Jan 31 2008

Infringement of Copyright

Published by at 4:19 pm under blogging

My last post was replicated in full on another blog (stirtheblood.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-blogging-becomes-addiction.html) without my permission, image and all. Using an image like this is called hotlinking.

Copyright Infringement

I uploaded the original image to my post using a different file name and decided to replace the original image with a little message of my own:

Hotlinking

Checking my feedreader however, I notice that it has now picked up the new image – so if you are subscribed to my feed and see an odd message on my last post, that’s why!

I reported the site to Google (by flagging the blog and also via the AdSense unit on the blog). Apparently there is a 7 step procedure to go though to “expedite our ability to process your request”. We’ll see what happens.

Update: Too funny, it seems this blog has been set up to post automatically from emails received to a certain email account. It is now full of posts for “male enhancement products” 😀

To see some of the titles the image is in the link below. I’m suspecting I have friends in high low places. hehe. Thanks.

Example of Spam Posts

And the new contextual advertising.

Contextual Advertising

9 responses so far

9 Responses to “Infringement of Copyright”

  1. Nicole Priceon 31 Jan 2008 at 5:16 pm

    That was a really smart move. Renaming the image in your post and replacing the original with the message. I’ sure it must have been quite an embarrassment to the offender. I guess this method will work better than simply sending an email to the blog owner.

    Nicole Price’s last blog post..Shoes at 80% discount

  2. Megon 31 Jan 2008 at 5:22 pm

    Hi Nicole,

    I couldn’t find an email, or I would have! Also, I tried to leave a comment – but without a blogger profile I wasn’t able to. So I thought maybe this subtle 😉 message might get through.

  3. Neeravon 31 Jan 2008 at 5:38 pm

    I flagged the blog as well, if enough people do it hopefully Blogspot admins will act on it faster

    Unfortunately scrapers are almost guaranteed to start stealing content once full feeds are offered :-(

    Neerav’s last blog post..February: Australian TV Network News & TV Show Highlights (3 comment/s)

  4. Gregon 31 Jan 2008 at 6:01 pm

    I use a digital fingerprint in my feeds so any scrapers that grab any of my posts show up fairly quickly in google for easy finding and taking action against. Of course my first action if they have adsense is to report them there rather than try and gt them to take it down. Hitting them in the back pocket works better than anything !

  5. Kelleyon 31 Jan 2008 at 10:11 pm

    That sucks babe. Good on you for being able to do something about it.

    Kelley’s last blog post..……and my accident for today will be….

  6. Babyamoreon 31 Jan 2008 at 11:22 pm

    good on you – the p*nis ads were brilliant .
    What can you advise about splogs ?

    Babyamore’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday – Prison Break

  7. Burgoon 01 Feb 2008 at 3:52 pm

    Hey Meg,

    I’ve been getting hit pretty hard by the scrapers lately too; and a few things I’ve learned:

    1. Joost de Valk’s plugin (at http://www.joostdevalk.nl/make-the-scrapers-work-for-you/) is great for combatting those pesky scrapers.
    2. Also, you might want to consider including a link with your images back to your blog. That way, if someone hotlinks to the image as they’ve done here, from what I understand, at least you’ll be gaining a link from it? (although I’m not 100% sure of my logic there!)

    Burgo’s last blog post..The Damnwells… A new release, and some old love.

  8. […] happens when someone steals your content? This is what Meg did – changed the image. I won’t spoil it, but you definitely need to read Meg’s post, if only for the […]

  9. Manchildon 07 Feb 2008 at 12:19 am

    Hello Meg,

    This has happened to me as well. Thank you for sharing this informative post. I learned something today that I can use to protect my intellectual property.

    Manchild

    Manchild’s last blog post..Bloggers For Barack Obama: “Yes We Can”