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Splogger Stole Copy and is Linking to Image

  1. revlainiep
    Member

    A splogger not only stole the copy from one of my posts, but is hotlinking directly to the image on my wordpress.com blog.

    I tried removing the image in my "manage uploads" section, but the image is still showing up on their splog. The splog links to:

    http://lainiepetersen.wordpress.com/files/2007/10/applesbooks.jpg

    Here is the splog post:
    http://www.altilab2005.com/distance-education/free-bibleministry-training/

    Can anyone help me figure out why this graphic is still showing up even though I have deleted it from my uploads?

    Thanks!

  2. studio318
    Member

    I had no idea what a splogger was, so I googled the term. I came across a couple articles that might help you:

    http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/
    http://www.advancedbusinessblogging.com/businessblog/?p=194

  3. timethief
    Member

    @revlainiep
    My first advice is to change the image that's being hotlinked to. Take the same image and place it in a program like paint. Then write on the image. "Stop stealing my images and blog text, you thief!" and upload the second image as a replacement for the first one. I assure you that it won't take long before the hotlinking thief gets with the program.

  4. thesacredpath
    Member

    {waving to TT}

    That's a great suggestion! I have to remember that.

  5. revlainiep
    Member

    Hi!

    I already did the swap images thing, which worked initally, but then the thief went ahead and linked to an image on my WordPress.com site. I've tried swapping out that image, but for some reason, the swap didn't work AND even though I've taken the image out of my wordpress.com uploads, they are still linking to and showing the image.

    I am just trying to figure out if my image is being stored somewhere else on wordpress.com such that my deletion of it has not affected its availability.

    Thanks!

  6. revlainiep
    Member

    What is even weirder is when I do try swapping out the files (i.e. renaming a "stop thief" graphic the same name as the graphic that the sploggers are linking too, wordpress.com seems to be overriding this and putting up the old graphic (which I deleted).

    This is really odd.

  7. timethief
    Member

    You must use a unique name for the second stop thief image or this will keep happening.

  8. revlainiep
    Member

    Timethief:

    If I use a unique name for the image, then the link from the splogger's site isn't going to end up being directed to the image. Perhaps I am not understanding you correctly? :-)

    At this point, I have pulled both the original image as well as the stop thief graphic from my uploads. But for some reason, http://lainiepetersen.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/applesbooks.jpg is still showing the graphic, even though I have deleted it from my uploads section. It seems as though the image is being served from *somewhere*, and I just haven't been able to find out where that is yet.

    Thanks to everyone for helping me out with this.

  9. thesacredpath
    Member

    It could be that it's cached on the other site which would mean it may take a while for it to disappear from there. I would "whois" the domain and send a DMCA notice to the "abuse@ email address on the who is.

  10. judyb12
    Member

    @tsp,

    it's not cached on the other site. Click the link provided, and you'll get the image loading up like normal.

    @revlainiep,

    i think the wp.com servers haven't caught up with your deletion, perhaps. Send a ticket in to support using the Support button that is normally available on your Dashboard Monday-Friday and see if they can tell you what's up.

    Be sure to include the following:
    - your browser
    - your browser version
    - your FULL blog address (not the name, the real address that begins http:// )
    - your FULL username
    - your REAL email address that is registered here
    - and a very good description of the exact problem.

  11. jamesewelch
    Member

    I tried doing a whois on that and it doesn't get you anywhere fast. All of the contact info is blocked, so you may not be able to contact anyone there. You could try traceroutes to find the ISP and work backwards from there to find someone.

  12. timethief
    Member

    "There have been a lot of questions recently about how to deal with blog scrapers, and i thought it might be useful to put up a step-by-step guide for sending a DMCA notice (or not)."

    Please refer to this excellent instructional forum post by judyb12 ...
    DMCA or Not? http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=17307

  13. sanjidabd
    Member

    i got this tip somewhere, it might be useful.

    upload your real iamge as a background image of a table. and as a real image upload a transparent png. then, if the splogger wants to steal the image, s-he will only get the transparent one. mwa ha ha! :D

    setting up a table is really less of a hassle than it sounds like. copy the code of a one-cell table somewhere. every time you need an image, just change the background image of the table!

    of course if you have images of different sizes, then that's an issue.

  14. sanjidabd
    Member

    revlainiep,
    did you consider getting your content (and that means images, blog, feed and what-have-you) copyrighted by Myfreecopyright? they copyright your each image, webpage etc with a unique digital fingerprint. it's free.

    check out how to do it at a glance, if you need it:

    How to protect your blog/site, RSS feed and digital content with a digital fingerprint from Myfreecopyright

  15. ellaella
    Member

    @sanjidabd - That is extremely useful information. Thank you.

    I might also recommend, with regard to photos, watermarking them. I've had search engine hits on the exact name of certain photos, right down to the filename extension.

  16. sanjidabd
    Member

    gosh!
    ellaella! you are thanking me all over wordpress! how very nice of you! {blushing}

    i'm glad to help!

  17. pingo99
    Member

    I've just posted a thread about Altilab's website http://www.altilab2005.com as they have stolen my content too. If you look carefully you will find that ALL the content there is ripped off much of it from WordPress.com blogs. The content is being harvested by a utility called advertolog. There's no way to file a DMCA notice because the domain registrant's details are cloaked by privacyprotect.org. Privacyprotect refuse mail, email and phone contact. They say you have to use their webform but this doesn't work for me. I think we all need to work together on this problem. There's masses of copyrighted material ripped off on that site and they always hotlink the images too. Could WordPress issue something to alert people to what's going on and is there some way we could work together to get this rip off site taken down?
    Cheers
    Pingo
    http://pingo99.wordpress.com/

  18. thesacredpath
    Member

    @pingo99

    If you go here: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=altilab2005.com and look down on the page you will find their IP address and see that it's in the Czech Republic. They do list some email addresses which appear to be relayed through privacyprotect.org. Have you tried the email address?

    If you click on the IP address, you will be taken to another page that shows the ARIN details. There are name servers listed, have you tried going to those sites (Example: NS-PRI.RIPE.NET = http://www.ripe.net and sec1.apnic.net = http://www.apnic.net)? In the column at the left at the bottom is a link for reporting spam and network abuse.

  19. thesacredpath
    Member

    The spam and network abuse link is on the ripe.net site.

  20. pingo99
    Member

    I tried the privacyprotect email and just got a reply telling me to use the web interface. I have been reading other good advice posts and entered the IP into whois and also performed a traceroute. As you say, there are email addresses for the Czech ISP so I have emailed them and will have to wait and see. Thanks for the advice, I'm a complete newbie at this game so I appreciate your patience :)

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