dissertation plagiarism update faq.html.erb (#283)

* dissertation plagiarism update faq.html.erb

adds information for depositors about what to do in the event that their work has been plagiarized. the information was written by esther jackson and kathryn pope and reviewed and approved by rina pantalony and anne cong-huyen in a meeting on 23-july-2024

* Update faq.html.erb

fixes some typos and clarifies some language

app/views/info/faq.html.erb

@@ -306,3 +306,52 @@
 
 <h3>How can I access a copy of a thesis or dissertation under embargo?</h3>
 <p>Contact the author of the work to request access. If you are unable to find contact information for the author online, try contacting the author’s Columbia school or department to see if they can help.</p>
+
+<h3>My dissertation has been published without my consent</h3>
+<p>Since the start of 2024 Columbia University Libraries have identified an increase in dissertation plagiarism. Bad actors will copy dissertations and sell them online as books, either with the original titles and author names, or - more difficult to catch - with altered titles and author names.</p>
+
+<h4>Your legal rights</h4>
+<p>You, as the dissertation author, are the owner of your dissertation. It is illegal for your dissertation to be sold in this way without your consent. The exception to this is if you have released your dissertation into the public domain by giving it a CC0 license or given it a Creative Commons (CC) license that allows for commercial reuse. (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/">More about CC licenses</a>.)</p> 
+
+<h4>What types of situations might violate my copyright?</h4>
+<p>Although each case is different, here are three example scenarios that may violate your ownership and copyright:</p>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Someone has published your entire dissertation as a book without your permission</li>
+<li>Someone has published your entire dissertation as a book - changing the author name and/or the title - without your permission</li>
+<li>Someone has taken paragraphs, chapters, or content from your dissertation, beyond what you consider to be Fair Use, and integrated it into another work without your permission</li></ol>
+
+<h4>What you should do first</h4>
+<p>In the case where you believe another academic has plagiarized your work (example 3, above), the <a href="https://ombuds.columbia.edu/">Columbia Ombuds Office</a> is a good first point of contact for support and mediation.</p>
+<p>If your entire dissertation has been reproduced and sold, keep in mind that the person or people responsible are operating with different - sometimes elaborate - mechanisms to avoid being detected. Once you raise the alert with one platform, it will be more difficult to discover identifying information about the seller.</p>
+<p>Before you contact any business selling an unauthorized version of your dissertation, please reach out to Libraries staff at <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for support. Libraries staff can help you identify websites where your dissertation is being sold and gather identifying information about the seller.</p>
+
+<h4>Reporting & requesting removal</h4>
+<p>As the copyright owner, you will need to contact businesses selling an unauthorized version of your dissertation. Below are some links for reporting copyright infringement.</p>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/report/infringement/signin">Amazon: Report Infringement</a></li> 
+<li><a href="https://support.google.com/legal/answer/3110420">Google: Report Content for Legal Reasons</a></li>
+<li><a href="https://support.www.abebooks.com/en_US/contact?topicId=GUT6MR3YR84A66SR&subtopicId=GKYW35EDV8RDAYTH&groupId=GFG897ZPSJJ4AQYW">AbeBooks: Report a suspicious listing</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h4>Your dissertation in Academic Commons</h4>
+<p>By default, your dissertation in Academic Commons will have the copyright statement “In Copyright.”</p>
+<p>You are always able to request an embargo or an embargo extension for your dissertation through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Dissertation Office (<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>). Embargos are typically granted for one or two years with the ability to request extensions. You can do this when you first publish your dissertation or at any point in the future. Decisions about granting embargos are made by GSAS.</p>
+
+<h4>Managing risk when your work is available online</h4>
+<p>Because an unauthorized publisher may attempt to hide its operations by changing an author name or dissertation title (read about one altered dissertation title at <a href="https://dailynous.com/2023/09/20/is-someone-selling-your-dissertation-without-your-permission/">Daily Nous</a>), there is no one way to check for unauthorized publications. However, using a search engine to search for your name, or your name and a keyword, variations of your dissertation title, or paragraphs of text from your introduction, are some strategies to check if your work has been used without your permission. Be sure to look through a few pages of search results.</p>
+<p>There is always a risk that someone will misuse copyrighted work that is accessible online, yet the availability of your dissertation in Academic Commons is what creates a credible, verifiable registration of your contribution to your field. Columbia University Libraries staff will continue to update this guide as we learn about additional steps authors can take to protect their copyrighted intellectual property.</p>
+
+<h4>Registering your copyright</h4>
+<p>As the author of your dissertation, you hold the copyright whether or not you register with the <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/">U.S. Copyright Office</a>. Registering is not necessary for you to be able to assert ownership in your work. Note that the Copyright Claims Board is available for small claims up to $30,000 without copyright registration. You are also able to sue for non-monetary damages without registration.</p>
+<p>However, registration of your copyright may help if you choose to pursue legal action for monetary damages against an unauthorized publisher.</p>
+<p>There are two registration options, depending on where you are in the dissertation deposit process:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Register when you deposit your dissertation via the ProQuest Deposit Gateway. ProQuest offers copyright registration and charges a fee for the service.</li>
+<li>Register directly with the U.S. Copyright Office. Use this option if you have already deposited your dissertation or if you would rather handle the registration process yourself. Go to <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/registration/">https://www.copyright.gov/registration/</a> to learn about the process and fees.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<h4>Additional resources</h4>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="https://www.gsas.columbia.edu/content/dissertation">Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Office</a></li>
+<li><a href="https://copyright.columbia.edu/index.html">Columbia Libraries Copyright Advisory Services</a></li>
+</ul>