Online Copyright Infringement
I recently had to deal with online copyright infringement, when one of my articles was scraped by a loser who posted it on his site without asking for permission or giving me credit.
I don’t like the word “scraper.” These people are criminals. Thieves. But I’ll use the term “scraper” anyway since it has somehow become the acceptable term for idiots who can’t create their own content on the web, so they steal it off other people’s sites, publish it as their own and even promote it in social media, hoping to get page views and ad revenue.
The main problem: search engines can index the scraper’s content before ours, and sometimes even punish our sites – not the scrapers’ – for duplicate content. This can result in the copy having a higher PageRank, and more page views, than the original.
Dealing with scrapers isn’t simple. The scraper who stole my content is from Serbia, according to his Stumbleupon profile. Physically tracking him down and serving him with court papers would be insanely costly and would not make sense at all.
There are, however, several things you can do if someone steals your content on the web. This depends, of course, on how much time you’re willing to spend. I spent about two hours tracking down this guy and doing whatever I could to make sure he does not profit from stealing my article. It was worth it to me because it felt good, but it may not be worth it to you.
This is how I dealt with this online copyright infringement:
1. I found out he stole my article because the article contained an internal link to my own site. The backlink I received from his spam site alerted me to the fact that he stole my article. This means that including internal links to your site in your posts is a good way to at least get backlinks from these spammers (at least you gain something from their crime), although some of them do remove links.
Another way to get backlinks from spammers and protect your PageRank is to install the WordPress plugin RSS Footer. This plugin automates the process of adding a link in your RSS feed that points to the original post. This should help make sure the original always has the higher PageRank.
2. I went to his site and posted a comment informing him that he is a thief, that he should take the article down promptly and that I’m a lawyer and will not rest until I make his life miserable. Needless to say, my comment went into moderation and was promptly deleted – but I knew he read it. I didn’t expect him to take the article down, but it was worth a try.
3. I noticed he had social media buttons on the article and made it my mission to make sure he does not get social media traffic from MY article. I went to all the social media sites, contacted the people who submitted the article and voted for it, explained what happened and asked them to retract their vote. They did. I also voted the article down and wrote comments to explain what happened. This killed his social media efforts.
Through one of the stumblers who initially voted for him, I found out who he was, thumbed his Stumbleupon account down and filed a complaint against him with Stumbleupon.
4. I Reported him to Google using Google’s Report A Spam Result page. If the website you’re dealing with has Adsense, and most of them do, you should also report them to Adsense by clicking on the “Ads By Google” link on the ads.
5. I reported him to Amazon Associates. I noticed he had Amazon Affiliate Ads on the page, so I emailed them a complaint. They sent me a generic email saying they don’t allow sites who breach copyright law to use their program (duh). I thought it would end with that, but the next day I was pleasantly surprised to receive another email from them, saying they checked his website, but the stolen article had already been taken off the site (indeed it was… details below). The communication with Amazon Affiliates was encouraging, because they took my complaint seriously and actually bothered to visit his site and send me a personal response.
6. Following advice I found on the internet, I tried to find out who the site’s host is and report the site to them, but both tools I used – whoishostingthis.com and who-hosts.com – couldn’t find the host.
*Update: I received an email from Richard Kershaw of whoishostingthis.com, explaining that “We quite often find that scrapers use shady hosts (eg, in rural China), with a view to hiding their location. In light of your feedback, I’ll review the text on our tool so that it explains this sort of thing much better. At the moment, when we can’t ID a host it doesn’t explain the likely reasons etc.”
As I was going through this flurry of activity, trying to make the thief’s life as miserable as possible, the stolen article was still up. But the next morning, when I checked it, this is what I saw:
“Not Found, Error 404.”
Victory!
I really wanted the scraper’s site to get banned by Adsense and by Google. I don’t know if this is going to happen, but even if it doesn’t, at least I won my own little battle against this loser.
Have you ever had to deal with online copyright infringement?
—
Comment of the day: “File a DMCA notification with the ISP to get the page taken down. Getting upset about it is a waste of psychic energy. Most spambloggers do it as a business, have many blogs, and really don’t care that you think they’re scum.” Mark from CalorieLab.
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Chase March responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 4:23 pm →
What a crazy story! I’m glad I’ve never had to deal with anything like that. I’m glad you tracked the guy down and sorted things out. Good job!
Miranda responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 4:54 pm →
And here I’ve just been emailing polite requests for them to desist — while making sure there are internal links. Thanks for this great post. I like these ideas. I’ll have to try some on some scrapers.
MommyNamedApril responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm →
You are brilliant and I am humbled by your superior intellect. I never would’ve thought of half of those things!!! Fortunately, I have not been ‘scraped’ as of yet. My articles are more on the personal side, so I don’t imagine there’s too much risk. I would be quite upset if it happened though!
