” means:

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
• to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

“In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.”

According to plagiarism.org:

“Any ‘facts’ that have been published as the result of individual research are considered the intellectual property of the author.”

Authors should particularly note that plagiarism guides make it clear that mere footnote or endnote references do not evade a charge of plagiarism, and that each individual fact must be attributed in the text where it is used. For reference, with regard to Brian Deer’s MMR investigation, almost all of the key facts and documents are not public domain, and, such is the culture of plagiarism, he will act against authors who represent his writing, interviews, documents, or other research, as the fruit of their own inquiries, whether referenced or not. If you feel that this may spoil the “read” of your narrative and damage your interests: hard luck. You should have done the work yourself.

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