Can't trace people or websites who have taken my hubs

1. 82

   Seeker7posted 9 years ago

   I have a number of hubs whose content has been stolen. I've tried to trace the people and the websites, in order to file a DMCA but I keep getting a dead end - many are posted on sites in India etc. Is there any point in trying to continue with this? I seem to have wasted so much time trying to trace and contact those responsible, that I've hardly manage to write any hubs over the last few weeks!

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      psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It may be quicker to just go to the hosting company and have them delisted by Google.

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      Cardisaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Use this http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ to find the host of the website with your articles. When you find the host, use the infringement filing format from HP and send them a complaint.

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      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Post the title of one of your Hubs which was stolen.

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      nounjbposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      How have you learned that someone has 'borrowed' your Hubs and then been able to prove it?

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         Jean Bakulaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         The staff at HP warns you your work may have been stolen. If you go onto the hub, and go in edit mode, it gives you a place to start, the site where the article you wrote is showing up. Then if you follow the steps Cardisa and Relache give you, you can track them down.
         
         I often still have problems, Sometimes the offending site has about 3 pieces on it in another language. I don't think they are causing me any real harm. But it does hurt to see your piece on a larger site. I have had people so lazy, they take all my pictures, and even the text box where I advertise my own personal blog. Good luck.

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            nounjbposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            THANK YOU (and the mangement here) for that information about idea and text theft.
            
            I, some time ago, exhausted any motivation for offering additional items for publication on the Internet after receiving no satisfaction from the origional management of  "How to" completely ignoring my request for relief of the action of another contributor to the same site when I complained about that happening there.
            
            The only thing they obviously considered to be plagiarism was an EXACT copy of an item that had previously been published on their own website.
            
            My flirtation with the objective of becoming a better writer, principally one able to consistently write in a manner that will eliminate any potential  misunderstanding of what I intend to say, ended with that episode.

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            Seeker7posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Hi guys, thanks for all the replies.  There are one or two things that I haven't tried here so will go ahead and give them a go.

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            1. 83

               Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Seeker - if any of your stolen work appears on pages where there are contact numbers, try calling them in person.  Sometimes you can also get contact info from the main website (the dot com).  I have had good results when I get a real person - they remove things immediately.
               
               Good luck!

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      NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      This http://www.whois.com/whois/ will typically give you who owns the site, their email address and their webhost.

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      peachpurpleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      i have twelve hubs being stolen, those sites are from expertscolumn and some from other websites but no aticl, just links. very hard to file DMCA, I gave up

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         Seeker7posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I can understand you doing this, I honestly feel like giving up as well, since I've wasted so much time on it already.

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   relacheposted 9 years ago

   If I can't quickly get the info to contact a site that has stolen my content, I immediately file a DMCA complaint with the site hosting company or the domain registrar for the site. 
   
   If they can't easily and accurately contact the customer about your complaint, they will pull down the entire site to protect themselves legally.

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      aesta1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't tried filing a DMCA with a site, only with Google. Time to try this.

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         relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I file my DMCA complaints with Google as a last option.  Because if the host company or domain registrar takes down the site, then Google will automatically take the content out of their index and I don't have to contact them at all.

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            Seeker7posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I haven't tried this, so will give it a go. I think as well, with one of my hubs, I wonder if it was initially copied by one person, then other folks have copied from them? Seems like an never ending trail....

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            1. 92

               Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               You have to remember that as long as your original work remains published, Google will put all copycat versions below yours in search results. That is their policy on copied text. I wrote a hub about it here: <link snipped>

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                  relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  If that really is supposed to be the case, then how come so many Hub authors find their stolen content outranking their original Hubs?

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            Jean Bakulaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            relache,
            That's what seems to happen to a lot of my hubs. The host company or registrar has already taken down the site by the time I realize at one time one of my hubs was copied. So then I don't have any recourse, or it doesn't matter?

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years ago

   +1 on what Relache says here.  It's so time consuming to go after the stolen work - and we lose visits to our pages while we are tracking them down.  I spent most of the Christmas holidays filing complaints & I did get quite a few results.  I have one hub, however, stolen in some country that uses ZA for it's url suffix, and I'm getting nowhere with that one.  Another was copied 21 times by the same site & no results yet there, either (the hub isn't even on the page the 'copied' report leads to, but it must be in the search engines).  I think there's a special report you can submit if search results are messed up. 
   
   I'm tired.

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      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Post the URL(s) where your work is plagiarized.  (Put XXX or spaces, so that it is not clickable.)  ZA is for South Africa and it is usually easy to get stolen content removed in that country.

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      Aneegmaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      ZA is South Africa so whoever robbed your work is somewhere there.

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         Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Aneegma - I had traced it to that continent, but wasn't sure if it was a specific area or not.  I don't have much hope of getting it removed from sites in some countries.

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            SpaceShantyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Why not?  Remember that regardless of the site's suffix , many are hosted by American hosting companies.  And South Africa is not exactly a third world country!

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4. 70

   Aneegmaposted 9 years ago

   It seems writers' work is no longer safe on HP. If it's not some third world country loon copyrighting your work then it's HP that invades your work without consent. Sigh! I hope you get some joy of getting your work back and use all the hubbers advice. It will help you lots!

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