Content stealing, or a nice way of saying "copyright infringment," is an issue that I know hits a nerve with many Bloggers. You spend your time doing research and writing, only to find that another "Blogger" uploaded your content to their site presenting it as their own work. Nothing bothers me more than seeing my work elsewhere without proper attribution. Such is the case with one such blog that is taking posts from Beauty Pro (A Pierce Mattie PR blog) without proper credit, that blog is Popular Beauty News.
I am a member of The Beauty Blog Network and this is an issue that many of the members have been discussing lately as it has affected a majority of them. I had the chance to speak about this issue with one of the members, Carleen Pruess, who writes Beauty & Fashion Tech but is also an Illinois Lawyer.
Shannon: Has Content stealing happened to you?
Carleen: I have experienced several instances of content theft. In some cases it was a simple matter of a person putting content up on a semi-social network site such as Team Sugar without attribution. In those cases an email to the site administrator resulted in quick removal. In a few cases, I have had content reprinted in full or in part on commercial site (running advertisements) without a link back and without permission. A few of those removed my material when requested. A couple of other did not respond, but also appear to have quit updating their sites.
Shannon: Do you feel content stealing across the blogosphere is increasing and why?
Carleen: I do think it is increasing. In part, I think it increases because of the increase in use of social networks and personal blogs. In many cases, I think users of those types of services do not think about the need to attribute the works that they post. On the more sinister side, I also think that as more and more people hear that money can be made from Google Ads, more and more people will seek to start sites running ads without putting effort into original content. In reality, sites with unoriginal content are unlikely to make much money from Adsense, but people lack that knowledge and try to make easy money off of stolen content.
Shannon: Where do you personally look to find out if your content is being stolen?
Carleen: I use Copyscape from time to time to check my main page. I also have Google alerts set using common keywords that tend to reoccur in my content (which serves another purpose of keeping up on news with those keywords). I have also caught a number of splogs using my work with linkbacks simply through trackbacks that go to my spam filter. Those are distasteful, and I feel that they are a misuse of feed, but at least most of them put up only a partial post and link back to the rest.
Shannon: What steps have you taken to 1. prevent your content from being stolen 2. if it is stolen how do you stop it?
Carleen: I do plan to add a copyright notice to my posts. I considered running only partial feeds, but I think that a majority of my readers prefer a full feed and I also belong to some networks and catalogs that require it.
When content is stolen, my first step is to send a polite email asking that it either be removed or be properly attributed to me with a link back. If it is a commercial site, I ask that they only summarize or paraphrase my work unless they put the content in a full block quote with very clear attribution. If the material is not removed and it is a commercial site, my next step is to send a paper cease and desist letter via certified mail to the site owner. If that information is not available, it can be sent to the domain proxy registrar. I have only sent one paper cease and desist letter and the person removed the content rather quickly after receiving it.
If a blog set up on Blogger is stealing content, it can be reported to Google. I have also wondered whether Google would pull Adsense accounts if they started getting complaints that a certain site routinely used stolen content? I don't know the answer to that, but it could be worth sending Google a complaint about any site running Adsense that is regularly posting content that is not attributed to the original source. Since many such sites depend on Google ads, it could be effective if Google would do anything (I have my doubts that they will though).
I thought Carleen brought up a great issue regarding Google, as the majority of the blogs that take content use Adsense to make money from another's work. I contacted Google to find out where they stood on this matter and invited them to contribute to this post, however they did not reply. So I searched their policies section to find that Adsense does follow the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and will terminate a publishers Adsense account if they are in violation of copyright laws. If you feel that a site is violating your copyright and using Adsense with said content, you can file a complaint with Google. They list all of the steps you need to follow in order to do this on their site, but beware, if you misrepresent material as copyright or if you are unsure if your content is protected by copyright law and you still file a complaint, you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees).
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. What has your experience been with sites stealing your content? Have you had any experience you can relay in regards to Google's copyright policy? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by Shannon Nelson on August 22, 2007 6:26 AM
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