Can someone create a podcast and read public content outloud?
<p>I've stumbled upon a podcast, where the author is simply reading public docs and blog posts outloud. Does this violate any copyrights? Can he monetize this by including ads?</p>

<p>There's usually at least a little wiggle room for a fair-use argument in copyright law, but as you're describing it, this sounds like a pretty straightforward copyright violation.</p>
<p>A copyright holder's exclusive rights include the rights to make copies, create derivative works and publicly perform the work. Whichever way you want to characterize the podcaster's conduct, he's running afoul of at least one of these rights.</p>

<p>The creation of audio versions of existing documents may be allowable under certain circumstances via <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/121" rel="nofollow noreferrer">17 U.S. Code § 121.</a> This section allows &quot;authorized entities&quot; to create &quot;accessible versions&quot; of existing documents without authorization from the copyright holder.  The purpose of this law is to encourage the creation of reading materials &amp; audiobooks for the blind.</p>
<p>However, there are a few caveats here:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Such copies may only be made by an &quot;authorized entity&quot;, which is defined as &quot;a nonprofit organization or a governmental agency that has a primary mission to provide specialized services relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities.&quot;  In particular, making a profit from these podcasts might conflict with the &quot;nonprofit&quot; requirement.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Such copies must bear a notice giving the original copyright owner and date of publication, and stating that further reproduction in other formats is not allowed.</p>
</li>
</ul>

fair-use