Lovelyn responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:23 pm →
Great post. I’m sorry you went through that, but it did give me good idea about what to do if it happens to me. I’ve heard of scrapers and have often wondered how to deal with the problem if it happens. I’m still unsure how I would find out if it is happening. The internal links is a good idea. I try to put them in most of my posts. How do you know your article has been stolen if they take the links out?
Ruth responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:29 pm →
I once ran into a scraper who had the balls to put me on his “Contributors” list and to be affronted when I contacted him. He made it sound like I was a crude person who didn’t understand how the internet worked and told me that I hadn’t properly protected my copyright. I told him that he should consider this notice or I would report it to his host. I also e-mailed everyone else on the list to tell them they were being scraped. He took the site down.
If they only scrape an excerpt and run AdSense I may just report them to that. Not worth the energy and I can hope AdSense will shut them down, since it certainly shuts down plenty of legitimate account.
Kathy | Virtual Impax responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:46 pm →
Congrats on “winning” against the scraper!!!
I feel badly now for not fighting harder when I’ve found my content has been stolen. Instead, I’ve relied on my FIRST experience of discovering my content had been stolen. My website used to be a “static” html site and one day, I discovered Copyscape – a site which helps identify if your content has been stolen. I typed in my URL and was HORRIFIED to discover that a web developer in New Zealand had stolen EVERY BIT OF CONTENT on my website, rewrapped it in a new design and even claimed copyright to my material. As I flipped through the site, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. I was sick for days.
I contacted an attorney who told me it would be $3,000 to send a cease and desist letter. If I wanted to pursue it further – it would get more expensive from that point and I shouldn’t expect any financial recovery.
I decided to convert my website to a blog then – thinking naively that a content thief wouldn’t be able to “keep up” stealing my content.
The joke’s on me. Now instead of just ONE site stealing my content – dozens of “scrapers” do so on a regular basis!!!
However, your post is inspiring me to fight back the next time I find my content on someone else’s site. THANKS!!!
Bowlin responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:55 pm →
Through one of the stumblers who initially voted for him, I found out who he was, thumbed his Stumbleupon account down and filed a complaint against him with Stumbleupon. I really don’t apprehend this at all. Are you saying that if i ran across web site. I thought was a good read and like it voted thumbs up .Didn’t know it was stolen from you .You would thumb down and report me to stumbleupon .That’s what I interpret out of it .Thats not fair would you say.Sorry for someone stealing your work.
Mike Goad responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 5:58 pm →
Great post (as usual) and thanks for detailing everything that you did to deal with the problem.
Yes, I have had an issue where I had to deal with internet theft. It was several years ago. I wrote about it in an article that is on one of my old web sites. My Copyright Was Infringed! It actually turned out well, in the end.
Patricia responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 6:17 pm →
Wow something more to learn and this was a very good explanation. I still feel like there are more honest folks out there, but there must be quite a few to watch out for if there are all these ways to track them down and sort them out.
I don’t seem to know how to find my page rank?…something more to learn. Working on the legal and common property pages now…Wow there is so much to learn on so many fronts.
Thank you for such a clear article and How To. I am so sorry it happened to you.
Maya responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 6:37 pm →
Wow Vered, Thank you for the details.
I thought no one would ever scrape your articles because your copyright is so explicit and clear. But it is great to hear what you did. I am wondering why you did not leverage your social media friends to vote him down as well? Or would that add no value?
And is his whole site gone? Or just that article? I think you say the website was gone righ?
Did he apologize?
Any explanations from his end?
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 6:39 pm →
@ Chase March: It did feel good.
@ Miranda: Haha @ polite requests. But internal links are important.
@ MommyNamedApril: “My articles are more on the personal side, so I don’t imagine there’s too much risk.” I agree.
@ Lovelyn: “How do you know your article has been stolen if they take the links out?” – I imagine in that case you don’t find out. Unless you happen to search for the relevant search term for that article and the copy comes up first.
@ Ruth: “He took the site down” – yay for another victory!
@ Kathy: Wow, what a story. Yes, definitely fight back. It feels good to know you did your best, even if the results are not always as spectacular.
@ Bowlin: No, no, no! Of course not! I meant that I had thumbed down and reported the thief, not the person who had unknowingly voted for him. I’m sure I have unknowingly voted up plenty of stolen content – it’s really hard to identify. But I do encourage writers to approach people who unknowingly vote for stolen material and politely ask them to retract their vote. Of course, it’s up to the voters to then decide what to do.
@ Mike Goad: Thank you for sharing your own story. It’s very informative.
@ Patricia: I totally believe there are more honest people than dishonest people in the world. But the dishonest ones cause enough trouble to keep the rest of us busy.
@ Maya: “why you did not leverage your social media friends to vote him down as well?” – I’m not sure. I guess I didn’t want to harass people too much. It was my own fight, not theirs, although you could certainly argue that fighting scrapers is in everyone’s best interest. The sire itself is still up, but the stolen article is gone.
