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I’m
sure you don’t mean any harm in copying some or all of my Eagle Scout Project
Planning Guide and “adapting it” to your unit, district, council, or other
youth organization. You may even
think you are “improving it”. However,
be aware that I have politely asked that you not do this. This is not a
matter of my self-serving ego, it is simply an effort to maintain some
quality control so that our Scouts have one consistent, up to date source of
information. Bad, misleading information is worse than no
information. I'm just trying to control the evolution of bad
information. Multiple
copies of this guide on other web sites do not benefit anyone, since my site
is accessible to any Scout from anywhere in the world. This
may seem like an unreasonable request to you, but I have been advised, that
if I don’t vigorously protect my intellectual property, it is relegated to
the "Public Domain" and I will forfeit any rights to it. Therefore, I do search the
Internet using all available resources, checking for unauthorized copies of
my work. I then follow up with a
personal e-mail to the Webmaster, and Council Executives or Chartered
Organizations, if necessary, to enforce this copyright. I have been very disappointed in the
number of Scouters I have had to e-mail over the last several years asking
them to honor my simple request. If this plagiarism continues, I may begin
publishing the offenders’ names, organizations, and website URLs – a Hall of
Shame. “Plagiarism” is a foul sounding word and I hate to use it,
but that is what it is to copy another’s work without their permission. It is even worse after they
specifically ask you not to. If
you don’t understand what a copyright Ó notice means, please check out the following US Copyright
Office web site: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ If you like my work, please feel free to add a link to it
on your Scouting web sites. You
may also make all the hardcopies of it you want (as is – no revisions) and
pass them out to your units, districts, or council activities. Just for reference, EagleScout.Org is
the only web site I have granted permission to post a copy of my guide, in
any form. Any others you find
are unauthorized. Just to make
sure everyone is playing by the rules, you may e-mail
me if you run across those unauthorized versions. Please include the URL of the
offending website. Yours
in Scouting, Randy
Smith Return to Eagle
Project Planning Guide |