Some help with repeat offenders stealing our content?

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   Lionrhodposted 10 years ago

   I hope this is the right place for this.
   
   Recently I posted this thread http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/126190 which doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of views.
   
   I filed a DMCA, but seemed to have done it wrong as it was rejected. I filed a 2nd DMCA this time through blogger (which seems to be the correct method) but it's not even showing up in Google' DMCA list. The page is still up.
   
   This blog is a repeat offender. My content was stolen the VERY DAY it was published here on HP and looking through her site, there are a HUGE number of articles that have been stolen from HP.
   
   My rank is better on the phrases I've looked up than the stolen page is, so I don't think I qualify for this thread. http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/111495
   
   That said, if HP can help us DMCA/shut down repeat offenders it'd be a huge help.

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      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You retain the copyrights to your work, therefore it is your legal responsibly to defend those rights, not HubPages.
      
      With everything else the fifteen employees do to keep this site running, they are not going to do more than point you at online resources when it comes things that are not their legal responsibility.

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      1. 74

         Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I'm fully aware that it's my job to protect my copyright, not HubPages'.
         
         Legal resources would be helpful right now.
         
         What do I do when Google rejects my DMCA? What do I do when Blogger doesn't even keep track of my DMCA on Webmaster Tools? Who do I contact to report a repeat offender who is stealing contend left and right all over Hub Pages? Is there an address at Google that we can write to to get some help if our DMCAs are rejected?
         
         These are questions that I'd assume they may have dealt with before and may know the answers to.
         
         Since this is a sitewide problem which devalues HP as a whole, not just my personal articles, it seems reasonable that they might be concerned.
         
         It would also seem that if they know the processes we need to use to get some action, they'd be willing to take a few moments to point us towards a post or other resource to deal with these problems. Or that someone here who has dealt with this, staff or not, will have a helpful answer.

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         1. 0

            Lorelei Cohenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            There are ways to fight back. You have done the right thing by letting others here know of the stolen  material. The more individuals who file a claim against this site then the more reputable your claim will be regarded.
            
            You may even be able to track this person back to hubpages and report him / her here as well. You have only a few followers so because this person picked your article up shortly after it was published there is a good possibility that they are following your profile and others so they can deceive google as to who is the original poster of the material by snatching articles shortly after they go live.
            
            If you can find another person on hubpages who was also plagiarized by this website - and if you both have a common follower that could be suspect - then report this profile to Hubpages and they may remove the profile from the site. Looking at your followers I saw a couple possibilities.

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            1. 74

               Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               That's useful! Please do tell! And btw I do not in any way disrespect your knowledge,

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               1. 0

                  Lorelei Cohenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  All types of people participate in disreputable activity but there are ones that you just learn to recognize over time. Many will have multiple accounts on the site. Some have good grammar while others are of second language and have minimal English skills.
                  
                  Profiles I look closely at are those with zero or a limited amount of articles. If they are not able to create their own articles then they tend to purchase a limited amount of articles to create an account with. Generally one to seven articles and often on the same theme. These are profiles which I watch more closely than others. Not all are system abusers but they are ones that can more likely be that type of person.
                  
                  They are often quite silent especially if their written skills do not match the articles on their account. How can they claim to be a writer on a site like Hubpages if they don't have basic correct grammar. So not a lot of interaction with other members of the community. ie: You probably would not suspect me to be stealing articles because I have almost 100 on this account so can obviously create my own. And I am helping you. There are probably another batch of people who interact with your articles that you can also eliminate.
                  
                  I am just putting this down from my experience. I am no expert. The guys who run the site have far more ability to catch these characters than we do. I have filed countless DMCA's over the years that I have been writing online and I hate having to do that but I hate the thieves worse.

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            relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Legal resources are readily available.  After all, this is the internet. 
            
            1) that depends on why Google rejected the notice of infringement.  Please note, you do not actually file DMCAs, and not understanding the terminology may make it more challenging to understand instructions and guides to these processes.
            
            2) If there is one place I have never had problems getting stuff taken down, it's Blogger.  Their online tool for submitting requests has let me take down dozens of stolen Hubs in one go.  Because you are not actually describing your specific problems, no specific advice can be given beyond read their instructions and resubmit your takedown notice.
            
            3) HubPages will only act on stolen content that is posted on the HubPages site, or deal with any actions that take place here.  If the stolen content was posted to another site, they are not going to get involved unless you present clear and proven evidence that they need to take action here.  Please note, do not ever, ever expect them to do any investigating around this, it's all on you.
            
            4) Of course there is.  You could even go to Google's help forums and get help too.

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2. 0

   Lorelei Cohenposted 10 years ago

   I think it was you who asked why I would want to block some of my followers and this is the exact reason. After working online for awhile you can recognize those profiles that are likely to be plagiarists scouting for articles to steal.
   
   I wish we had the ability at Hubpages to block specific profiles as this would really help to cut down on this type of behavior. Getting rid of the offender works much better than to constantly keep having to scout down what these crooks have stolen.
   
   Can you share the link here but "dead it" by adding in an XXX so the link is not live. It will help others to see if their articles are there and the more DMCA's filed the better..

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   1. 74

      Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yup that was me. I do now have a better understanding. Even so, the person doesn't necessarily have to be a follower to scrape our articles. They could be following particular subjects or otherwise accessing new HP content.
      
      As someone who is "used to" often being a new member on various forums and sites, I'm a little sensitive to how folks treat newbies. As an example, hubby and I once joined a political forum that interested us. Because our IP addy was the same and because our political views are similar (despite the fact that our writing styles are wildly different) the members of the forum decided that we were the same person masquerading as two, and almost banned us from the forum.
      
      Another example was the recent situation where a HP newbie asked a question and others feared he was trolling.
      
      The other problem I see with focusing on followers is that they'll often use aliases that don't match the authors of the thief sites. So how does it help us know who we are?
      
      The site is bestspace4you DOT blogspot DOT com, which I also shared on the previous thread.
      
      Incidentally, often this thief steals from the beginning of the article and just posts a portion, but sometimes they steal from the middle or end of the article. So searching just one sentence or paragraph of your hub might not catch her.

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