Entire Web Site Mirrored at Another Domain

[azlinda]

It seems that I've run into a whole gamut of thieves recently. I got a notice from Google that I was making income from a website, but it was not on my allowed list. I checked the URL. They had stolen my ENTIRE website, graphics (many of which I have special permission to use from major food companies), graphics I bought from a company in New York, every recipe on the site, and every page was there under there root URL, including my TRADEMARK page. My site has been online since 1999, and they started their site in October 2009.

I guess I need to know now to whom do I write at Google to report this? Thanks for any help you can give.

[koan]

You should send a DMCA complaint to their host first to take them down.

[azlinda]

Thank you!

[tangor]

Wishing all best. Wondering how theft of site was missed? Personally I watch all my sites like white on rice. A reminder that "set and forget" does not work on the wild and wooly web. Everything worthwhile requires work---and determination to keep that protected.

^{(Was going Louis L'Amour, but figured only a few would know that that meant)}

[ken_b]

Wondering how theft of site was missed?

I got the impression the whole site was copied, including the AdSense code, and set up on another domain.
.

[azlinda]

Yes, the entire web site was copied and set up on an entirely different domain by someone.

[tangor]

I humbly repeat, how the heck did (failure protect goodies allow) that happen?

Forget google. Send DMCA to host isp, or the domain registrar.

[azlinda]

I wish I knew. I work with my website every day. This morning I made a change to the home page, and it showed up changed at the web site that stole it. They must watch my site every minute or have some kind of robot that sweeps it constantly. Cannot figure it out!

[buckworks]

This sounds exactly like what happened to me a few months ago.

If the other domain happens to be pointed at the default IP for your server, which can easily happen by accident, your content will show up on their domain. There's a good chance that it's an unused domain that was forgotten about when someone changed servers, and the other domain owner doesn't know this is happening.

You could contact the other domain owner and ask them to update their DNS, or reorder the priorities on your server so the important site is not the default, which would make it less vulnerable to other people's errors.

I'm not a techie so I'm probably not explaining this very well. Perhaps someone else could help?

[edited by: buckworks at 4:27 am (utc) on May 15, 2010]

[azlinda]

Well, I have no ownership info as they use Domains by Proxy, so I'm probably going to have to rely on their answering through a middle man.

[buckworks]

Ask your host about this. There are ways to solve the problem from your end.

If it is what I think it is, that is! :)

[alika]

This happened to me a while back - where someone copied my entire site, and any change you make is immediately shown on that other site. I learned about it when I saw a huge huge spike of traffic from this unknown domain.

The folks here helped me at that time including Incredibill. I can't find my post now, but I had to add a little script that will break the connection with my site and that copycat site. Then did the DCMA complaint to their website. Last I checked, they were copying an About.com section on the same topic as my site.

I'll try to look for that script and what I did to stop that theif

[azlinda]

I would appreciate that, Alika.

[ken_b]

This morning I made a change to the home page, and it showed up changed at the web site that stole it.

Are they calling your site up in a frame?

[martinibuster]

I agree with buckworks. This is not a case of a stolen site. If a change to your site is immediately reflected at the other domain then that's not a copy, it's only a mirror of your site. There is a mixup with the domain and the IP it is pointing at. You need to contact the domain's owner and ask them to change the IP addy to whatever is their correct IP. What may have happened is that the IP you currently use was formerly used by the domain that is now mirroring your content.

Well, I have no ownership info as they use Domains by Proxy

No. Look harder. You can contact them via the contact information listed in the whois. Domains by Proxy lists an email addy for contacting the owner. It usually looks like [e-mail].

Good luck.

[Robert Charlton]

Just came across a suggested fix for this problem in a thread that's discussing mischief competitors can do [webmasterworld.com].

...With this setup you will not only be immune for IP address attacks, but also to attacks where your competitor registers throw-away domains and lets them all point to your IP address.

[azlinda]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I'm working on it right now!

[alika]

What happened in my case -- I checked first the DNS angle to see if it was the case. Talked to my webhost and they investigated, but concluded it was not a DNS problem.

I was perplexed that any single change I make to my site was reflected automatically to the thief's site.

I put on a frame busting script and that did it. Apparently the perv was putting my site on a frame and showing it in his domain.

Try that route. There are a lot of frame busting scripts out there and put one in your site. See if that fixes the problem

[g1smd]

What happens if you add this to YOUR .htaccess file?

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?example\.domainother\.com(:[0-9]+)?$
RewriteRule - [G]

If their domain name is pulling the content from your server, their version of the site will be taken immediately offline with the above code.

If the other domain is listed and getting traffic, you might want to recover that traffic by instead using either:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?example\.domainother\.com(:[0-9]+)?$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.domainyourown.com/$1 [R=301,L]

OR

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example\.domainyourown\.com)?$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.domainyourown.com/$1 [R=301,L]

[g1smd]

Ah, that's what happens when you leave a window open for an hour and then reply.

[azlinda]

Thank you so much for all your help. We are working on implementing the suggestions now. Last night I sent a request to the owners of the other site to correct the problem. Now when I go to the site, it shows that it is parked at godaddy. So at least they got my request and acted on it. We're going to do everything in our power to ensure that this does not happen again!

[g1smd]

It's a shame you couldn't divert the traffic with a redirect for a while, before making the other domain unavailable.

One question here. If you looked at a page on the the "other site" and then clicked a link, did it take you to another page on that other domain, or did it take you to your domain?

[azlinda]

When I clicked on a link, it took me to that page on the OTHER domain, not to a page on my domain.

[g1smd]

The

<base>

tag is useful when added to the pages of your own site. It gives a small amount of protection, allowing all links from the copy to effectively point to your own site.

[azlinda]

More good info! Thank you so much.

[phranque]

allowing all links from the copy to effectively point to your own site

just to clarify, that would affect all relative links:
the BASE element [w3.org]

[onlineleben]

Could also be something different where no one has any bad intentions:
some people link to a merchant via a domain redirect when the merchant runs an affiliate program. Then the original content appears on the redirected domain as well. some affiliate proggrams allow this, some not.
@azlinda
are you running an affiliate program?

[MrHard]

Are they selling physical products? If it's an affiliate they could also be taking orders on the copied site, then reordering them on your site with the customers info., and then just banking the affiliate commission.

[azlinda]

No, I am not running any affiliate programs.

[azlinda]

Well, the other site corrected the problem, so there is no longer a mirror site. If it was in fact running since October 2009 that could possibly account for my gradual decline in Alexa ranking. It's abysmal now compared to what it used to be. It's a shame we get punished for others' wrongdoing.