Barbara Swafford responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 6:44 pm →
Hi Vered – Congratulations on your victory. Luckily you had that internal link otherwise you may have never known.
When I first started blogging I had someone steal my “home page” including the header. They copied and pasted it and then added ads to the top and bottom of it. Being so new I didn’t know what to do, but did use my web host features to ban them from accessing my site. The whole experience made me angry. Like you said, these people are thieves. Calling them scrapers sounds way too mild.
Thank you for documenting what you did. The information will be a great resource for any of us who experience the same thing in the future.
Tracy responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 6:51 pm →
Thanks Vered – great information, I appreciate you detailing what you did and will bookmark for future reference.
I run a forum, too and it seems like many otherwise honest people genuinely think that if it’s on the internet, it’s okay for them to c&p the whole thing. Some think it’s okay as long as they give a link. It’s a little frustrating sometimes to deal with those that stubbornly insist it’s not a big deal.
Lindsay responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 7:00 pm →
Thanks for this post, it actually helped me a lot. People do this to me all the time and it makes me feel a little sick. I felt helpless. Not anymore. (I sound like an infomercial, but it’s true.)
Daphne responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 7:42 pm →
Vered, my admiration for you shoots up with every post. Bravo on tracking down the thief and showing him who’s boss! Your tips are also very helpful. Just wondering if you’ve tried Copyscape and if that works? Would love your superior brain’s take on this option.
Nurit responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 8:55 pm →
YES! A few years ago someone copied and pasted my whole personal chef business site, including the photos!!!
The only way I found out was through another personal chef I personally knew that was working as editor of web sites (or something like that). She contacted me to ask who stole from whom. The green labels with my business logo stuck to the food containers in one of the photos quickly proved that mine was the original.
I contacted the thief via e-mail and told her if she does not change her content within x days, she is going to receive a letter from my attorney. Needless to elaborate on her reaction… but she at least made some effort to change the content and remove the photos.
Such Yucky people!
I can understand how mad you must have been. I was sooooooo mad at that time.
RC - Rambling Along... responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 9:33 pm →
I’ve had quite a few people thank me for giving them the idea to link back to their site in every post they create. It is a great way to find copied work, instantly!
Despite the personal nature of my blog, I’ve had work stolen more times than I care to mention. And I’ve had my identity messed with via other social networking sites.
You have some great information here and I’m with you on report, report, report. I’ve managed to have two blogs pulled through persistence – by harassing the companies/hosts linked to them regarding the stolen content. When I see my content stolen, I start looking for other stolen content from other bloggers and usually try to alert a few. Complaints from many tend to make all the difference, too.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 9:57 pm →
@ Barbara: I can totally relate to your feelings of anger. It’s exactly how I felt.
@ Tracy: “many otherwise honest people genuinely think that if it’s on the internet, it’s okay for them to c&p the whole thing” – I know, and I’m not sure why. The fact that the content is free and readily accessible does not mean others may copy it.
@ Lindsay: I have absolutely no objection to infomercials done on my behalf.
@ Daphne: Copyscape lets you do 5 searches per month unless you sign up for a premium account. I searched for my homepage and for 4 of my top articles – the ones who got a lot of social media attention (those often get stolen), and found nothing. I don’t know of it works or not, but it can’t hurt to do what I did. I wouldn’t pay for a premium account, though.
@ Nurit: “I can understand how mad you must have been. I was sooooooo mad at that time.” Oh yes. SO mad, and that’s why I knew I had to do something about it.
@ RC: “When I see my content stolen, I start looking for other stolen content from other bloggers and usually try to alert a few. Complaints from many tend to make all the difference, too.” This is a very, very good idea.
Jade - MommaWannabe responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 10:33 pm →
I have experienced this before too and didn’t really know how to fight against it but thanks to you I can now take action. I thought it’s just a lost case. I hate it when people do this to articles I have written with great effort.
I will definitely take action now and use all the steps you have mentioned here. Thanks !
Bamboo Forest - PunIntended responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 10:58 pm →
I’ve noticed a guest post of mine being scraped. Problogger gets scraped all the time.
Other than that – not sure if my material has ever been stolen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has though.
You’re right about one thing, “scrape” is a wholly inadequate word. Tt’s theft, and nothing less. It’s stealing.
Good for you for pursuing the situation so aggressively. Perhaps if we all did, this kind of theft wouldn’t exist anymore. I have to wonder.
Hayden Tompkins responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2009 at 11:41 pm →
Thank. You. I wish I had read this article when I started blogging! Nothing is more aggravating, and I’ve often felt ‘impotent’ since I didn’t really think there was anything I could do.
The Lawyer Mom responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 12:27 am →
Vered, fascinating post. I had no idea blogs were getting hijacked, much less in wholesale fashion.
