Andy Beard tells Scoble He’s Stealing Content via Google Reader

Andy Beard, who I’d never heard of until yesterday, has taken on Scoble, using Robert Scoble’s linkblog as an example for what he says is copyright infringement and theft because Scoble publishes a linkblog via Google Reader.  Scoble responds today, attempting to explain how RSS works, how a linkblog works, and how copyright works.  Be sure to read the comments.  It’s an interesting discussion, and I’m with Robert on this one.

Feel free to include my posts in a linkblog.  Why?  Because I know that if folks care about the content and find it valuable, they’ll end up back on my site.  I can only speak to my browsing behavior, but when I find content interesting, and I’m going to blog it, link to it, or feel like commenting, I go to the original source.  Google Reader’s linkblog feature doesn’t brand the content as their own, and the source titles are clearly links to the original site.

As Robert notes, if you want content to be truly private and protected, unsecured RSS is not the appropriate medium.