Outrageous Theft of Content

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:54 am

I know our own Phil White and Steve Vernon have had a million words worth of content hijacked by ebay sellers, but I just discovered something that made my blood boil:

http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif ... l_shop_spo

A web site literally lifted the entire content of a blog entry I did without credit, attribution, or source.

There's a reason I take no advertising on my blog or the Classic Fly Rod Forum, so that people who read about fishing history won't have to be inundated with the b**ls**t pop up ads from sites like this. I hate thinking it is raising ad revenue for such a low, low form of company like this.

I am enraged right now. Of course, I sent a cease-and-desist letter, we'll see how much traction that gets. There's a reason when I started Whitefish Press I made my lawyer friend a partner...

-- Dr. Todd

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 10:38 am

Kinda weird, Dr. T. The posted article is signed, and they have a link to your blog, although it's one included in the stolen text. And the source of the article is visible in the website source code.

Are you sure you didn't sign some kind of waiver when you were buying bait in Minnesota several years ago? And what is "TON System Account," the alleged perp?

And speaking of weird, here's avery strange site with an illustration yanked from my website. I can't even figure out where to complain.

Post by **john elder** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:23 pm

Well, your lawyer must have done something right...i get a blank page with that link now, todd, although past articles come up...what amazes me is that you guys find these things! Www is a big place! I don,t have as much out there or as good a quality, but on,t think i,d know if it was lifted!

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 4:50 pm

Well, Dr. T., another successful skirmish in the war against intellectual property theft. Congrats!

what amazes me is that you guys find these things!

Stuff shows up all the time during searches for other stuff. Here are a couple of examples I ran across:
During a search related to Kopf, I discovered this site carried my entire article on Kopf. It wasn't a case of lifting the text; it was just a re-posting of the article and included links. If you download it, it comes from my server. Out of curiosity, I looked up the domain owner:
Sergey Makarov
Rodniki 3/2 133
Novosibirsk, 630129
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
This example isn't technically plagiaristic. I have no idea why the site exists.

Same thing happened with a search for one of Edward Small's reels. The Small article was re-posted on a different domain administered, if not owned by:
Shwartz, Alon ()
docstoc.com
409 Santa Monica Blvd
Suite 2A
Santa Monica, California 90401
In this case, downloading the article requires registration, and then the SOB charges for "membership" before permitting a download. In other words, he's selling the article.

Point is that searches for almost anything related to antique tackle will reveal re-postings like these, as well as stuff that was just lifted outright, as we see on eBay all the time. Finding them is usually a matter of luck. Photos show up, too, but recognizing stolen photos depends a lot on your own memory. I've run across Phil's pics all over the place.

Post by **Brian F.** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 6:41 pm

I've always had the suspicion that people make up these sites with borrowed content simply to get hold of you to apply some tracking devices or "cookies". Just like if you search for "old reels for sale" (or anything else "for sale" for that matter) you get thousands of recycled ebay listings, websites, etc. under very strange domain names.

Don Champion · Post by **Don Champion** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:25 pm

Steve - I noticed on one of your sites, I think it may have been the Hendrick reels, you have your name in the photo. How did you do that and would someone using your photos be able to delete it?

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:43 pm

Long story, Don. I'll email you.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:03 pm

My stuff gets picked up all the time by "metasites" which lift the first paragraph and then link to my blog. I don't like this but at least it properly attributes where the information came from.

The kind of problems Steve references is just downright theft. It's so widespread no one seems to care any more.

And at least they took it down.

-- Dr. Todd

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:02 am

My stuff gets picked up all the time by "metasites" which lift the first paragraph and then link to my blog.

I'd consider that...in the immortal words of a felonious TV hostess...a good thing. It's essentially a promotion for your blog and should attract viewers. It's a far cry from bellowing "Fair use!" and incorporating your paragraph attributionlessly into their article or whatever. Of course, using your paragraph for a commercial purpose, e.g., an eBay listing, is another problem altogether.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:07 pm

The Small article was re-posted on a different domain

Followup: The different domain is http://www.docstoc.com/, which sells downloads of documents. It seems anyone can upload anything to them, and they leave it up to the copyright owner to discover their own works there and complain. (Thanks to the wisdom of Congress!)

Anyway, I eventually found that someone had uploaded at least 9 of the 11 articles posted on my website. About half were very difficult to find, as .docstoc's search function sucks. It's not enough just to search by author name.

Provision is available for submitting a formattesting to your holding the copyright and requesting removal of the material. My articles are being taken down as I write this. (If only eBay made it this easy!) Naturally, their legal dept. is "protecting the privacy" of the clown who uploaded the files, but I think I know who it was.

While we're at it: http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/. Apparently, anything goes, as long as the service provider has someone you can complain to.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:21 pm

Wow. That is a nefarious site. So, does the uploader get paid for someone else's work when someone buys it from the web site?

Glad you were able to find them.

Steve, if you'd like me to embed a custom watermark on your PDFs drop me a note.

-- Dr. Todd

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:47 pm

Well, crap. Here's another one -- from an article less than two weeks old.

http://www.book-for.net/2011/11/09/52_t ... emphis_tn/

Cease-and-desist letter sent.

-- Dr. Todd

Robyn Summerlin · Post by **Robyn Summerlin** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:01 pm

In the words of Tom Leher:

Plagiarize!
Let no one else's work evade your eyes!
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes…
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize!
Only be sure always to call it, please, "research"

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:29 am

Well, it's clear that Tom's no relation to William Butler. And that last line reminds me of a limerick. But it's the thought that counts, eh, Robyn?

Anyway, Dr. T., here's your antagonist:
yaser bajsair ()
POX 53090
Riyadh
Riyadh,11583
SA
Tel. +966.09665054124

Why not just give him a call? Or take him at his skillfully crafted word and email him:

i will be glade to contact you in this Email , please don’t be hesitate to share what you want in your site.

Contact US Email :

You should be proud that your article has joined his tones of information! And while you're at it, scroll down this page.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:47 am

Well, he's pretty much lifted the whole web site. Nice.

I sent off emails to his private and public web site. Will work next on getting a friend of mine in Saudi Arabia to go after him too.

-- Dr. Todd

Post by **john elder** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 4:45 pm

...and the moral is:

"Don't Screw With Dr. Todd...he's meaner than the IRS!"