Again, post titles, especially with blog links as credits (as shown), and even short excerpts come within Copyright Fair Use. They are okay and do not need permission UNLESS the content owner has specified otherwise. Few do, but if this bothers you, check with them and ask permission, but only for excerpts. Links don’t need permission.

As long as you are linking tot titles or even the first 200 or so words of a post (excerpt or summary) then that comes under fair use. You do not need permission unless the blog owner has a policy that excludes fair use. That’s really rare on the web where most people wouldn’t know a copyright rule if it bit them.

Ethical? The real issue comes down to money and intent. If you intend to replace or abuse someone’s content saying it’s “yours” then it’s illegal. If you make money from other people’s content, without credit or permission, it’s illegal. If you want to feature post titles and excerpts to direct people to external sites, it’s fair use – no permission required.

Thanks for worrying about this. I need to look into how Google Reader works so I can give you a better answer. A lot of what Google does, caching full posts and such, is a direct violation of copyright and they get away with it millions of times a second. Someone might be brave enough to take them on someday, but right now, everyone is begging to be included in their copyright violations.

I link to this blog and other useful sites at Big Blog Directory. I list several blogs and also blog there. Recently I started a feature called BBD News and began to experiment with Google Reader to spotlight some of my posts and posts from the blogs listed on my site. I am also thinking of featuring useful posts I find such as this one.

My concern lies with the way Google Reader presents full feeds when you link to the shared feeds or click on “read more” in the blog widget.

Part of me feels that linking to your shared feeds is not copyright infringement because you are only showing readers what is freely available on the web. At the same time I wonder because I can share any feed I wish. Technically they become paet of my site.

So my question is: Do your think feed sharing violates copyright?

It has the potential to be a great tool for blogs like mine. But… is it ethical?