'As far as I know, publishing someone's content as
your own is plagiarism. Or does the Twittersphere have a different
set of rules?' So asked a frustrated Business Day
executive. This was, of course, in the context of the
'stolen Tweets' story, one of several copyright
stories to make the news recently.
The stolen Tweets story related to the fact that CNBC Africa had
copied a number of the Tweets that Business Day had posted in
respect of on the mid-term policy speech (the mini-Budget)*.
Here's one of them: 'Largest wasteful expenditure
is consultant services. Better contract management needed. Proposes
stricter control of consultancy fees.' CNBC Africa
admitted that it had done wrong and it apologised. It put the blame
on a junior intern and it promised that there would be strict
disciplinary action.