My techno challenge now is implanting that RSS footer you mentioned. At this point in my novice blogging career, I might have better luck removing a brain aneuryism — this internet code stuff is pretty daunting — but I will absolutely give it a try.
Thanks for all your tips. And I am so glad you trounced that wothless piece of sh-t, I mean, scoundrel.
Davina responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 1:53 am →
Hi Vered. This makes me mad! How do people live with themselves? I admire your efforts and thank you for sharing this — I’d not heard of the RRS plugin. Congrats on your victory. More people need to know about this — Stumbling.
Tara responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 2:23 am →
Wow, don’t mess with Vered.
Good for you for standing up to these people and making the effort – and then for sharing with us all.
You really are the business Vered! Very inspiring.
Ian Peatey responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 2:42 am →
I never even thought about it!
Clearly I’m naive and trusting – or maybe as a relative newcomer to blogging I’ve still got a lot to learn. I’m off now to add internal links to my posts and install that WP plugin. Hope I don’t discover that I’ve scraped!
Jelveh responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 5:54 am →
wow, that is very cool, how you did all of this work and got results, I am very impressed, and will keep this information for future use…it is really sad how much of this stuff goes around, I know a glass artist, who only sells her work locally in the Santa Cruz area, her reason for doing so and not being on line like myself and others is that she does not want to be copied, well guess what, all of her designs are copies of mine and other artists on line in and around the area she lives in…so one day I am walking by a glass gallery and I see wow one of my clients must have made a gorgeous necklace with my beads they purchased from me and put in in this gallery…well NO, actually the above mentioned copier had made a set of beads exactly like mine, had made a necklace with them and pushed it off all as her own, even the name of the set was mine…I laughed and moved on, in retrospect reading your post, I should have gone in and showed them my original photos and original idea notes on the beads…live and learn, thanks for sharing this, sorry you had to go through it, but glad you took care of it…
Maxo responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:29 am →
I release all of my blog content (http://maxolasersquad.blogspot.com/) under a Creative Commons license that encourages others to share my articles as long as credit is given and any derivative works are released under the same license. I do not write my blog for profit (no ads are on it.) I only wish to get my ideas or thoughts out there to anyone who may care to listen to them.
I know this model doesn’t work for everyone, but it fits in well for me.
cindy platt responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:51 am →
Relentless. Good on you!
Juliet - LifeMadeGreat responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:56 am →
Hi Vered
It’s such a terrible thing to happen. I wonder why people do it. I even want to give a blogger some credit if his/her post inspired me in some way to write an article.
Well done for all of your efforts.
And thank you for sharing the steps here. I’m sure many appreciate it, but I hope they don’t have to use it.
Juliet
Evelyn Lim responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:01 am →
Now I know better than to mess up with Vered! She’s a tough cookie, I tell you! Good sleuth job she does and not a stone left unturned!
An awestruck fan,
Evelyn
Dr. J responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:09 am →
Thanks Vered, this is great information, and I’m glad you were successful in dealing with it!
You may know I have a karate background. I recently got back in touch with my instructor. It was surprising to find that he is now an Intellectual Property Attorney in L.A.. He said that it wasn’t nearly as exciting as when he taught karate, never knowing if the next person through the door would start a fight with him! The more I become involved with intellectual property, the more important I realize it all is.
Michelle @ What Does Your Body Good? responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:48 am →
Wow. Nice work. Just wondering, how would you have felt if the scraper had stolen your content word for word without asking, but DID give you credit? Would you have gone to the same lengths? Seems like the strength of the internet is sharing information yet there needs to be some rules about how to go about sharing. Perhaps you’ll start up some kind of enforcement of standards? I salute you!
Writer Dad responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 8:26 am →
Dang, Vered! That’s a cool story. I knew you were feisty. I’ve found my stuff copied and pasted a couple of times, but it always seemed harmless; done by those who were only trying to show off the content, not steal it. I really liked your narrative and am glad you had your victory. Also, I don’t think I could have been more surprised to scroll through the comments and see that my wife left a comment a few minutes ago. That’s crazy, I get like one comment a month from her! But she is a fellow feisty girl, I guess she wanted to throw you a high five.
Memarie Lane responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 9:54 am →
I’m sorry you had to deal with this. I’ve never had anything stolen that I know of. I did once have an article completely misinterpreted. I wrote about my personal experience working with celebrities at a posh spa It was a bit of memoir, not a review of the spa, but it was linked on a site for that resort town saying something like “if you can get past all the rambling this is an interesting review of such-and-such spa.” I commented that it was not intended as a review but as a personal writing, and then I went through the post and changed all the names.
Real Julie responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 9:59 am →
Phew! I am so glad no one reads my blog so I don’t have to deal with this issue!
