More Copyright Infringment
I’m discovering more of my articles being copied verbatim on other blogs without so much as a linkback attributing myself as the real author of the post. So I thought it would be a fun idea to expose these fraudsters for all the world to see.
In this particular case the fake blog author “Snowy” has copied my article word for word entitled “The Art of Contrarian Blogging” that I wrote last year.So here is the post that I just discovered today. Smile — you’re busted on candid camera, Blog Bloke style.This is the comment that I wrote to him:
Although I’m flattered that you would think highly enough of my work to copy and paste my article … but please tell me where is the link referencing the fact that I am it’s true author?Have I missed something? If not then this post is an infringement of my lawful copyright and please remove it forthwith.
By the way, I notice that you have moderated comments here so in case you try to delete it, please be advised that I’m making a snapshot to prove that you have been duly served with proper notice.
Otherwise, if I do not receive your immediate cooperation I will have no alternative but to take more serious measures against you.
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
…Blog Bloke
Adding insult to injury he kept the links to everyone I had linked to in the post, but he conveniently forgot to include me! The cheek.
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I seem to notice more and more sites scraping my content myself. I always put internal links in my posts, so I’ve often wondered if this scraping helps me or hurts me. I remember listening to a podcast with Paul Colligan about how he actually doesn’t mind scraping that much due to all of his internal links referring back to his properties.
BTW, I finally moved off Blogger to WordPress and am having a blast. Are you still considering such a move?
That’s the point Jason. There’s nothing wrong if they just copy an excerpt within quotes along with a linkback to your blog.
But in this case he scraped the entire post without a linkback, passing it off as his own work. That is not flattery — it’s INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT and completely illegal!
The only reason that I found out about it is I have created search alerts that notify me when my content is found on the net.
It’s despicable.
Hey wait a minute … Jason, wasn’t it you who said you didn’t want me to switch over to WP because of my tutorials?
Plagiarism is one of many problems with Generation Y.
They think that as long as it’s online, it’s OK to steal text because Bloke put it there in the first place !
They thing that way because they have lost the art of communication and haven’t the slightest clue about how to put things down in words !
That’s why you’ve got websites like Turnitin.com and Copyscape.
You should do this more often Bloke !
I was once the victim of scraping and I remember how it felt. The person who did it has stopped the practice. Not only to me, but other bloggers as well. I feel like I took a stand and won a little battle for us.
About moving to WordPress, I’m considering it now that Blogger has changed their commenting system. People with Google accounts can only leave a link to their profiles in comments. People without can’t leave any, unless they post it right in the comments field. This a huge impediment to getting new visitors to leave comments. Blogger will allow OpenID-aware links, but that means my readers have to create an OpenID account. This is just too much of a hassle, and I’m going to lose readers as a result. Not happy about this new development at all. Now I have to spend countless hours figuring out how to move to another platform. Just when I got relaxed having moved to my own domain, now this! Argggh!
An unbelievably stupid mistake by Blogger. Comments was their weakest point and they’ve made another huge step backwards.
Now their uploaded images aren’t working properly either. What on earth are they doing?
Generation Y may have been brought up playing computer games instead of learning how to write but it’s no excuse for cheating and breaking the law. If that is the case then they should do something else besides blogging. And by the way, how hard is it to make a link to me anyway? Obviously he knows how to do it.
I had to learn how to read and write as well as use the computer and I suggest they do the same. Yes, I will continue to expose any fraudsters that I come across. I’m sure there’s still more out there that I’ve missed. But I’ll find them sooner or later.
I know the feeling, Bloke!
I almost retired my Blogging Boots because of Digital Desperadoes in October. Another reprehensible part of scraping our content is the scrapers are no doubt receiving advertising revenue without paying us!
I thought Lincoln freed the slaves?
I would say flag any blogs that you find doing this, but many of the buggers have removed the navbar. There’s gotta be a way to create a link or a bookmarklet to notify Blogger.
Hello Blog Bloke,
Glad to see you’re back on form after taking some time off.
There is a way to flag Blogger blogs which have hidden the nav-bar, though it’s a little more complicated than a bookmarklet. I’ve just come back from holiday, but I will post about this as soon as I have the time to do so. Just take a look at the source code of a Blogger blog: the nav-bar cannot be removed, only hidden. So the code for the “flag this blog” link will still be present in the code.
Best wishes,
Amanda
I have suffered so many unexpected despicable attacks like scraping and copying infringement of my posts yet, there is nothing like the despicable public attack caused by the uncivil comments of a “professional” journalist which I have suffered this week and I am not sure what to do to recover at the moment.
Seems like Digital Desperadoes are out to destroy Blogs one at time whenever and wherever they can.
Also, appalling to me is the apparent double standard of Google where they penalize Bloggers for duplicating their content (which I have no problem with) yet, they cannot control the digital fraud when someone else duplicates our content!
I find it hard to accept that Google who earns an annual profit of $2 Billion Bacon Bits can only solve duplicate content issues only when we transfer our Blogs from one service to another yet, Google cannot solve the real crime!
Did I step into the Twilight Zone of your new Feed?
This post was at top of the list marked unread and new in my news reader today!
Looks like I need more Manual Manipulations by Mr. Dolphin to cure this problem!
In the meantime, a timeless old post can always new comments!
Dec 30th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
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