Help! My sites content is being used and abused by spammers

[philgames]

So... If you really want to tank a site you dont even need to link to it... my site is getting destroyed because hackers been ripping my content from multiple product pages and posting it (even though it has nothing to do with their spam) on hacked pages... I guess if the content is found on multiple (thousands) spam website then it must be considered spammy to google. NOT GOOD! my site had been cached and indexed for a long time.... Could this be coincidental that my sites been dropping in rankings or is it that my sites just "low" quality content now.

I cannot dmca the spam pages because there are thousands!

Great...

[fathom]

You can dmca everything that is copyright by you.

You can charge for each incident a resititution fee to avoid court action.

[not2easy]

"Thousands of pages" can equate to 2 or 3 domains, maybe 1 host. Make a list of the IP addresses and sort through, it may eliminate most of your headache.

[philgames]

thanks for your replies,

When I say thousands of pages I meant to say really thousands of different pages on tons and tons of hacked websites...way to many sites to count. Its weird because what the hacker spammer is doing is creating these pages and then redirecting the page after a couple of days to their fake pill hand bag or ugg boots shop... they seem to have tons of different shops as well that they redirect to... These pages still stick around for a bit in the search results and no doubt there are tons more being built... but because the redirect after a couple days I cannot really dmca because the googler reviewing the case will probably just get redirected to the fake outlet site too.

[not2easy]

Google doesn't do dmca, the host is the entity who needs to deal with the content or risk problems. A basic description of how DMCA works is that you find your content on another site, ask them to remove it, nothing happens so you fill out the forms and notify the host. The host is required to take action. Google simply verifies that the host has received your DMCA and then takes whatever action is appropriate, but they are the very last link in the chain and have been known to take a very long time. DMCA is not their thing. Check WHOIS info to find the hosts' IP(s) and that's where you contact with DMCA. Read more at [chillingeffects.org...] they make it easy to find what you need to know.

[fathom]

When I say thousands of pages I meant to say really thousands of different pages on tons and tons of hacked websites.

If you register your copy, pics, whatever you can be awarded $150,000 in statutory damages without proving any actual damages occurred (per incident) so if there is a thousands that could be a $150,000,000 winfall, or maybe at the low end is $2000 x 1000 plus legal fees is still serious return off such a headache.

[tangor]

Most times (not always) these spammers are tied to a few ISPs... send the DMCA there, top of the feeding frenzy. At least it is a place to start.

[not2easy]

What tangor says is right, it might appear to be lots of domains and pages, but often it is one or two to track down and end it pretty quickly.

One thing Google does get involved with is when spammers and scrapers are redirecting, especially if it involves malware. You can read more about that on their site to see if your situation is one that they do accept reports for. As they say there though, they aren't so much involved in hand to hand combat with these unsavory characters (so a DMCA is the quick fix), but they use your reported information (if it applies) to create scalable solutions to the problem. See [support.google.com...] for that information.

[rish3]

Google doesn't do dmca

Not sure what you meant here, but you can certainly file DMCA reports with Google and have infringing content removed from the SERPS.

They do try to discourage it a bit by making it hard to find, but it's there:

[google.com...]

[not2easy]

Google is not a DMCA agent. If the object is to get copyrighted material removed as fast as possible, the SafeHarbor provision (Section 512) of the DMCA ACT gets your content removed as soon as the host is aware of it. It can take many months to wait for any response from Google. If your time is valuable you are best served by filing the DMCA yourself and then notifying Google if you wish.

The reason I suggest a visit to the Chilling Effects site to get more information about your rights before zipping off to file a notice at Google is for two reasons - The DMCA is an Act of Law and Google is not involved in law enforcement. They do assist but not with any priority and if you file at Google (or at the Host) and are found to be overstepping your rights, you could be liable for court costs and penalties even though someone else has posted your content. See what Automattic (WordPress) is currently doing about a (Section 512f) Fair Use defense of a DMCA Content Removal: [webmasterworld.com...]

People need to understand the limitations of copyright protection and the principles of fair use before they try to serve takedown notices. If they need help with that they may want to consult a lawyer.

[philgames]

So do I sue the university websites that have been hacked and displaying my content? or the sites that the hacked pages redirect to later (still unsure about whether the hacked pages redirect only to non google bot people).

If I search for anything else found on the google cahced hacked pages it looks like other peoples content... (very random collection some sentences go on about airport bommbs) using the "" these are also being posted on tons other hackes pages as well... looks as though this hacker/spammer is doing this on a massive scale.... he got hundreds and hundreds of fake handbag shops... oakley glasses shops... nike air jordan shops and all the othe rusual suspects.

On a seo point of view will/should my site get penalized now this $@##£ is posting my sites content in bits and pieces on all these pages?

Also I like your thinking of suing and getting millions back... however I think me being from the UK I wouldn't know where to begin. Most of the Uk laws were created when the best mode of transport were the horse and carriage and haven't been changed since.

[fathom]

So do I sue the university websites that have been hacked

Well first, yes! If your copyright info is on the universities server then ABSOLUTELY! If the university is an unwitting accomplice they have insurance for this.

Candidly, if you know the university was hacked you then also know who the responsible party is. So sue both.

It is easier than that... just hire an IP attorney and have them do their job.