Dot responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am →
I’ve never had anything stolen (should I feel left out?). How did you think of all those things to do? It took a lot of time and effort, but really made problems for the thief. I used to know an excellent web graphic artist who had her entire site stolen, with several years of work. She pursued people with nasty emails and had some of her users pursue them, but ultimately there wasn’t much she could do because she couldn’t afford a lawyer. If only she had known to do the things you did. I just worry that they remove items from one site and start up another, but they’ll sure be careful not to mess with you again. It’s just too costly to them. I wonder what you think of Leo Babauta’s making his entire site public domain?
Carla responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 10:19 am →
Yikes! I’m glad you put him in his place! I have not been ’scraped’ (I’m more of an armature writer) but I will keep this post in mind just in case. I’m also installing the plugin.
Jannie Funster responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 11:20 am →
“…I’m a lawyer and will not rest until I make his life miserable.” Love it!
I’m not sure how I’d handle a stranger lifting my stuff, but it’s good to learn of all these things you mention here.
What would bother me is someone using my songs without permission once I get them out and up. I understand that to be a controversy in itself.
Going to install the RSS Footer!
Tess The Bold Life responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 12:01 pm →
Way to go! Action is always better than complaining and ignoring. I respect what you did!
zoe responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 12:54 pm →
I don’t know if anyone has ever scraped anything from gaymo, but I know I’ve had at least one post lifted from BlogHer. It feels like a complete violation doesn’t it? I probably should do more to protect my personal blog, but it’s not going supernova anytime soon, so I don’t really worry too much about it.
nottryingforaboy responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 1:23 pm →
Good for you! Action and results!
Mark responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 3:26 pm →
Very well done! Way to take action and get results!
Sara at On Simplicity responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 3:42 pm →
Hoo! Remind me never to mess with you!
I love that you went after what matters most: the dollars. Getting someone banned from their sources of income (Amazon, AdSense, etc) seems like the most efficient way to put it to rest.
Robin responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 4:49 pm →
Vered you have been busy! And I’m glad you have, because now we have the info – it’s always handy to “know a lawyer”!
Had to laugh at Real Julie’s comment – I’m off to visit her now!
Beth Partin responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 5:06 pm →
Thanks so much for this detailed list of ways to fight scrapers.
Kelly@SHE-POWER responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 5:32 pm →
Vered, you kick ass woman you!
I bow to your guts and determination in protecting your copyright. I have had an article stolen before, but I was still kind of new to blogging and didn’t know what the ramifications would be. The site was a low traffic spam effort and I was just starting to build an audience at the time so I wrote an abusive comment and left it at that. Now, I don’t know if I would take it further, maybe. But I sure am glad I have the information from you on how to go about it. Thanks a bunch.
Stumbled.
Kelly
MizFit responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:13 pm →
I really can not believe someone would do that.
good for you for being assertive…Im sure many people are NOT and thats why they risk it.
Kim Woodbridge responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:19 pm →
The RSS plugin is an excellent one to use. Most scrapers do so via RSS feeds and not all of them are savvy enough to remove that link. I recently had someone pulling all of my articles and posting the excerpt. They were, however, giving me credit and linking back to me. I still didn’t like it because they were also pulling my photos. Most of the photos I use are flickr ones that I give credit to but when this happened I had a photo of my grandmother and of my cat. The photos bothered me so much more because they are more personal than the articles. Through a whois search I was only able to locate his host, which was dreamhost, but no contact information. I wasn’t sure what to do because in the past I’ve been able to get that info, I contact the individual and they stop doing it. So, I asked on Twitter and got pretty much the same advice that you’ve given here. I was going to email dreamhost but when I went to recheck the site before doing so the site was gone.
I’ve been researching freelance job bidding sites lately for articles that I’m working on. People actually post jobs to have sites scraped or “cloned”. Sometimes I think that the person doing the actual scraping is not the one benefiting from it and is probably trying to earn some extra money. Those type of jobs are generally posted for developing countries only – I wouldn’t be able to bid on the job even if I wanted to. It doesn’t make it right though. What I haven’t yet been able to determine is why the job posting sites are allowing those types of jobs to be posted in the first place.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 6:29 pm →
@ Jade: “I will definitely take action now and use all the steps you have mentioned here.” GOOD!
@ Bamboo Forest: I’m sure if we all were more aggressive about it, there would be less of it, but I doubt it would completely disappear.
@ Hayden Tompkins: I like your choice of words! Aggravated, feelings of impotence and helplessness – those perfectly describe what one goes through when dealing with internet theft.
@ The Lawyer Mom: If you have any specific questions, do email me. I’ll do my best to answer them although it might take me a couple of days to get to your email – it’s been a crazy week!
@ Davina: Thanks for the stumble! I have no idea how they live with themselves. I know I wouldn’t like myself very much if I did this.
@ Tara: Haha “Don’t mess with Vered” might become my new tagline.
@ Ian Peatey: “I’m off now to add internal links to my posts and install that WP plugin” – good!
