Plagued with plagiarism

It's like playing whack-a-mole

[Don Markstein]

I run a reasonably popular content site -- popular enough to be attractive to thieves, at least. Also, I'm handicapped by not really being a Webmaster-type guy, but merely a writer who runs a Web site, mostly using simple HTML because that's pretty much what my poor brain can handle.

Usually, when I catch a plagiarist, a simple notification, sometimes accompanied with a threat, will take care of it. But when they get recalcitrant, I'm stymied.

Yesterday, I did my every-month-or-so check on Technorati, and found a post made a mere four hours earlier that mentioned me, then copied an entire page from my site, word-for-word. There didn't seem to be any way to contact the poster privately, so I left a comment. This morning, I found the comment deleted.

I guess the next step is to contact the host, but there's another complication (tho I'm sure you guys who know what you're doing wouldn't be bothered at all by this). The top-level domain is .ca, and I can't seem to find it in any of the WHOISes I know.

How do I find the host?

I hate to bother high-power guys like you (I love this site, even if I don't have enough savvy to make worthwhile posts of my own) with elementary stuff like this. But elementary is about as far as I go, and I really, really hate plagiarists.

[stapel]

I don't generally try to contact the offender any more; I've rarely had good luck with asking a thief please to be nice. (If he were inclined to "be nice", he wouldn't have plagiarised in the first place, right?)

For a forum, you can usually find the forum's terms of use (sometimes available only when you're "clicking here to agree" when you register), and find somewhere in there that users agree not to post anything that might violate copyright law. Then contact the forum admin, and politely point out that you have become aware of an infringement having been posted to the forum. Provide a link to the infringement and to your original, and request that appropriate action be taken.

This is usually sufficient. If not, then you may need to contact the host server. One way to locate this might be to "ping" the domain name. You'll "ping" forumdomain.com, and the "ping" window will say "pinging 111.222.333.444" or whatever. Those numbers are the IP address of the server on which the site resides. With that information, you should be able to work backwards to the site's host. Then look up their terms of use, and make polite contact.

I must stress the "polite" part. People are much less likely to take you seriously if your e-mail carries the scent of "wet hen". But if your message sounds polite, business-like, and impersonal almost to the point of being third person, they tend to be more likely to do what you want. (Gee; don't lawyers talk that way....?) So, as much fun as it is to send the "your mother wears combat boots" "flames", send something quiet and efficient instead.

Good luck!

Eliz.

[beren]

You can get the owners of .ca sites from

[cira.ca...]

Like the previous resonder, I usually don't contact the owner unless there is no other way. If the site is running Google AdSense (and for me, they are doing so about 90% of the time), I complain directly to Google's AdSense program.

Directly contacting the owner is much less effective, although sometimes they will respond. You can also try to contact the ISP that hosts their site, although I have not had success with this.

There is also the option of DMCA notices to Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. This doesn't get the site taken down, but it can get the offending content removed from search engine listings.

[Don Markstein]

Thanks, Stapel. This sounds like exactly what I need. Except -- I think you've underestimated how profoundly naive I am about this stuff. Inasmuch as it's not a forum and the blogger seems to own the domain rather than use something obvious and reachable, how does one "ping", please?

No problem with the "polite" part. I reserve "Dear scum-sucking plagiarist" for the perps themselves. The hosts are just innocent parties who stand in danger of being caught in the crossfire. I expect them to be helpful in dealing with our mutual problem, and haven't been disappointed yet. (When I can find them.)

In fact, even the perps aren't assumed to be evil at first. They may simply not realize they're doing wrong -- there's a lot of bad advice out there, to the effect that finding something on the Web is like finding a pebble on the beach. Often, they'll simply comply when it's pointed out that they're SNATCHING FOOD FROM THE MOUTHS OF MY CHILDREN, uh, that is, taking a thing that actually belongs to someone. Ignorance may not be entirely excusable, but it's curable, so I don't see a need to be antagonistic right off the bat. A threat at this point would be merely citing the existence of the DMCA.

-- Don

[Don Markstein]

Thanks, Beren. That led me right to the thief. (If anybody happens to know any particularly sadistic phone spammers who are looking for someone to harass, I'll be delighted to share her number.)

The problem seems to have been taken care of, however. This morning I found the post restored, but with URLs blanked out so as not to allow her dozens of readers to add to my thousands of daily visitors. It was followed by an amazingly venoumous diatribe against anyone arrogant enough to claim a copyright on his work, accompanied by a rant about anyone with the temerity to challenge her uncheckable will. Too bad we're not allowed to post URLs, because hoo boy, this is really worth sharing!

But the stolen article is down, so that's that.

(Oh, and if you're put off by the tasteless joke, don't worry -- I won't really give out her number to sadistic phone spammers.)

-- Don

[hunderdown]

Don, maybe you are already doing this, but if not, do you have a copyright statement on all your pages? Just one line saying "Copyright Don Markstein 200x" and then a link to a page that covers your policies on use of your content.

[Don Markstein]

YOU BET there's a copyright notice on each page! I haven't been writing professionally for more than 35 years without learning to use copyright notices. (One plagiarist even went so far as to reproduce the copyright notice! He isn't there anymore.) But thanks for thinking of it -- I've made some pretty elementary errors in my time.

Good idea, tho, to use the copyright notice to link to my page about what happens to violators. I'll think about that next time I'm doing a whole-site edit.

-- Don

[Lorel]

I manage over 32 websites for clients so spend a lot of time chasing down plagerized content.

I would agree with the above except for a few more suggestions.

When I write to the hosting company I also provide 3rd party proof of the original article. In my case the client posted his article in a newsletter and never posted it on his website and it is dated too so that helps prove he wrote it first. It's also in the archive.org way back Machine, which is another good source when you are trying to impress a web host, except the content has to have been on the internet for a year to be recorded here.

If I get no results from the host I also contact Google and Yahoo's spam reports if I see any evidence of their using 302 redirects or any other tricks that can be considered spam--like keyword stuffing.

The problem is a lot of Perps host their own site and so they don't respond but even they need a host/ISP and in that case I use the following arin.net/whois/index.html

If you need further info on how to find contact info for either the Perp or the Host and what info to give them and what other measures you can take search for "302 redirect hijacking."

[Don Markstein]

Thanks, Lorel. That's good info (except at my level, which is kind of fuzzy on 302 redirects).

(And I'd like to take this opportunity to express my intense embarrassment at having misspelled "venomous".)

-- Don

[hunderdown]

Don, I'd suggest you also put information on the page linked to from your copyright notice about how to seek permission to use articles as well as warnings about what you do about violations.

[Don Markstein]

Good idea, hunderdown. I'll add my e-mail address to the "Terms and Conditions" page, where I say a few words about unauthorized re-publication. I'll put it right where I say how you can avoid the dire consequences I impose, i.e., by getting permission first. (Of course, I doubt plagiarists will check the penalties for unauthorized use before using, but at least nobody can claim I made it hard to ask.)

[stapel]

You might also think about providing a licensing policy, if you think that might be helpful.

In my case, my stuff is being stolen by educators to be sold to students to "help" the students, because the educators "care". But now that I have a licensing agreement (so the educators could have gotten the content through legitimate means), they can't claim that plagiarism was their only solution, or that it's covered by the Fair Use Guidelines.

Just a thought, which won't apply in all cases....

Eliz.