Content Swiping - Should I be upset - Content, Writing and Copyright forum at WebmasterWorld - WebmasterWorld

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Content Swiping - Should I be upset

cma01

4:57 am on Jul 3, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I don't know whether to be upset or to be thankful for the link backs.

I run a community site for my area, mainly to provide information. I spend a lot of time creating content.

I have just had several people commandeering my content lately.

Two days ago a someone posted about 4th of July activities on another site's forum . . . . copied and pasted directly from my site. I'm glad they found it useful, but they could at least reference where they found it and give a link back.

Then I found another new local site in my log files. The pictures in their logo and in their flash header I swear are directly from my image gallery. I took them myself, so I'm pretty positive. All the pictures are in public areas, so of course they could have gone and taken them themselves, but I think they are mine.

This site also has my homepage in an iframe. I don't have the RSS feeds published, so I'm not sure how they are including it. It doesn't display the whole site, but just the news section.

Should I just figure it's a link back and not worry about it? It's such an ugly site too.

simey

6:19 am on Jul 3, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I guess everybody has to make their own decision about things like this.
I'd bet over half of the of the stuff on the web violates somebodies TOS or copyright to some extent.

complement > imitation > irritation > outright theft

Personally, if someone copied more than 2 paragraphs of my orig. content, or put my site in an iframe, it's over the line.

cma01

6:28 am on Jul 3, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I looked at the source, they are using WebHarpoon to pull it in.

Like I said, it's just the news portion of my site, the main content. But it's not like a regular RSS feed. I have graphic section headers and that displays as well.

I think it's a DNN site. Someone is launching a "community of 1,640 sites" using this model. The first one that launched has their local paper in the iframe for news.

I guess I should taking it as a compliment that they are going to my site for news rather than the two local papers. Or is it just that my site is easier to steal from?

Shimrit

2:55 pm on Jul 5, 2007 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

Well, it is a compliment but it's also a pain. There is a duplicate content issue involved that could end up hurting your site's ranking. If you can be bothered, you should complain to them and have them remove it. Links from sites that steal content are not going to count for much anyway.

thecoalman

2:04 am on Jul 6, 2007 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member

10+ Year Member

Top Contributors Of The Month

I'd be upset, especially about the Iframe and the images if they are yours. That's just plain theft. There's JS scripts for breaking out of the iframes.

As far as the images if you took them with a digital camera there's a chance the exif data is still intact. It really depends on what software was used to process them if they were re-sized or anything else from the time they left the camera. You can read this data with image software or a free program called Exifer, it usually contains the date and time the image was taken, camera model, ...even if the flash was used. Just compare it to yours.