content theft

1. 61

   Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years ago

   Hi all. I've tried to reach a HubPages person for an answer to this question but haven't heard anything, so I'll ask all of you.
   
   Earlier this year I unpublished a hub to make some changes. I went to republish it last week and just before doing so I found that a blogger had pasted my entire hub, word for word, on his/her site without my name or consent. I've tried to contact the blogger with no response.
   
   In order to prove this content is mine, I need to republish my hub. But I'm afraid that if I do so now, with my content appearing on this evil blog, that I will be flagged for plagiarism.
   
   Anyone have any suggestions or experience with this? Will I be flagged for republishing my own content?
   
   Thank you.

   replyreport
   1. 72

      livewithrichardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You should be able to republish your content.  There will be a notification that it appears to be duplicate but when you click on the notification it should give you the 'first published' date and allow you to file a DMCA

      replyreport
2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   I would suggest sending a DMCA take down notice to the blogger and their host even if you can't get the hub up right away.
   
   DMCA templates: http://www.mcanerin.com/en/articles/copyright-03.asp

   replyreport
3. 86

   Robinposted 12 years ago

   I would republish your Hub and file a DMCA complaint.  Here's the Learning Center link with step by step instructions:  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
   
   Good luck and let us know how it goes or if you have any other questions!

   replyreport
4. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   p.s. you can use a web archive to prove you had posted this prior to the stolen post.  Either the Wayback machine or Google cache.

   replyreport
5. 61

   Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years ago

   Thanks everyone for the quick responses! I'll republish, follow the reporting instructions and let you know what happens. This is the second time this has happened to me, but the first time the web host caught the content theft before I did, so that was good. Thanks again.

   replyreport
6. 89

   Stacie Lposted 12 years ago

   you should have a date of the original posting next to each hub in the account heading(stat)
   
   there seems to be many hubs being pilferer lately.why doesn't hubpages have a no right click copy and save ability(not sure of the correct term) in place or put a watermark on our hubs?
   I'm getting tired of hunting down my work and fighting to get the thieves to take it down.
   I write and create art on many sites that do have these applications in place
   whats the problem?

   replyreport
7. 80

   Trish_Mposted 12 years ago

   Hi
   
   This thread prompted me to check whether any of my work had been stolen ~ and it had!
   
   The one piece couldn't be found, so the site, itself, must have deleted it; the other I have reported to 'Yahoo Answers'.
   
   Great!

   replyreport
   1. 61

      Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've looked more closely at the site that stole my content, and it appears to be a shell designed for Google ads. There are several stolen articles at the site in addition to mine, and there's no email response from anyone.
      
      I think they copied several articles on one topic, pasted them at the blog/site, set up a ton of ads and then walked away, ready for Google to start delivering commissions for the ads.
      
      Question: Is it okay for us to add a line at the end of our hubs saying that the material is owned by us and cannot be reproduced without permission? If we can't stop anyone from copying our content and pasting it at their site, can we at least try to protect our work with language in the hub?

      replyreport
      1. 61

         Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Ack! It's even worse than I thought! The site that stole my content also has a Facebook page, and it has posted my stolen content on FB with a link back to its own site. It's a continuous loop, basically. And from FB you can go to a blogspot page on the same topic, from the same people. This is just ridiculous and awful.

         replyreport
      2. 83

         CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes you can do that, but it won't stop them.  I have found plenty of my hubs copied still with the line about my copyright at the bottom. It would be quite funny, if I wasn't so mad at the time

         replyreport
8. 61

   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   To the best of my understanding (and, believe me, my "understanding" may not be correct), this new emphasis Google is placing on authorship (and a Google profile) may help prevent some stolen material from getting views if posted under a different author name.  The Google profile lets authors set up reciprocal links between their own sites, as a way of establishing authorship.  (I've had so much stuff stolen in the past, and posted under other names, I just kind of gave up even trying to find it.)  I don't know how effective the reciprocal-links thing will be, but at least I'd think it might reduce the chances of someone seeing your Hub on the first page of a search, stealing it, doing a better SEO job on it than you did, and making you lose Ad Sense earnings (or having you look like the one posting duplicate content that you didn't post) as a result.  Again, I don't know how effective it will be, but it's better than what used to be in place.     Either way, I set up the whole business as soon as I learned about it (for whatever my stuff is worth or not worth).     (The only thing I'm not comfortable with is that head shot they recommend.  I'm pretty uncomfortable/reticent about how much anonymity I'll sacrifice on the Internet, because between never quite having overcome childhood shyness completely and having grown kids who have friends online, it just makes me uncomfortable.  I may have to sacrifice some search engine results because of that - don't know for sure.    )

   replyreport
   1. 96

      Glenn Stokposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ever since Google started experimenting with the display of author information in search results, I have been keeping my Google profile up to date with links to all my material on the web. I agree with Lisa and I feel this will help avoid theft. Google still needs to work on this but I think they are going in the right direction.
      
      Just remember that after HP moves us all to our own subdomains, we have to update our Google profile to link to our new HubPages profile.

      replyreport
      1. 61

         Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the tip on Google profiles. The instructions aren't terribly clear, due in part to my lack of understanding about coding for HTML. But it's good to know that Google profiles might be able to help with future content theft.

         replyreport
         1. 61

            Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Jennifer, you don't need to know anything about HTML just to set up your Google profile.  The only thing that involves any code on there (as far as the profile goes and (if I recall correctly) is copying and pasting the code into your own site (like a blog).  The link list (as you probably already know) is just a matter of copying and pasting the URL for each page you want to link.
            
            If a person just writes on HubPages, he could post a link to his HP profile and click, "This page is about me".  On here the writers don't get involved in any coding anyway.  HP does that.

            replyreport
         2. 96

            Glenn Stokposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Just as Lisa said, you don't really need to get involved with HTML coding here. HP already is placing the rel="author" tag on all links to your profile in all your Hubs. I checked. All you need to do to complete the circle is add a link in your Google profile pointing to your HP profile and click the checkbox that says "This page is specifically about me."  If you also write elsewhere, add a link to Google pointing to each of your profiles and click the checkbox for each.
            
            Google explains that we can also include a "written by" message at the end of our content with a link to our Google Profile using the rel="me" tag to show that we are indeed the owner of the material on that page. But presently HP does not have a way of doing that.
            
            I hope they add a feature to do it. Such as making a similar "This page is about me" checkbox in our link capsule and in the text capsule for the "add link" icon, that would add a  reciprocal rel="me" to the link.
            
            I hope HP adds that feature to complete the authorship functionality with Google.

            replyreport
            1. 61

               Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Lisa and Glenn, thank you both very much for your guidance on this. So helpful and much appreciated.

               replyreport
               1. 61

                  Jennifer Hicksposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Success! Just wanted everyone to know that Google removed my article from the blogger's site. I filed my request with Google's legal team Wednesday night and today (Friday) there is a "Not Found" message at the page where my stolen content was. I'm so pleased that Google got on this and responded so quickly. Filing a complaint works works quickly. Thanks.

                  replyreport
                  1. 83

                     CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Good work, great news!

                     replyreport
                     1. 61

                        manthyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I'm happy for you, I can't stand a theif and that would really bother me to the point of feeling defeated & possibly quitting if that happened often.
                        I have noticed that after I write a hub some people who follow me will re-write another hub which is very similar but they are better writes than me and they actually make a better hub than me, I'm hoping to get better at writing anyway Thanks for posting the question Jennifer - I will know what to do if it happens to me........or should I say when it happens.....LOL
                        Happy Hubbing

                        replyreport