Forum Moderators: not2easy
<If anyone wants to hear ranting and raving RIGHT NOW just call me>
UNBEEELEEVABLE - I clicked on the "built by" link on the rip off of my site and the so-called "web consultant"'s web site even has snippets from SITELAB.COM's web development page and others on their site. Hey, I'm almost flattered, they stole from me and sitelab, at least I'm in good company.
<If anyone is compassionate, invite me out for a beer(s) before I have a stroke>
Love the internet, in under 15 minutes I found out her name, where she lives, her home phone number and even have a picture of her to put on wanted posters or to send along with process servers if it goes that far. Traceroute gave me a tidbit that looks promising, it looks like the site MIGHT be hosted on their home DSL line, which is frowned up, and to comply with DMCA they would have to disconnect her altogether.
Someone picked the wrong day to mess with me, my blood pressure is soaring, I'm fit to be tied....
Luckily I keep copies of my CEASE AND DESIST emails and DMCA handy for just such events.
Bottom line:
PUT A POISON PILL IN YOUR TEXT!
Search for the phrase "MY POISON PILL" and make sure it doesn't get any hits BEFORE you put the page up, make sure it's completely unique to your web site and your site only. Then add it to your keyword rank scanning software (like WebCEO) and when it comes up saying that there is more than one page hit when you run your poison pill scan, you know you've been copied.
OK, I'm off to vanguish idiots and defend what's left of my web site.
I'll keep you posted...
I wish you the best in stopping your "flatterers"! :) People who post stuff to the web REALLY need to be edumacated about the do's and don'ts before stealing content and pictures willy-nilly.
Just FYI it's also easy to monitor theifs using Google alerts. I just set up an alert to email me whenever my "poison pill" gets indexed. I also use it to notify me of new links to my domain that have been added.
The nice part is it gives you a link to the exact page it appears on so you don't need to go hunt it down.
Freq---
how about dumb enough to copy my entire site, then submit the contact form themselves BEFORE they changed the form action...guess who they contacted?
Just FYI it's also easy to monitor theifs using Google alerts.
D'oh! Why didn't I think of that.. good tip!
There was no larceny committed.
The act is infringement.
Congrats on catching them, but you really should use the right terminology.
Someone needs to be notified!
Just trying to decide which hairs should be split. ;)
Copyright infringement is just a fancy white collar name for intellectual property theft.
You can use whatever legal semantics that help you get you through your day, it was stolen.
When you get infringed, call it what you like :)
Bottom line: I created it, they stole it.
I was even trying to settle it with her in a civilized manner today, but it appears I'm dealing with another fly-by-night hide in the shadows situation. Listed phone # is disconnected, alternate phone # always rolls to voice mail on the first ring.
It appears that an escalation is going to have to happen to get their attention.
But that is a hair that should not be split here.
On the other hand, when the discussion is copyright, and most people think that they actually "own" the work in which they hold the copyright, it is in the interest of all concerned to know the difference, especially when I don't go a week without reading some analogy to someone coming into a house and taking personal property.
Copyright infringement is just a fancy white collar name for intellectual property theft.
No, it is not. "[I]ntellectual property theft" doesn't exist, at least not in the US.
And you are discussing legal action. Don't you think you should use the correct legal terms?
Did you know that there is a legal word for accusing someone of a crime that you know that they did not commit?
You can use whatever legal semantics that help you get you through your day, it was stolen.
Then I suggest you contact your local police and DA and have them file charges in your state court.
The legal semantics are important when you are dealing with a *legal* matter.
Bottom line: I created it, they stole it.
You created it, but you do not own it, therefore they could not steal it.
You own the copyright, and that is all. They did not "steal" your copyright, did they?
It appears that an escalation is going to have to happen to get their attention.
You should file a "IP theft" case. That should teach her.
So since you have had this happen before, what exactly is your success rate at solving the problem, and have you found a step by step method that seems to get results when dealing with this kind of stuff?
I know quite a few people that this has happened to, and none of them seem to have a clue how to handle the problem. (Luckily I have not been ripped of yet.)
Also, are you doing anything to block user agents that typically identify site scrapers? I can't prove it but I suspect that to be the reason that my content hasn't been stolen.
My success has varied from case to case.
Some infringers settle upfront with the $$$ figure I ask for just to make it go away without the legal hounds getting involved
Other infringers refuse to pay a nickle but remove the content, which is what I want, so unless I fire up an attorney it's over at that poijnt
While other infringers went as far as shutting down their sites
The only consistent thing appears to be that in the US the web host will kill their site or block access to content in a heartbeat when a DMCA letter lands in their inbox.
when the discussion is copyright, and most people think that they actually "own" the work in which they hold the copyright, it is in the interest of all concerned to know the difference
I thought the discussion was some immoral twit copying content from an honest webmaster's site and posting it as their own?
incrediBILL is pissed off because some scumbag took his words. He's not a stupid man; he's experienced this before; in a situation where the legal terminology makes the slightest bit of difference, I'm sure he'll pull out his legal dictionary and brush up. But for posting his woes here, and simulatenously dropping a valuable hint about how the rest of us can set up a means to detect this sort of infringement ourselves, I say we let him call it theft if he wants to call it theft. We can all at least agree that it feels like theft, whatever the legal system says.
cEM
Google Alerts looks good, but does anyone know the maximum number of alerts you can have?
One problem with this sort of misuse is that unless you nail it down and have ZERO copies of the text, then the situation can rapidly get out of hand and dozens if not hundreds of copies spring up.
I have a case with a particular page where it has been copied a large number of times, and many of the copiers justify it by pointing out how many other copies there are and that it must surely be in the public domain.
The next problem can often be PROVING that you own the intellectual property. Of course, a DMCA complaint has the "on penalty of perjury" clause which is a pretty strong assertion, however not all hosts/violators are in the US and even then not all act on a DMCA complaint in a timely manner.
[archive.org...]
That's how I prove my content existed since 1997 before these idiots registered a domain name even.
For all the U.S. copies, if you're really the owner, I'd start sending DMCA letters by the truckload to webmasters, it won't be public domain long :)
I have someone who continually copies an article my client wrote and adds his own name and web address to it. My client wrote it and posted it in a newsletter way back in 2003 so we have 3rd party proof of who's the real author. Every week I search for new copies of this article and inform the website owners of who is the real author and ask them to correct the name and URL.
Ha! Next time he searches for "his" articles he will see the real author's name on them and the correct link and we didn't have to submit them either.
The site is, at this writing, disabled until they redesign it.
Final Score:
1 = site owner
0 = bottom feeder
