Stealing Other People’s Articles is a Serious Crime
About an hour ago, Jennie, a Pinay blogger was seeking my help regarding an issue most bloggers (and writers for that matter) must have experienced at least once – plagiarism. Her article was allegedly stolen (plagiarized) by another blogger and I checked her site and the other blogger’s site to find out if it was true. Unfortunately, it was.
Modesty aside, this incident is not new to me for having experienced the same. My articles were stolen a couple of times by either scrapers or copycats. Although copying another blog’s full content is considered an immoral, unethical and highly demeaning practice, it is becoming more and more common in the blogosphere. It saddens me to think that every “victim” is hopeless in his intent to regain full rights to his article until I stumbled upon Alex Roshuk’s write-up about this issue. Despite the fact that the laws stated in the article are applicable only in US territories and I’m not sure if the same laws apply here in the Philippines, the article is worth reading for the education of those who have very limited knowledge about plagiarism. My online friend, Clairec23, likewise discussed this in her blog.
I honestly thought before that online plagiarism was a crime that we can just ignore, but recent events about copyrights made me think otherwise. I will admit, it hurts when you see your whole article copied by other bloggers without giving what is due to you – a simple citation. They can at least cite your name in their blog as the rightful owner of the article since you have worked hard to come up with it.
Unfortunately, search engines like Google have very strict policies regarding duplicate contents. Some bloggers have also reported that instead of the scrapers, they (the original author) were the ones penalized by Google for duplicate contents. This means that in the eyes of the search engines, they were the ones branded as the copycat. It’s really unfair. Hence, unethical, immoral and demeaning (as I mentioned earlier).
If you have experienced the same, please include them in your comments and what you did to combat this unwarranted act against you and your rights as a writer. It will really help if we can share our experiences so that others may learn from this. Let’s fight plagiarism together.
If you want to get updates on Nursing Researches, Nursing Board Exam Results, Nursing Articles, Nursing Education, Health and Health tips, and other informative articles in this site, please subscribe to my Free RSS feed. Thank you very much!
Tags: Blogging, copycat, plagiarism, Writing
Ouch…. it really hurts!Sana ma-report agad ni Jennie! Ako nga as experience I’ve posted a picture sa friendster account ko which I personally took, then one time nag browse ako ng pics iba na ang nakalagay na may-ari….wahhhhhhhhhhh its unfair tapos nilagyan nya pa ng name nya using other software… Yon pa nga lang, masakit na what’s more articles pa na pinag-hirapan ng husto! Pwede ba silang ipahuli if ever?
bregie’s last blog post..dubai city at night
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Bing, sadly, hindi natin sila pwedeng pahuli nang ganun kadali. Besides minsan mahirap i-trace ang culprit kung dito lang sa Pinas.
[Reply]
This is one issue i’ve read way back and i don’t know how we bloggers fight against plagiarism. I hope we Pinoy Bloggers can do something about this, but sometimes the one who plagiarize belongs in our community. So sad.
Ambo’s last blog post..Coke Zero Taste Like Pepsi?
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Ambo,
Plagiarism has always plagued the internet for so long nobody seems to be able to do anything substantial against it. It’s true some of the plagiarists belong to our community and that is extremely irritating.
[Reply]
I saw it too. How come she did that thing knowing that the owner of the content is absolutely present. Maybe she doesn’t know how to linkback or what? She didn’t say anything right? Kakaloka!
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Kakaloka tlga sya fren. Kahit man lang citation nung name ng author kahit wla nang link back to her ok lang sana.
[Reply]
teka taka ako Jess pagnagcomment akoa dati walang photo lumalabas bat ngayun meron na? Hehe salamat po Jess anong ginawa mo pwede pa turo?
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Fren, ewan ko what really is wrong with this plugin. Oo nga napapansin ko misnan wla kang photo na lumalabas.
[Reply]
Naku kuya, I really appreciate this post. I need all the help I can get.
I still am not being contacted by multiply. I reported this article stealing incident to them already. I really hope they will deal with this issue. As per the person who stole my article, she still has not removed my article in her site. It is so frustrating how we, authors of our own blogs can’t do anything when our very articles get stolen.
I guess this is the risk that we really take when our articles are made available for the world to see as we publish them. But still I refuse to take all these sitting down.
Jennie’s last blog post..Help! Anyone!?! Someone Stole My Article
[Reply]
The Fitness Diva reply on March 4th, 2008:
Hi there. I’m sorry to hear that you are going through this. I am too. I write articles to promote my blogs and websites, and after doing so, do a keyword search on my articles. This is how I found out that two bloggers out here have stolen from me. One has stolen not only from me, but from dozens of others authors on the site where we post our articles. Well, we are going to get him! I got his personal and ISP info off of GoDaddy’s “whois”, downloaded Alex’s take down form, copied his URL, and I am about to contact all the other authors whose articles I see on his blog with ALL the info! We are going to kick his ass LEGALLY! He has stolen articles from at least 40 of us that I can see so far. This lazy guy has built an entire blog from stealing other people’s articles! I went through his site, and saw that all of it is stolen, not one original writing from him. I guess he got the bright idea that he can come out here and have a blog without even having to know anything, or have to write his own work. Well, guess again!