@ Jelveh: Laughing and moving on is not a bad approach! I think it depends a lot on one’s character. I just can’t let these things go. Also, remember I used to be a lawyer… they teach you to FIGHT.
@ Maxo: Totally legitimate approach! Still, even with Creative Commons License, and as you point out, most licenses specify that users should credit the original author. Internet thieves are not about using your content legitimately while giving you credit. They are about presenting it as their own and profiting from it.
Re blogging for money, while this blogs generates a small income, it is certainly not “just” a business. I make most of my income from writing for other blogs and websites. This is my personal blog, and when I write for it, my objectives are above and beyond making profit. Before anything else, it is a place for me to create and design and express myself. The income is a nice bonus but it is not the most important part of this blog.
@ cindy platt: Thank you!!!
@ Juliet: “I wonder why people do it.” Because they’re losers and they’re evil, that’s why. Seriously: not all people have the same moral standards. Why do people commit crimes? How can they live with themselves? Obviously, they do and they can.
@ Evelyn Lim: Tough cookie. I like that.
@ Dr. J: Wow, from karate to being a lawyer. I hope he’s happy. I hated being a lawyer. But I agree: this is important stuff.
@ Michelle: Good question. I wouldn’t have been as aggressive if he had given me credit, but it still wouldn’t have been OK. It’s OK to quote an excerpt from an article and link to the main article.
A blogger I know naively posted an entire article from the online edition of a mainstream newspaper, crediting them. They wasted no time contacting her and asking her (politely) to remove the article from her blog.
@ Writer Dad: I was surprised – and delighted – that Cindy left me a comment! Yay for feisty women.
@ Memarie Lane: Having an article misinterpreted like this feels like a slap in the face, doesn’t it.
@ Real Julie: Haha well I’m off to visit you now.
@ Dot: Some of the things were obvious to me (such as reporting them to Google), others (such as reporting them to their host) I researched on the internet and found out about.
Re Leo, I’m not sure. I think it’s partly his “Zen” attitude, which I admire very much but don’t posses myself, and partly common sense – he probably has so much stuff stolen, it would take a full time employee to handle it.
@ Carla: “I’m also installing the plugin.” – Good!
@ Jannie Funster: Haha I know how to use my former status as an attorney and I am fully aware of how afraid people are of lawyers.
@ Tess: Thank you.
@ zoe: “It feels like a complete violation doesn’t it?” YES it does! It feels awful and that’s why I just had to do something about it.
@ nottryingforaboy, @ Mark: Thank you.
@ Sara: “Getting someone banned from their sources of income (Amazon, AdSense, etc) seems like the most efficient way to put it to rest.” – I agree. They’re doing it to make money so I figured I need to make sure they make zero profit from this theft.
@ Robin: I visited Real Julie too – it’s a nice blog actually.
@ Beth Partin: You’re welcome.
@ Kelly: Thanks for the stumble. I could never let something like this go. I felt – as zoe said above – violated.
@ MizFit: “Im sure many people are NOT and thats why they risk it.” I agree.
@ Kim Woodbridge: “People actually post jobs to have sites scraped or “cloned”.” WOW! I’m shocked. “What I haven’t yet been able to determine is why the job posting sites are allowing those types of jobs to be posted in the first place.” – they’re encouraging criminal activity when they allow these ads. It doesn’t make sense at all.
Mark responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:08 pm →
We deal with this all the time, and there’s only one way to do it. Spend 2 minutes to file a DMCA notification with the ISP to get the page taken down (we save them up and do them on Fridays). You can also file with Google, but that isn’t necessary, unless Google is the ISP (as with Blogspot) or the regular ISP doesn’t respond within two weeks (rare). If you file with Google, the notification is made public on the Chilling Effects site. In the rare case that the ISP is located out of the U.S., send a more generic form without the sworn statement stuff.
You need to know how to use the Unix host command or other tools to identify the ISP and look up ISP copyright agents at the copyright office site. You should keep a form DMCA notification e-mail draft ready to fill in.
All the other stuff is a waste of time. Getting upset about it is a waste of psychic energy. Most spambloggers do it as a business, have many blogs, and really don’t care that you think they’re scum.
A more important issue is that if scrapers are ranking higher than you in the Google results, you need to work on your site’s SEO and inbound link profile.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:25 pm →
Thank you Mark! This is going to be very, very useful once I teach myself how to do it. Off to do some research. I am going to include your comment as “comment of the day” because I think it’s important to add it to the main article. THANKS.
Edited to add: OK. Finding out a website’s ISP is not a straightforward process at all. I’m going to research it some more and enlist the help of my computer-geek-husband to figure out how to use the Unix host command, since using other online tools doesn’t seem to work for all websites.
Bamboo Forest - PunIntended responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm →
By the way… I hope you got a chance to read CopyBlogger’s post today. It relates to this subject. Controversial.
