A blog post  written by Monica Gaudio about medieval apple pies was copied entirely and published in a for-profit magazine, Cook’s Source, without permission or payment. On contacting the magazine, Gaudio was informed that “the web is considered ‘public domain'” and that she should be the one compensating Cook’s Source, for editing her work. Things have not gone well for Cook’s Source since then.

See, Gaudio asked Cook’s Source for  a printed apology, and for the money owed her for the article to be donated to the Columbia School of Journalism; the editor Judith Grigg’s ‘apology’ amount to “it was ‘my bad’ indeed,” followed by the following wonderful bit of prose:

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. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than it was originally.

Fun facts! The ‘very bad need of editing’ that the Griggs is referring to is in fact the medieval spelling used to explain how to bake a medieval apple pie! Oh, and also the internet isn’t public domain. At all.

The internet has been displeased by Griggs’ actions, and has responded accordingly. Cook’s Source Facebook page, which stands as its primary website, is inundated with the (occasionally crude) mutterings of angry bloggers, who have discovered that this probably isn’t the only time Cook’s Source has been naughty about copying online recipes.  Twitter was briefly aflame with with the #crooksource hashtag – and, of course, there’s the obligatory fake Cook’s Source Twitter account. Griggs has not been available for comment, but the answering machine informs me that they’re all “out in the field checking out all those great places to eat.”

What fun.

[Gaudio’s livejournal]