Sub/Versive Link No. 3

Back when the idea of a blog was something so radical they hadn't developed engines for it, a British man who answers to the name of Mil Millington put down into words the little inane things he and his girlfriend have argued about and put them on a website. Soon, word of the website spread among netizens.

In those days, you could copy something off the Internet, claim it as your own work, and none would be the wiser. Unfortunately, the page was written at a time when Internet authors began to realize just how much their intellectual property rights were being violated.

Then, in a brazen act of plagiarism, the British publication Mail on Sunday (MoS), ran his work as a running column, passing it off as original work by a fictional staffer.

This came to the attention of a friend of Mr Millington's, who promptly wrote the MoS. The MoS replied with the threat of a suit for Mr Millington's apparently true insinuations (only in Britain!). Eventually MoS settled with Mr Millington for a tidy sum (not to mention throwing in a two-book deal for good measure).

Anyway, it may take a long time to read, so I suggest you stock up on beer and chips. Find a comfy chair while you're at it. It's going to be a hell of a ride.