Good luck to you on your case. I hope it turns out well!
Fitness Diva
The Fitness Diva’s last blog post..My Favorite New Game!
[Reply]
I really hope there’s a way to stop this because it’s really unfair to the original writer of the article. If they can’t write a good article, why bother posting di ba?
elaine’s last blog post..The Procrastinator
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Elaine,
That’s what you may call a lame excuse for wanting to have a blog content. Scraping is spamming and spamming is sheer stupidity. Nobody loves spams and nobody can even give a spammer a second look.
[Reply]
Agnes could have at least linked back to give due credit to the author. What she committed is a big crime, she might be unaware of it but then “Ignorance of the law, excuses no one…”
Scotty’s Princess’s last blog post..“Whites Are Afraid To Commit…”
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Ellaine,
Naku ang mga scrapers/spammers eh wag mong asahang gagawin yun. Mga sira-ulo tlga ang mga yan. Ako nga eh ilang beses na kong naganyan. Minsan tuloy nawawalan na ko ng ganang magsulat.
[Reply]
I just want to say thank you for bringing this issue still more to the forefront and offer any help I can provide for someone dealing with these issues. I’ve dealt with over 700 plagiarists in the past seven years and will gladly lend assistance to anyone who needs any assistance.
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!
Jonathan Bailey’s last blog post..Copyright 2.0 Show - Episode 48
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Thanks. Jonathan. Other readers of this post will surely be happy to know this.
[Reply]
Few months ago, meron na rin akong post about someone stealing my site’s content. It’s about my poem naman. I don’t mind if she copied it and posted on her site, pero she should have the decency to at least put my name as the author of the poem. Other people might think it’s hers, baka ako pa mapagkamalang nangopya. I was not interested na mag link back sya, pero sana talaga she mentioned it was my poem and not hers.
Amor’s last blog post..Who’s Your Idol?
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Amor,
Fren, unfortunately wlang decency ang mga ganyang klaseng tao.
[Reply]
Di maiwasan yan bebe ang may magnakaw ng writings mo dito sa net, I don’t know kung makakatulong yung Common Creative License, sa isang wp theme na gusto kong i alterate, gumana yan, ewan ko biglang di ko na nagamit yung WP blog ko na yun.
sya nga pala may award ka sa kin…nagtatampo ka pa rin ba? Sana hindi na.
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Bebe,
Yung Creative Commons License agreement eh parang wlang silbi kasi andaming sites na may ganun pero nananakaw pa rin yung mga contents nila. Kakainis tlga pag may mga ganitong incidents.
[Reply]
manilenya reply on March 6th, 2008:
baka naman nacrawled sya, at nakaredirect sa site nya yung continuation…maraming ganyan e. Ginagamit yung Rss Feed.
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Bebe,
That’s highly possible dahil nangyari na sa kin yan nang ilang ulit. Nakakawisit pero ganyan tlaga ang buhay blogger. Wla pa naman tayong magagawa. Yan ang nakakapanlumo.
[Reply]
i also experienced this and i also posted an entry expressing my outrage to the person who stole my content.
what i did was, i went to his site and demanded that he remove the post he stole from me other wise i will sue and it worked.
Vienna’s last blog post..Lost in Beijing
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Vienna,
I’m happy to hear that sometimes a good threat can work well against evil deeds.
[Reply]
hello! i know you’re not posting awards here. but i just want to give you some for having such an informative blog and for being so helpful to those clueless bloggers, me included!
thank you! check your awards!
sheng’s last blog post..Additional Blogging Awards
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Sheng,
Thanks so much fren. I really appreciate it.
[Reply]
hello kuya jessie sangayaon ako jan just think how much effort ang ibinuhos ng writer para sa article na iyon
tapos you will gonna steal it at without permission pa yun
but then i admit i steal articles too haha pero sa wikipedia yun
(exempted ba yun kuya?)
have a great day
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Kung sa wikipeida ok lang na kumopya ka dahil general reference material yun like a dictionary or an encyclopedia but you have to mention to your readers na galing yun sa wikipedia. Proper citation lang naman ang katapat nyan.
[Reply]
I visited the blogs of both ate jenny and the copycat..grrr..i’m not much of a writer but I know how hard it is to come up with a good article. I pity those who plagiarize because they are not able to bring out the best in themselves because they don’t even try. The copycat didn’t even bother to change the names of ate jenny and hubby..how hard is that??such a pity for the copycat..if she thinks she can gain a lot by stealing someone else’s posts then I might as well conclude that the copycats blog may just be a blog full of lies..
