Plagiarism is illegal. Let's make that clear before we go on. BoliviaBella.com has been, and occasionally still is, plagiarized by several websites and sources across the net. So what do we think of this?

First of all, we like to take a positive outlook on things. Being plagiarized means that we ARE doing a good job of providing the top quality, first-hand, personally researched information we promise our website visitors. So in that respect, it could be said we feel flattered.

However, we would like to remind those who are "borrowing" the information on this site, posting it as their own, copying and pasting it into another websites, or uploading our pages as "articles" on article sites, all while claiming they are the original authors of the information, that this is NOT cool and does constitute plagiarism.

Let's say, just as an example, that your name is Zoe S. and you are uploading our pages as "articles" into an article collection site. If you provide a link back to BoliviaBella.com is it plagiarism? Well, although we are grateful for the link back and the traffic it might bring to our site, if you are attaching your personal name to them as the original writer, then YES the answer is that it DOES constitute plagiarism. The same goes for unauthorized use of our photos.

This also creates another problem - it detracts from our webmaster's ability to post or share her own material and articles on other sites and claim them as her own, some of which she is paid for as a travel writer.

Does capturing BoliviaBella's blog in a FEED and posting it on your site constitute plagiarism? We believe if you do NOT attach your name to our blog and articles, do NOT state you personally contributed them or wrote them, and make it clear that you are only FEEDING our articles to your site, then NO - that is not plagiarism and we thank you for your support.

Does copying our content, photos or even maps constitute plagiarism - even if you "re-word" or "paraphrase" our content? Well, it very well could. A very tiny percentage of the photos used on this site are being used by BoliviaBella.com under license (meaning we have paid to use them). Your use of them without paying the original photographer or stock photo site where we obtained them could constitute copyright infringement. Same goes for maps. All content on this site has been personally written by your webmaster and other website visitors who have contributed their messages and stories. Therefore your use of our (or their) content without permission would absolutely be in violation of copyright laws.

In addition, MOST of the photographs on this site were taken by Charis, your webmaster. And your use of them without her permission does absolutely constitute copyright violation. It would be VERY easy to contact the webmaster to request permission to use them. Only we know which photos belong to us and which we can authorize you to use. Therefore, please ask first. Just click the TELL BELLA button on any page.

We're sharing this information with our website readers because we want you to know we're VERY proud of the fact that BoliviaBella.com provides ONLY first hand ONLY personally researched information on the site. In other words, we don't write about something unless we or someone else has PERSONALLY been there. And that's why the information on BoliviaBella.com is highly TRUSTED by our readers.

So although you are free to "share" our information across the net, tweet it, upload it to your social network, etc. and in fact we actually ENCOURAGE this, please don't claim it as your own. An awful LOT of work has gone into creating this website and gaining the trust of our website visitors. They know this and appreciate it - and we like to keep them happy.

Truth and trust! It's a Bella thing...