Protect Your Content
If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it eventually will. A post that you wrote, one that you worked hard on and did extensive research for, will be stolen. The first sign will be organic search engine traffic dropping for that post. Then, when you do a google search for the keyword you used to rank tops in, you notice that you have been replace by someone else, with your content. And when this happens, you will be slightly pissed. This is what happened to me and here is what I did about it.
A post I wrote several months ago, http://natespost.com/index.php/install-wordpress-on-yahoo-server/ had still been getting some traffic for me from google. When I was checking on things a few days ago, I noticed that it had completely stopped for the last few weeks. When I did a search for the keywords that I had ranked #1 for, I noticed that I had completely disappeared, and that another blog had taken my place as #1 using my content. The feeling was a little like seeing a stranger driving away in your car, I would assume. Time to get your car back…
The first thing I did was report it to google. Two days later, I got a response from google explaining the process. To file a DMCA complaint, you have to fill out a form and fax it to the number they provide. Having filled out the form but yet to fax it, I thought I would give the offending party the chance to take my content off his blog first. My email request to him was replied to with a defiant sounding “Show me the proof that it is your content.” The feeling then is like the guy flipping you off as he drives away in your car. Time to do some research.
Yesterday I published a post which gave an account of the ordeal along with his full name, home address, phone number, and a picture of his new baby. I had collected even more info to use in the future and would know if he was behind any of his friends’ future malicious attempts. Meanwhile, kudos to google. Although I had not faxed in the complaint, an employee there apparently laid human eyes on the situation and corrected the search engine response. (they do have access to detailed caching which can show who posted what and when) For all the bad things you hear and read, I was impressed that someone took the time to help me out. Anyway, after seeing the post about him, he emailed me agreeing to a trade. He would take my content off his blog if I would remove my post about him. Deal. The thing is, now that my “car has been returned”, I really have no ill feeling towards my new-found friend. He is trying to make a dollar like the rest of us, he just needs to go about it the right way. I sincerely hope he continues to be a reader and learns with the rest of us, giving his advice also.
Now as a small measure of protection, I recommend that when feasible, when you publish a new post, refer to an older post of yours with a link. It can be in the form of “As we talked about in my august post {link to that post} …..” Anything to make it easier for the human eye at google to know that it is your content. Also, at shoemoney, I found a great plugin by Joost De Valk that you can download here. It automatically adds a footer to your post which links back to you when read (or scraped, copied, stolen) from your rss feed.
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July 9th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
As great as that plugin is, and I do promote and encourage its use, it isn’t foolproof. Not only do many scrapers strip out all HTML, but it does nothing against human plagiarists. My advice would be to continue using it, but also add a digital fingerprint to your posts, perhaps using the digital fingerprint plugin, so that you can detect RSS scraping.
From there, deal with any cases that are unattributed by filing DMCA notices with their hosts. I have stock letters on my site if you need them as well as contact information.
The plugins you refer to are a good first step, but I don’t think relying on them wholly is a good strategy, there is at least a little more that can be done.
Let me know if I can do anything to help or you need any assistance with a case! I am here to assist!
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Nate reply on July 10, 2008:
Great advice. I’m going to look into the digital fingerprint now. By the way, always feel free to drop a link for info on your site…..remember, I’m unemployed and have the time to weed out the spammers from quality content like yours. His stock letters are here: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/stock-letters/
but you all really need to read his entire blog. He is officially on my bloglist.
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July 11th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Ok guys,
Does something such as Nates post have to have an actual copyright (like filling the papers, paying…..with all the legal stuff), or is just publishing it considered to give you the copy right?
Also with the Fair Use - I just read the other day where some news organization got cease & desist orders on a blog that used less than 70 words from the news article. It never went anywhere, they dropped it.
So, how do we know what amount is far use?
Does it depend on if you are writing a good or bad review of the original?
Does giving the link and credit of the quote or comment keep you out of legal problems?
I know go back to Jonathan’s site and keep reading. LOL!
I did bookmark the site because I have had people copy my articles and post them as their own. I do not even write good so, that seemed really stupid to me. LOL!
Nate, glad to see you back!
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August 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 am
Hi,i want to take content protector off my computer! how can i do this, if i need a password, where do i get the password to taje content protect off of my labtop!plz help?
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December 30th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Any idea of how to stop spam? Ever since I made this site I’ve been getting hammered with spam I’ve tried akismet but that doesn’t seem to work that well.
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January 21st, 2010 at 10:13 pm
A very good description of what happened to you.
Perhaps he will succeed. Perhaps he won’t. He certainly
was luck you were reasonable enough to just want him
to stop.
I know others who, are the type where if this happens to them,
its World War 8.
Curious though, how did you get his full name, address…and picture
of his new baby?
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March 4th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Helpful Publish! I am a Doctor myself, Well being is immense success, we all know this. We have to take treatment of our entire body to have long life.
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