What can we learn from this?

(If you haven't read my previous post, yet, this will make more sense if you do that, first. Here's the email I sent to the folks at Southern Ct. State U. I sent it to someone in the president's office, and to the head of the English Dept.

[start of email]
Since there was no email address for the president, I am sending this to you, along with a copy for the head of the English department. (I suspect he is unaware that this has happened.) I was surprised to see a piece of my writing copied without my permission on a blog that describes itself with the following words: "This is the blog for The English Department at Southern Connecticut State University.

http://literarytalk.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/david-lubars-guide-to-literary-fiction/

I would hope anyone managing a web site representing an English department would have a better understanding of the protection afforded by a copyright. (I'm sure someone will try to claim "fair use," but that statue has a section dealing with the portion of the work in question. In this case, that portion was 0.) Basically, this is theft. I am not vindcitive. I realize someone probably made a mistake. But I also feel strongly that people need to be made aware of the basic protection given by a copyright. If the department want to ask permission to post the piece, that would be fine with me, as long as they add a short introduction mentioning how they initially violated a copyright and explaining why that was the wrong thing to do. I'd love to see this turn into a teachable moment.
[end of email]

Really, it would make more sense if I ignored this and spent my time writing things I can sell. (Happily, at the moment, I'm in the position of a factory filling back orders.) I've already squandered several hours on various aspects of this. The reality is, my stuff -- and your stuff -- is constantly being stolen. Most people don;t know or care about copyright issues. And yelping at this university won't change the universe all that much. It might even make me look petty to the uninformed. But, in another sense, I feel I have to speak up once in a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. (Setting aside the impact on the factory's output today.) Okay -- I'm going to change hats and write some fiction. Or eat a sandwich.