How can one appreciate something built on lies? I know I don’t..
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Hahahaha! Copycat nga eh kaya verbatim ang ginawang pangongopya. Kakahiya ang ganun sobra.
[Reply]
I read something like this more than a year ago. The plagiarist was also on multiply.
Since we are living in the 21st century, there is really nothing new under the sun. What we wrote now might be on someone else’s work without our (or theirs) knowledge. But to be similar word for word is no longer a coincidence.
ceblogger’s last blog post..Vote For Me
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Correct! That’s simply copying and pasting without regard to the author’s rights to the article.
[Reply]
Hay, I get that a lot. Specially from scraper sites. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do. You can try reporting it to google so they can include it on sites to de-index I think.
Nika’s last blog post..Do game prizes like cars come with insurance?
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Yes, that’s it. In Google webmaster, you can report the site as being a spam and hope that google penalizes the site for being so.
[Reply]
I checked the site. Word by word talaga kinopya at pati ang mga pics. I do have a blog for collecting news and articles but I always put a linkback to the original author and give credit to the author, I even encourage the readers to visit the source eh, pati sa pics ganun din ako kuya jess. if the photo is not mine, I always say na I grabbed it from this site. Mahirap na kasi baka mademanda eh. But we have to admit plagiarism is hard to control and stop lalo na dito sa web.
Sana naman masolve ni Jen yong issue na yan.
twinks’s last blog post..Kind Fives Tag
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Twinks,
Totoo yan. Mahirap i-control ang plagiarism. Sobra.
[Reply]
hello kuya jessie just dropping by to say have great day
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Bluedreamer, thanks for dropping by
[Reply]
this is really unfair.. hope this will stop
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Billyboxer,
Sana nga fren.
[Reply]
I’ve known one blogger who’s also a victim of this kind of unscrupulous act. I guess it’s time for bloggers to create a Netiquette By-Laws, lol!
[Reply]
jps61974 reply on March 6th, 2008:
Marlene,
The by-laws are already existing, fren. The problem are the crooks that continue to plague the internet by copying and pasting articles in their sites. I really despise these types of people. I think they don’t even have a backbone.
[Reply]
naku kuya… ako rin na-experience ko na yan! as in kopyang-kopya talaga! siguro, wala lang silang magawa… that’s sad!!
ang ginawa ko nag-comment ako, talagang sinabi ko na entry ko yun sa blog ko. siguro nahiya kaya next time na puntahan ko… deleted na yung blog nya! hehehe!
rHo’s last blog post..A Time for Joy
[Reply]
Rho,
Ako eh more than a dozen times na yata. Tapos ang masama yung isang article ko hindi lang sa iisang site nilagay without even giving me credit. The sad thing is maglalagay sila ng link dun sa intro ng article pero ibang site ang nakalink hindi yung sa kin.
[Reply]
Somebody had copied my articles but made a linkback into my site and stated that he really liked it and decided to post it into his site. Ok lang naman as long as they say kung saan nanggaling ang content.
Ano kaya kung magcreate tayo nang site na we can say “boycott this site” or “This is a plagiarist” And we can make a forum or anything to help us.
What do you think guys?
Jojo’s last blog post..Who thinks you are dumb?
[Reply]
manilenya reply on March 7th, 2008:
jojo, hindi totoong gusto nya yung post mo, isa lang syang taong gumawa ng blog na wala namang maisulat nag cacrawl ng mga post yeah nakaredirect syempre sa blog mo pero napagkakakitaan nya na yung post mo.
madalas mangyari sa kin yan..magugulat ka nga e tagalog na nga post ko tapos di naman pala pinoy yung me ari ng blog lol!
[Reply]
Hi Jessie,
I stumbled upon this blog too through Entrecard, read his post and forwarded it to another blogger, Fitness Diva, whose posts and exercise videos were copied in full without a hint of citation. It seems other people came to her assistance as seen from comments here.
This is a major concern because these copycats even make money on work that isn’t theirs! But Google should know the post dates when they rule on duplicate content, or is it some of their own? –Durano, done!
durano lawayan’s last blog post..Bout Busted in Bangkok
[Reply]
Hey Jessie,
Hasn’t Jen had a brilliant outcome?
To Jennie it seems like a long time the she’s been awaiting response from Multiply, but it seemed to me that this was resolved pretty quickly. Especially considering Jen’s article informing us about the plagiarism began as a cry for help. To develop from there into a resolution in such a short space of time, is a true reflection of the power of the blogosphere, and how its members rally round one of their own.
What a neighbourhood, doncha jus’ luv it? <(;-D) <– In my smilie, I’m wearing my rebel party hat, cos I’m celebrating for Jen!
Layne (aka Reward Rebel)’s last blog post..Online Business Advertising On Entrecard
[Reply]