Reporting Scraper Sites Running Adsense

[kidder]

Pretty much every time you find your content on another website you find adsense. How hard would it be for Google to include something in its TOS that protects publishers as they do with the Youtube program? If we could report the stealing pricks and have them banned or heavily smart priced its going to remove the motivation to a large extent. Failing that I see no problem with dropping their publisher codes into few adult sites...

[martinibuster]

Just click the words "Ads by Google" in the scraper site's adsense ad unit. On the resulting Google web page scroll down to where it says,

Report a policy violation regarding the site or ads you just saw

In the drop down choose "Website" to report the site then click the appropriate box(es):

Did the site you just came from violate any of the following policies? (Select all that apply)
* Required Field

The site encouraged me to click on the ads.
The site has adult or pornographic content.
This content appears to involve minors


The site contains violent content.
The site promotes racial intolerance, or advocacy against an individual, group, or organization.
The site is hosting or distributing my copyrighted content, without my permission.
To report infringement of your copyrighted content, you do not need to fill out this form. Instead, please file a DMCA complaint.


The site makes it difficult to distinguish ads from content.
The site is promoted through unsolicited mass emails.
The site tried to install something on my computer.
The site violates AdSense program policies in other ways.

[azlinda]

Thanks for that information.

[beren]

Yes, you can take care of it by writing a form letter (DMCA letter) and faxing it to Google. It takes some time and effort, but it's about as close to 100% effective as anything on the internet.

I've filed over 200 DMCA letters against AdSense sites. In the large majority of cases, the publisher removes the copy within a couple weeks. The only cases when this doesn't happen are when (1) the site removes the offending content before Google's people look at it or (2) the publisher doesn't respond to Google, in which case their AdSense account is canceled. So your stuff is still copied on another site, but you have the satisfaction of knowing that AdSense kicked that publisher out.

There is also a way for the publisher to counter-file and claim he is the owner of the copyright, but this has never happened to me. They know they are in the wrong.

[incrediBILL]

I typically file the DMCA against the webhost, site is usually gone in 24 hours

[rajivatre]

@incredibill:thanks for the useful information about how to report to google adsense.

Thanks
Rajiv

[incrediBILL]

thanks for the useful information about how to report to google adsense.

That isn't reporting to AdSense, but it gets the scraper offline.

If you want his AdSense account revoked, it takes more time, file the DMCA with Google.

I'm more about getting my content offline, and showing them I'm serious, without G in the middle. They know I smacked them offline, they know I know they're there, they'll be less likely to mess with me next time.

Never had a repeat violation yet ;)

[sailorjwd]

If they are only stealing a few lines of text at a time then it is unlikely google will remove them since that comes under the fair use rule.... from my experience anyway.

[wheel]

I've filed over 200 DMCA letters against AdSense sites.

Wow. I filed about 10 in the last couple of weeks. The last one I sent, I told the legal folks on the other end that they may want to advise their clients that I no longer have the time or energy to do it this way, it's now going to be sent to a copyright lawyer (someone I met a couple years ago). Way easier to go down that road at this point, than the exhausting effort of DMCA. Particularly if you're a competitor in my country.

[incrediBILL]

If they are only stealing a few lines of text at a time then it is unlikely google will remove them since that comes under the fair use rule.... from my experience anyway.

That is true, it must be a serious violation to get Google to do anything.

That's why I tag my content, when not served to a SE, with codes that IDs the scraper IP in the actual page. Then I can often hit their host with an AUP violation for scraping my server if it's a hosted site.

This is too advanced for most, but my server tracks it all, I always have proof to nail 'em ;)

[farmboy]

Register your content with the U.S. Copyright Office.

The use of an attorney doesn't have to be a money drain, there are statutory monetary penalties if your work is registered.

FarmBoy