Forum Moderators: not2easy
After several emails to them and several beligerent and vituperative responses, they finally took my content/images off their page. But then, followed it up with another email telling me (modified to maintain anonymity):
"we didn't copy, we haven't done anything with that page in over a year ...
...either a hacker added it to our site or you have a virus in your code that places it on other sites so you can spam to increase your visability ....
you may have done this to hundreds of sites..."
Is this preposterous or is it possible? Never heard of such a thing. Both G (early November) and Y have their page cached with my content but the hotlinked images don't show up in my logs before 10/24.
If it's not true, I wish I'd just gotten a lawyer to bill them instead of giving them the opportunity to remove my content/images.
Please say it isn't so ... or tell me how it's done
I didn't think it possible, but I know little about virii or hacking.
It is curious that they were so nasty though - probably just trying to intimidate since they were "found out".
bah humbug
As soon as anyone threatens legal action against you, you must take some basic precautions. Get a screenshot of everything on their site and compate it with yours. Use things such as the Internet Archive (archive.org) to demonstrate that your page was up earlier. If they've stolen images, then it's quite likely that you have the originals, i.e. the un-resized and un-cropped images, so make a note of these too [note: don't ever release the original image as evidence, watermark it first]. Newsletters and references to your site in forums and newsgroups can often come up with some good information too. This might take a few hours, but it's worth doing as a precaution.
Assuming that their site still violates your intellectual property, there are a number of things you can do (which are well documented on this board), including complaining to the host and filing DMCA complaints. These will cost you nothing.
In my case, it was an affiliate site. So having compiled a very large dossier of evidence, I passed it to the various affiliate networks and merchants involved. I also sent several Cease and Desist notices to the copier and the host, who ignored them, but as they were sent registered mail I could prove if they had *received* them. I also did some background checks on the copier which brought up some suprising evidence that could be used as leverage later.
Eventually, the site copier removed almost all the infringing pages. Net cost to me was some postage and quite a few hours work. Cost to the copier was some loss of affiliate commission. I think I came out on top.
... you could be the target for more fun and games...
True, thank you for reminding me I should ignore my outrage and bow out. Sometimes though, taking the high road can be so unfulfilling and exasperating.
The last email, this morning, to which I will not respond, (anonymized to protect the guilty)
"... our web designer said you must have a viral code in your html that places it on other sites, spamming to increase your visability.... It sneaks in through hosting vulnerabilities and replicates.... your data may be on hundreds of thousands of sites."
Some people's foolishness is only superceded by their disagreeable and contentious conduct.
I will keep a close watch on this site to be sure they don't plagerize my content again.
Thanks, Marcia - copies of caches and screen shots - 'twas the first thing I did!
Now, I'm off to battle some more copy cats aaarrrggghhh!
:p
Jim
.. IP address from their mail headers
I miss thinking of the most obvious things - Thank You! It's probably their web designer's mail header I need though
Jim - already checked archive.org, they must have them blocked - nothing there since 2/04.
Thank you both.
BTW, I didn't know but, Y lets you submit a DMCA by email. :o The trick is adding a forward slash before and after the name to designate a signature and then typing the name after it.
need help or suggestions as to how to handle this "infringer" who is harrassing me.
Could be coincidence, but my domain email was signed up for a number of spammy services yesterday - suspiciously all within a few minutes of another nasty email from the "infringer". Two of the somewhat spammy services included the IP address of the originating request and they are the same. I have contacted M C I about this as it is within their IP range.
Last night, another person emailed me saying her photo gallery was corrupted by my images (their description of the "corrupting" data sounds suspiciously like my table that was copied by the "infringer") and, of course,they also deny making a copy of my content.
Then this morning, I received an email from someone at a career consulting site demanding that I send them the disable notes for a virus I supposedly sent.
The equally suspicious thing here, is the career services domain and the original "infringer" are both hosted by the same hosting service (one of the biggies) and the listed addresses in whois for these two domains is exactly the same!
Contacting a lawyer at this point would be useless since I don't have anything concrete so I'm hoping someone can offer suggestions how to prove it or what other action I might take to protect my domain, my business and myself.
I also contacted the (biggie) hosting service, but so far they have not returned my call.
I also talked with my hosting serice this morning who assured me there wasn't a virus on their system.
I called M C I and, as requested, I sent four emails with full headers to their security dept.
Now that I discovered that the IPs match it is no longer suspicious...
If the website is still hotlinking, convert one of the existing images into a 1024 x 768 "Eat at joes" image.. or "Help I'm stealing bandwith from...". Better yet "I stole this content! If you like it, see the real deal here..."
Use the most pitiful bright colors you can dream up! hehe.. :)
Line up your proofs. This thief is likely running scared, so he/she's blowing smoke to cover his trail.
If you have to lawyer-up you might consider retaining a lawyer where the bass-terd lives so the lawyer can go to work in the local courts suing the SOB and collecting a money judgment.
This may well be a situation where a well worded well timed letter from a lawyer will quickly calm the waters, with one small caveat: Bass-terds lower than pond scum, since pond scum floats on the top of the pond often find their way to the worst lawyers, so your lawyer may have to do some follow-up work.
rest assured these aretactics to distract and harass you and won't lessen, but will increase with your increased response. Like email spam, if you respond you get more.
Document it all and see if you can make a case for these actions causing your business harm. Not mild harm like bothering you during your work day, but real intangables like business reputation, ability to pursue the market place, or harmed relationships or reputation such as you might have after a business mistakedly assumes you circulated a virus with intent.
I like to write a journal docuemntingmy thoughts of how stressed and concerned I am that these activities are harmingmy business... over time it reveals duress, perhaps even "pain and suffering".
If it doesn't stop, take it all and sue him for large amounts of cash to reflect all the hardship you've suffered.
I have not responded to them since 11/17 after contacting their hosting service and ISP by phone and, by request, sending them the offending emails with full headers. Haven't heard anything since.
However, I received a Google Alert today that could end up damaging the reputation of my site. Futher search found many related listings in Google that included my domain name. Thankfully they don't show up in a search for just the domain name (has to be a very specific search) and nothing after 11/17. Unfortunately, I will never know if someone stumbles across these and is negatively influenced.
Yes, fish excretement seems an apt description of these people.
