DISQUS

Sorry if this question sounds stupid, but I hadn't considered any plagiarism/copyright issues with a site like LinkedIn.

What are the risks you are considering when contemplating removing your own profile from LinkedIn?... People copying your resume and credentials?

Congrats Jonathan, and thank YOU.
I'm very glad that you kept the project going despite the initial difficulties...

Sounds promising, but the big issue I can see is that authors may make tiny changes to content after a post has been submitted.

It's rare the time that I don't need to go back to my posts and fix an uncatched spelling error, or write an update to the post. Sounds like any of this would invalidate the time stamp (?)

To get back to the main point of my initial comment, what I'm most concerned about is the lack of control over the distribution of my content when scrapers are not grabbing it from my feeds (which I can control), but from Technorati's feeds or API, and no opt-out options are available to me.

For instance, Flickr allows people to use their API and all public content posted on the site, but they also allow users an option to exclude their content from such API. Not the same with feeds: I have no way of excluding my content from Flickr's public feeds, or Technorati feeds.

Alfred, did you bother to read the article? Did you even read my full comment?

I said "[but] the fragment they are using is so small, and they link back to me" and "I don’t like to be included in aggregated content used for commercial purposes".

As I said, and Jonathan points out, this use is not terrible enough to make me take the same actions I would take with outright plagiarism. But that's exactly what Jonathan is talking about on this article.

I have found the full text of one of my posts reproduced without my permission on a different web site, and I have not screamed or done anything about it because that site is actually using my content to add value: They are educating consumers on how bad a certain company is. And they do NOT generate any ad revenue with such content.

On the other hand, the small blog you defend so passionately is not adding any value at all. They are supposedly aggregating content related to "English" and my post is not remotely close to that. So, it's clear that they are simply aggregating content indiscriminately solely for the purpose of generating ad revenue... Not terribly wrong, but wrong nonetheless.

Hope that helps.

For instance... I discovered this use of my post and although I didn't like it because, in general, I don't like to be included in aggregated content used for commercial purposes, the fragment they are using is so small, and they link back to me. I don't like that they identify the author as "English", but in the end I didn't feel like I could do anything about it.

They seem to be aggregating not from my feed, but from Technorati's tag feeds which I can't control. I spent a tremendous amount of time looking for ways how I can opt out of this in Technorati but couldn't find anything.

How can I contact this site's owners and ask them to get me off their list and stop grabbing my content if they're getting it from Technorati?

Great idea!... whomever came up with it...

Just the other day I had a question about one of these issues and thought I'd send you an email asking what you knew. But didn't. 1) Maybe you didn't know. 2) Felt like asking for a favor and personal attention.

I think the rigor of writing an article on a given question would produce very good information. And taking questions from your readership could unearth a lot of interesting topics.

One vote in favor.

BTW, if you hear back from them in Spanish and need a translation of their reply, I'm here.

I'm hopeful that the web host -- even across the ocean -- will be responsive. In the past, I've reported copyright infringement to web host companies in Austria and the U.K. and both times, I received a response. I wouldn't think they have the means or time to research who is likely to sue or not. But I could be wrong...

I keep visiting the ono web site and the more I browse the less they look like a web host. They appear to me more like a communications service provider (tv, phone, Internet, and also domain registration). But I can't find any mention of hosting. Their site is awful... I can't find any contact info.

Looking at Bitacle's whois info I found this morning this for their name servers:
Name Server:NS.DERANET.COM
Name Server:NS.BITACLE.COM

I checked deranet.com and those guys do look like a web host. What do you think? Are you positive that Ono is the web host?

Give them hell.
Hit them HARD... For all of us whose content will be eventually stolen if somebdy doesn't stop those rats now.

Jonathan,
I cannot thank you enough for your generous support with my recent case as a victim of plagiarism. I may have come across your site months ago, last time I had to research these issues to defend myself from a previous plagiarist.

Though I haven't gone through this 300 times (it affects me so much, I don't think I could take it), I'm so fed up with online plagiarism of my work, that I truly appreciate the existence of your web site, and the fact that somebody is doing something about it. Let me know if you ever need anything from me to help the cause. In the meantime, I'll be visiting your site more often.