Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Within 24-hours Adsense had stopped serving ads to the infringer's ENTIRE site (several hundred pages worth).
Within 32-hours of initial notification the infringing content was long gone.
Outstanding performance by Adsense in my opinion.
Is that site still giving 404s where his AdSense ads should be or has the code been removed?
[webmasterworld.com...]
Is that site still giving 404s where his AdSense ads should be or has the code been removed?
Was he stealing other people's content or had obvious violations on his pages?
Well, yes and no. He WAS publishing other people's content, but apparently (judging from the views he expressed in the angry emails he sent me), he erroneously thought that slapping a "Fair Use" notice on each page allowed him to publish the full text and graphics of anything he wanted to without restriction and without complying with the conditions of Fair Use.
Judging from the changes he has now made to his site, I'd say he did some studying-up on Fair Use, etc.
My guess is that Adsense will probably reinstate him after the 10-day "lawsuit filing" waiting period. And that's fine with me since the guy probably isn't a bad guy or a serious spammer at all --he just appeared to be a little confused on copyright issues.
...probably isn't a bad guy or a serious spammer at all --he just appeared to be a little confused on copyright issues.
That could be true. Then there are those people who believe what they want to believe about copyright law so they can claim innocence when caught.
In any event, I'm glad you posted this. Maybe it will put fear into some others who read this.
Personally I think intellectual property thieves are much more of a threat to us publishers than are MFA's and other such scoundrels that get a lot of attention around here.
FarmBoy
judging from the views he expressed in the angry emails he sent me
That will depend on what ales your site, money, traffic or both. Let them bust & castrate content thieves & MFA, it needs to hurt, and it needs to be known that it hurts.
[edited by: Hobbs at 10:14 pm (utc) on April 17, 2008]
How did he find out who filed the DMCA?
I assume he remembered where he swiped the content from.
I don't know if Google initially informs the infringer of who files a DMCA or not, but his full contact info was sent to me in the counter-notification he filed with Google explaining the changes he'd made and requesting reinstatement. Google sends you a complete copy of the infringer's counter-notification if there is one.
I've previously had fairly good success with Google's DMCA process in the serps, but I have to say that these Adsense people come through the door with a big stick and a bad attitude when it comes to content thieves.
Also ask them to enfoce their AUP (there should be no counter indication opportunities there ;-) )
FBI should also have a site for reporting thieves as well as some laywers could specialize on making money from thieves.
he just appeared to be a little confused on copyright issues
Aren't they all. Getting banned from Adsense seems to put the fear of god in content thieves a lot more than having to relocate to another host. Complaining to Adsense has now become a major asset against these people.
But the balls these people have sometimes... one guy once replied asking me to prove I didn't steal myself the content he stole from me. I guess when you are scum, you think everybody else is.
But the balls these people have sometimes... one guy once replied asking me to prove I didn't steal myself the content he stole from me.
I have had a similar, but even nastier experience. Luckly for this guy we were sperated by the Pacific Ocean.
...one guy once replied asking me to prove I didn't steal myself the content he stole from me...
That's not a bad move from the crook's perspective. If someone is crazy enough to engage in a conversation with the thief, he can assess whether you have some means of proving you had the content first.
FarmBoy
If someone is crazy enough to engage in a conversation with the thief, he can assess whether you have some means of proving you had the content first.
Yes, this was my inital concern. However I was well placed for a fight because the image content that was stolen from me was backed up in it's original (comples) photshop psd layers so it was easy to prove that I was the original creator.
As with the stolen text, I conducted a search using the wayback machine and found that I could demonstrate that my content appeared on the net before his, although I don't know if this would be sufficent enough evidence to prove that I wrote it.
he can assess whether you have some means of proving you had the content first.
I usually address the webmaster first and depending on the reaction, I will contact other concerned parties after. When I get an answer like that one, of course I don't bother engaging communication anymore and I just take it with Google and the host.
I know from experience that the moment there is some resistance on the other side, it's a waste of time to keep talking.
I think anyone web savvy enough to run a website and monetize via Adsense knows, or should know, the basics of copyrights.
I've had content thieves email me after I got their sites shut down and tell me they honestly had no idea they couldn't take my stuff and use it on their site. The sad thing is that I actually believed a few of them.
I think anyone web savvy enough to run a website and monetize via Adsense knows...
You would think so. On another discussion list where I participate there is an attorney currently arguing it is OK to take articles and redistribute them in whole as long as it is not for commercial use. This attorney does not practice in the area of copyright law but because it is an attorney "speaking", the people who want this to be true are eating it up.
FarmBoy
In my experience, with other mom bloggers and just people I know on boards, who aren't webmasters, people have a huge learning curve in both operating a website (even a free-hosted blog) and monetizing it. Not saying there are no ignorant or non-techie web publishers out there, only that I don't know too many of them, I guess.