Mike King responds:
Posted: February 18th, 2009 at 10:50 pm →
Interesting attack Vered, I should sick you on all the scrapers I’ve had I guess. I actually don’t bother with any of them, typically I find they heavily promote their site, get a bunch of content out that links back to my site, finds me some extra visitors and subscribers and then a few months later after helping out my technorati ranks and links, they get banned, 404′ed and locked out of any social media. I win.
I guess I owe it to people like you who take the time to help eliminate these scrapers. Thanks! I didn’t even know they had a term either. What would be really sad is if this article of yours ever gets scraped.
Suzie responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 7:36 am →
Good for you! Wow I bet you put the fear in him.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 9:31 am →
@ Bamboo Forest: I read the first few paragraphs and I can tell you right away these spammers do NOT make enough money to eat caviar and drink champagne. In fact, I bet most of them make a miserable living.
@ Mike King: If this article will be stolen, it would be kinda funny.
@ Suzie: I don’t know about fear, but I did make him take the copy down, which was my main goal.
Kim Woodbridge responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 11:11 am →
All I’ve come up with so far using logic, which may not apply, is that in theory the client is requesting to have their own sites scraped or cloned. Maybe …? Now I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
Don Mills Diva responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm →
You are my hero.
That is all.
Stephanie responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pm →
Sure have! I had someone steal my entire site’s content recently. I found out because another webmaster told me about it. The same guy had done it to him.
I contacted the guy by his whois information, and my site came down off his. I’m still monitoring it, but for now he seems to be leaving me alone.
Monika Mundell responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm →
Hi Vered,
I understand why you did what you did and commend you for having the stamina to persist. Like you I believe that we have to act on principles, but I fight a losing battle because my articles get scrapped all the time. A couple of times in the past I went and reported scrappers to Google and even their webhost, but eventually it would have become a full time job due to the sheer number and in the end I figure as long as I get a link pointing to my site, it’s something I can overlook.
I just make sure not to give them a link in return through my comment section.
Unfortunately these people are like cockroaches, you kill one and several more appear from nowhere.
Stacey / Create a Balance responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 7:56 pm →
It takes so much energy to try to provide value to the blogosphere. I can’t imagine how these spammers/scammers/scrapers spend the same amount of time online trying to steal/harm from other people. It’s so violating.
Cath Lawson responds:
Posted: February 19th, 2009 at 9:39 pm →
Hi Vered – Good for you. It’s nice to know that Amazon care if sites are using their ads on stolen content. And I love how you gave him a social media kick in the balls. I will remember these tips for next time my content is stolen.
Lin Burress responds:
Posted: February 20th, 2009 at 10:16 am →
Hi Vered,
Congrats on your accomplishment to deal with this pesky scraper. I wonder sometimes if Google and other search engines even care, since we as the original writers have to pretty much jump through hoops to get something done about our stolen content.
Something that has been bugging the heck outta me are those pesky “aggregator” sites, who are stealing full posts and images and sometimes even comments from our blogs, then putting ads around them to generate revenue from OUR posts.
One site in particular (my own post/rant coming soon on my blog) has ALL of my posts on their aggregator site, with adsense ads around my content. I’m not the only one either; there are many, many other blogs whose content is being used on that site but Google hasn’t de-indexed the site at all. I’ve sent emails to the site owner with of course no response. I’ve notified Google and adsense about just 5 of my posts that were being used on this pathetic excuse of a website and Google removed those 5 from being found in search results. Unfortunately, in order to have ALL of my posts removed from search results associated with that site, I have to submit every single offending link from that site along with the original links to my own posts for Google to do anything about those.
So, does Google even care? Perhaps, but us bloggers are the ones who have to jump through hoops notifying Google of every single post stolen by these thieves. Just the time it will take for me to notify Google of every single one of my posts being used on that site makes me dizzy to contemplate. And the fact the site is located and hosted in China doesn’t make the situation any easier.
Marelisa responds:
Posted: February 20th, 2009 at 2:06 pm →
Hi Vered: Remind me not to mess with you
Someone did this to me a few months back and I found him because of the same reason you did: I had linked to myself in my article. I sent him an email telling him to take my article off his site (he didn’t give me credit for writing it so basically he was prentending he had written it). I checked back the next day and he had taken it off. It’s such a pain when you spend so much time and effort writing an article and then realize someone else stole it.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 20th, 2009 at 5:17 pm →
@ Kim Woodbridge: This is strange. I agree: logic may not apply here.
@ Don Mills Diva: Thank you.
@ Stephanie: Your entire site? Wow. That’s amazing.
@ Monika Mundell: “Unfortunately these people are like cockroaches, you kill one and several more appear from nowhere.” Sadly, I have to agree.
@ Stacey: They’re just like thieves in real life who steal what others have worked hard for.
@ Cath Lawson: I was pleasantly surprised to see Amazon’s reaction.
