Why do some websites insist on plagiarizing?

[Ian]

They're ripping off Reuters again. They didn't even bother changing anything. Both are word for word rip offs of the first page of the article.

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMol ... 7920080429

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=23134

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... 5520080428

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=23127

[Ian]

The guy that normally rewrites other people's articles must be on vacation this week. Here's another word for word rip off.

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... 1620080429

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=23144

At least give some credit where its due.

[Ian]

Back at it..

original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... 1420080715

theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=23710

[Ian]

Still at it..

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... 0820080902

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=23924

[Ian]

I think I need to pick on these guys more..

Original - http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp? ... =CA6595950

Theirs - http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Article4005.phtml

[Ian]

I wonder why they didn't rip off their graphs along with the rest of the article.

Original - http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NE ... 09/157662/

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=24024

[Ian]

It was nice of ZDNet China to rip off my picture and not give CDRLabs any credit:

http://stor-age.zdnet.com.cn/stor-age/2 ... 7770.shtml

[MediumRare]

I guess it's time to get out the watermarker again, then.

G

[Ian]

Yeah, you'd think that red circle I added to emphasize Qflix would have stopped them.

That's not the first picture someone has borrowed either. I've noticed a few others showing up on another "cdr" website. It's not like its hard to go to a company's website, grab an image and toss it into photoshop.

[Ian]

I've been adding a small "cdrlabs.com" watermark to some of my pictures. One already showed up at cdrlab.pl:

http://cdrlab.pl/news_czytaj_7225.html

[Ian]

Here's an interesting article about websites copying articles form places like the AP, Reuters, etc.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtQ8 ... QD94E5IH82

Here's another reason for ailing newspaper and magazine publishers to wince: On average, the audience perusing unauthorized online copies of their articles is nearly 1.5 times larger than the readership on their own Web sites, according to a study released Thursday.

However, the problem, flagged by copyright cop Attributor Corp., could turn into a golden opportunity if media companies figure out a way to mine advertising revenue from the traffic flocking to their pirated stories posted on blogs and other sites.

Attributor, which makes software that trolls the Internet for copyright violations, estimates the average Web publisher could collect more than $150,000 in additional revenue by selling ads alongside its unlicensed material.

It's an unscientific estimate, based on an assumption that advertisers would pay $1 for every 1,000 pages of unauthorized material viewed on Web sites that aren't owned by the copyright owners.

[Ian]

Here's a perfect example of what was mentioned in my previous post:

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... BE20081121

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=24400

[MediumRare]

Here's a perfect example of what was mentioned in my previous post:

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... BE20081121

Theirs - http://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... BE20081121

Wow, that's crass- they even copied the link!

G

[Ian]

lol!!

[uswriter4051]

I'm glad that someone brought this up...and I am really upset about it and hope someone can help me. I am stuck quite in the bottom of a muck pile in relation to this.

I was hired to write and edit for a company, we'll call them "Company X". They asked me to handle revisions and writing for a web site for a client, we'll call them "Client Y".

So I log into this back end and see there's already tons of content and I'm thinking, "wow. this will be easy. it's mostly editing. the client went and did most of thr work for me." So I do my editing and write the portions that need to be written. Granted, there was a good deal of editing to do, don't think I got off easy...I mean, the client was writing in English but English was not his strong language...although he did a fair job.

But I digress.

So anyway, I turn in the word docs of the edits I've made and all of the additions I've made. And then like three weeks later I get this email from Company X telling me that they aren't paying me for the content because I plagiarized...outright copied other sites. And of course, they also make heavy mention to the loss of the client and damage to their reputation.

But I'm sitting here thinking, "wait just a darn minute...I've worked in this industry before...I didn't even have to look this stuff up to know what it was and how I should write about it."

So then naturally, I start thinking about the content that was previously provided--they gave me some of it in a pdf document and then a BUNCH of it was already on the site...they just asked me to update it. It never occurred to me that I should have Copyscaped that content.

So now, I go do it. And all this content that was already there is coming up on copyscape in droves...I mean SERIOUS droves.

And I have this HUGE pit in my stomach.

