Sharing VOI And Mojok Experiences On Article Picking In The Digital Space

JAKARTA - One night in the past weeks, a chat entered the WhatsApp group of the VOI editors. An editor-in-chief sent a series of article links from various websites whose contents were plucked from VOI articles without permission. Today my friends in Mojok reacted to a similar experience. We explore this struggle, which is very personal but important to understand.

"That's what was recorded," wrote the VOI editorial crew who happened to write all the articles that were picked up. There are seven articles in total. Picked up a different website. There is a change only in the conjunction. Some just modify the first paragraph. Others are dominated by copy-paste (copy and paste) techniques.

And that night's report wasn't the first finding of a VOI article to be copied. Likewise with Mojok, which today reacted to the removal of their article by a site. Managing Editor Prima Sulistya explained that as far as his contribution to Mojok goes, he has found at least five times that Mojok content was taken without permission.

"It's varied. Some people pick up articles. Some have illustrations. There have also been transfer rides, the writings in Mojok were reread to become YouTube content," said Prima, contacted by VOI, Friday, August 12.

Prima has contacted the administrator of the relevant website. As usual, said Prima, Mojok always puts forward good prejudice. "Maybe the people who manage the crowd and the person in charge don't know that their content has been stolen from Mojok." But Prima said the response he got was not as expected. "I contacted you. Since the first answer you've been gasping."

HEH @indonew5id. PLEASE TAKE DOWN THE STOLEN TEXT FROM THIS MOJOK. We at @mojokdotco never allow our script to be rerun without our permission and the author!@tanikelana https://t.co/YZLjohc1un
— Prima Sulistya (@prima_sulistya) August 12, 2021

"He was adamant he didn't want to be called theft. He said it would be more appropriate to call it 'taking without permission.' The reason he links to the original article was sent by Pak Rizal Ramli's staff to him, and he just uploaded it. I'm surprised, how come media people can casually load other media content. He mentions reasons, but the reasons change."

Mojok demands two things from the site manager. "Retract the article and apologize to Mojok on Indonews social media. The second one is not served." Prima said this reaction was taken by Mojok to defend the author's copyright.

"We are supported by contributors (writers outside the Mojok editor). Not all of these independent writers have the platform and resources to prosecute abuses of their rights."

"Stealing. Plagiarism. Wrong. Period. After all, did the published writings come from an empty space? No need to count the money. Just look at the time the writer spends writing, the editor editing, and the illustrator making illustrations. who, the law is also clear: if you want to use it, borrow it, take it, or whatever, it must be with permission."

Not an easy job

In practice, writing is not an easy job. As Prima said above. No need to talk about money losses or other material things. Try to calculate the literacy and creative process of creating a written work. The article entitled Reminiscing on 90's Quality TV Shows: From the Cemara Family to Si Doel Anak Sekolahan, which was picked up by a site called Media 24 Hours, for example.

The author collected three books --Berani Nolak TV (2005), Robinhood Betawi (2001), Ketoprak Jakarta (2001)-- and interviewed Betawi culturalist Masykur Isnan to write one article. Then Media 24 Hours just had to copy it by changing the title to Remembering 90's Quality TV Shows, from the Cemara Family to Si Doel. The rest, copy-paste, without even citing the source.

Another VOI article that was taken without permission is the Palang Pintu Tradition, Proof of the Sacred Marriage of Betawi People. The article, which was made by collecting data from two books --Maria van Engels: Son-in-law Habib Kwitang (2006) and Betawi Tempo Doeloe (2015)-- was later copied by a site called Reporter Satu, with only the title changing to Know the Tradition of Opening the Cross Doors in Betawi Wedding Procession.

"It could be that the articles are only read for 3-5 minutes. But the time to make one article can take hours. Not to mention the matter of collecting research data. For media like VOI, which disciplines data sources, such as books, magazine archives, and other sources another primary reference, this is not easy," said Detha Arya Tifada, the creator of the two VOI articles above.

"Please note that I do not prohibit my writing from being distributed. But we also cannot be naive. There is an advantage behind the dirty actions that these websites take advantage of. Without permission too. After all, this act of plagiarism is an old problem. not quite right either."

Talk about profit and loss

Digital practitioner who is also a blogger, Fandy explained the vulnerability of copypaste and plagiarism practices in the digital world. This digital plagiarism does not only occur in article-based websites but also in literature.

Fandy cited the case of the writer, Tere Liye some time ago as the simplest case. "Something looks like a status has been made but I don't know the source. That happened in Tere Liye," said Fandy to VOI, Friday, August 13.

Fandy tried to stand between the two views. He said that the digital world likes or dislikes giving a wide space for the practice of copypas. And this is used by many managers to develop their websites.

From the website manager's point of view, copypaste is indeed an easy and profitable way. The simplest advantage that Fandy describes is that website managers can get traffic with the data obtained for free.

And Fandy said that article-based mass media such as Mojok and VOI were easy targets for Copas website managers. "What is clear is that Mojok and VOI must be copied. An indie website."

"The article is unique. It just needs to be packaged with a general title model. Imagine what they get (copas website managers). They get unique content with titles that they just have to change to be more general. It's good."

Furthermore, Fandy said that fighting against the culture of copypasting is a difficult thing in the digital world. In fact, according to his observations, there are several large network-based mass media that also often do copy-paste.

Sad thing, indeed. But happened. And this makes sense again from the website maintainer's point of view. Especially for large sites with good authority. Copying is a shortcut to develop their site.

"Well, there are also big media that he likes to copy and paste. But even if he does copypas, he won't have a problem because his authority is stronger than the sites he copied. But yes, that one big media is copypas," said Fandy asking the media he meant not mentioned.

"What is clear is, don't expect the copy-paste to stop. What is clear is that if you don't want to be copied, you don't have to do it. The only problem is that they provide the source or not. It will be acquired (if without a source). It could be the Copyright Act or ITE I think. I don't understand also."

In addition to the positive legal context, there is also true ethics. "When you copy and paste you have to give a link, the source. There are ethics there. At least you don't include the source, even though you don't give a link. That's what happens among bloggers and web developers, right. From a journalist's point of view, it's definitely different."

*Read other information about DIGITALIZATION or read other interesting articles from Detha Arya Tifada and Yudhistira Mahabharata.

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