@ Lin Burress: I agree! If it happened to me, I would definitely take the time to submit every single link to Google. But I agree that having US jump trough hoops doesn’t maker sense.
@ Marelisa: It’s beyond frustrating when this happens. Glad you took care of it.
Lance responds:
Posted: February 20th, 2009 at 10:03 pm →
Hi Vered,
I’m sorry this happened to you.
That you took the time to deal with this – and document it here – what a great resource if this ever happens to anyone else! Thank you. For taking the time to share your story, and what you did to overcome.
Henie responds:
Posted: February 21st, 2009 at 12:47 am →
Hello Vered!
Nice to meet you!
What an informative post! Fortunately I have not had any experience with “Scrapers” so this is a very good thing!
I will certainly keep in mind all the points you were kind enough to enumerate for everyone!
Thanks so much!
Best Always,
Henie
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 21st, 2009 at 12:08 pm →
@ Lance: Oh, don’t be sorry, it was a learning opportunity.
@ Henie: Nice to meet you too.
Natural responds:
Posted: February 21st, 2009 at 2:44 pm →
well you go girl. you get an A+ in due diligence. of course you are a woman after my own heart with this line: i will not rest until I make his life miserable. i love it.
will try the plugin too, but i don’t think anybody is stealing my stuff. i haven’t made it that big yet.
Happiness Is Better responds:
Posted: February 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 am →
Way to stand up for yourself! I’m sorry to hear that you had to waste your time messing with that person. Thanks for sharing your story!
MomGrind responds:
Posted: February 26th, 2009 at 10:07 am →
@ Natural: Haha it’s not about making it big, but it does happen more frequently with articles that get social media exposure.
@ Happiness is Better: It was time well spent.
Jan the fish responds:
Posted: March 16th, 2009 at 2:57 am →
I was angry when I spotted such idiots stealing content from my website (see the link – my URL). I reported them to Google (see Google DMCA) and the pages have been removed. Later (after a few months) I noticed that more people do steal the content… Reported too. Later once again.
Then I stopped doing this because I can’t spend all days checking which article has been stolen or not. It’s too time-consuming.
Only one thing as revenge would be fair: Hire “ads clickers” and pay them for clicking on these criminals’ ads! I haven’t done such a thing yet, but it seems to be the only easy and 100% method to get these retards out of the business.
Google Slaps the Little Guys and Lets China Do Whatever It Wants responds:
Posted: March 19th, 2009 at 7:35 pm →
[...] main problem of dealing with internet scrapers, copyright infringement and content theft is that search engines can index the scraped/stolen [...]
The Fitness Diva responds:
Posted: April 2nd, 2009 at 6:45 am →
I’m glad to hear that your fight against this person was successful. I just discovered a site last night that continually steals my own articles to have content on his site. Yes, I’m guessing he’s subscribed to my site via RSS so he can get my content as it comes out, fresh. The nerve! He’s steals my posts in chronological order, complete with the pics. The thing is, having had this problem before, I had begun printing my blog’s URL across the front of all my pics, figuring that would deter people from stealing. Well, this dummy posts those same pics, with my url on them, so, in any dispute over who’s content it really is, he’s already shot himself in the foot.
He started his blog in February, and has been stealing from me consistently ever since. Oh, and he credits himself as the author of all the content, not one link back to my site.
I got his personal info from “whois”, sent him an email, a “cease and desist” letter, sent a “take down notice” to his ISP, and also blogged about it on my last blog post, and posted his personal information, including his home address on my blog. I’m sure he’ll be tickled and thrilled when he comes to my site and now sees his name, home address, phone# and email in big bold letters on my site. Now, if anyone ever decides to Google his name, my post will come up, and those searching for info on him will know what he did.
I have yet to see if any of these tactics are going to have any effect, but I’m not done yet. I will be posting in his comments section on all of my posts with a few choice words.
Thanks for the info about contacting the affiliates. I hadn’t even thought of that. I will be going there next!
Yes, this takes time, effort, energy, and is consuming, but you can’t just sit here and let people get away with this. I will never understand why people who have no writing skills, talent or ability decide to have blogs. What idiots! Thanks for your tips!
grechen blogs » Blog Archive » how NOT to make money online responds:
Posted: September 15th, 2009 at 3:09 pm →
[...] this article by Vered at MomGrind about her scraping experience and what she did about [...]
Stealing your words – post and comment scrapping | Green + Chic responds:
Posted: September 26th, 2009 at 3:22 pm →
[...] work. Vered of MomGrind brought this issue to our attention a few months ago when she wrote about her experience. A few other bloggers I follow also have had similar [...]
Rose DesRochers responds:
Posted: October 26th, 2009 at 11:29 am →
I have had my content scraped before. It isn’t fun. You should see what I did to the scraper. lol
I recently had someone take the articles that I submitted to directories like Ezinearticles, Searchwarp etc and included them in a PLR package giving away all rights to my articles and at the same time- he made money.