Because I made edits to that material...I mean, I made those edits in a word document and then sent them the total content, so it LOOKS like I either typed it or at least knew about it.

And I don't know what to do.

Client Y has a back-end version control unit, but I doubt I'll ever get an opportunity to prove I didn't do the plagiarism.

I even told Company X about the version control.

I have this feeling that they didn't actually lose the client and just don't want to pay me.

Or they provided the plagiarized content and are trying to lay the blame on me.

So now they owe me a ton of money and are refusing to pay me based on the fact that the content was plagiarized, but the content I actually provided was not plagiarized. It was only the content that was already there that I edited that was plagiarized.

And I don't care so much about the money anymore...I mean, they owe me some huge bucks...but I'm more worried about my reputation and of course, them trying to sue me for making them lose Client Y and damaging their reputation.

It's pretty ugly...those word docs do make me look awfully guilty.

Any suggestions?

[Ian]

That sucks man. If it comes down to it, it should be pretty easy to prove that the original content was plagiarized.. if not through the revision control, then through one of the various web caches.

[Ian]

Way to rip off my LabelTag logo..

http://cdrlab.pl/news_czytaj_8031.html

That little black line by the G says "cdrlabs.com".

[Ian]

Another Reuters article, copied word for word:

Original - http://www.reuters.com/article/apple/id ... 7120090213

Theirs - http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=24836

[SithTracy]

CDRinfo is pretty close to dead... we mods over there have all but abandoned the site and I just stopped in to delete hard core pr0n spam... pm'd the admins and pretty much said that was the last straw for me and suggested they shut the forum down... It's a ghost town... if it were not for the spammers there would be no activity. They should ask the spammers to mod the site if they want to keep it rolling. It must be a cash cow for them with advertising and the plagiarizing.

[Ian]

I wish this Bolesław Harla person would stop using my pictures. Here's anotherone that he/she used.

http://cdrlab.pl/news_czytaj_8187.html

I talked to Slawomir about this a few months ago and the person stopped.. but now they're back at it.

[Ian]

I'm starting to think that the Polish are just as bad as the Greeks. cdrlab.pl is using my picture again, even with the cdrlabs.com on it.

http://cdrlab.pl/news_czytaj_8209.html

http://cdrlab.pl/image/news%5Efusion-io ... _duo,m.jpg

[lordsmurf]

There are actually WordPress plugins being developed by SOB's out there which automatically scrape other sites, and then using AI logic, do their best to "rewrite" the content just enough to appear different for SEO, so Google doesn't de-index them. The is the most recent battle front for spammers turned sploggers.

[Ian]

A lot of similar text in these two articles.. surprisingly, cdrinfo's was published two days before VB's.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6664863.html

The requirement that studios include managed copy on Blu-ray discs means that virtually all Blu-ray discs released after the first quarter of 2010 will offer consumers the ability to make one full-resolution backup copy, AACS-LA chair Michael Ayers said. Before the final license takes effect, studios, manufacturers and others who license Blu-ray must approve it.

Once it does take effect, it’s unlikely that most Blu-ray owners will be immediately able to make a copy—the current generation of Blu-ray players and other BD devices don’t have the ability to make managed copies, and hardware suppliers aren’t expected to get new players out until the first or second quarter of 2010 at the very earliest.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=25479

The requirement that studios include managed copy on Blu-ray discs means that virtually all Blu-ray discs released after the first quarter of 2010 will offer consumers the ability to make one full-resolution backup copy.

We should note here that current generation of Blu-ray players and other BD devices don?t have the ability to make managed copies, and hardware suppliers aren?t expected to get new players out until the first or second quarter of 2010.. Blu-ray hardware manufacturers are not required to support the managed copy function.

There's more, but I think you get the point.. Hopefully they're just basing this off the same press release but at this time, I haven't seen any with this text yet.

[Ian]

It just me or are there A LOT of similarities between these two? At least some of it was rewritten so its not word for word.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NE ... 11/175178/
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/De ... wsId=25943

[Ian]

And now we have website taking our content.

Theirs - http://www.techscreens.com/i-o-data-ann ... riter.html

Ours - http://www.cdrlabs.com/News/i-o-data-an ... riter.html

No credit given at all.