Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A Word about Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, and the Brazen Thief

Thanks to my friend, Jamilla, it was brought to my attention that a scraper blog has been brazen enough to steal my content and pictures repeatedly. In fact, this bottom-feeding thief has stolen about 39 complete posts from me, which include my watermarked photographs (including some of my cats), and my written content verbatim. I had to spend the entire day yesterday filing a complaint for each stolen post along with my original post, and I am still only 1/4 of the way through the lengthy process.

That I am in academia makes this a far more egregious offense, and one that sadly can result in the offending students being kicked out of college, or that can go on their permanent record and prevent them from ever having the possibility getting into graduate school. There are real world consequences for this type of theft that should really make a would-be criminal think twice before transgressing. Sadly, internet thievery is so prevalent, and the offenders seem to feel impervious (because of this seemingly anonymous medium) to the real world consequences for their illegal acts of plagiarism and copyright infringement.

My blog has always been my reprieve from academia, and yet I now find myself facing some of the same sorts of issues that I have to face at work. I once had a student who was judgement-impaired enough to plagiarize me in a term paper for me-- so one can never entirely know how it is that people think that they can get away with theft without repercussions. Trust me when I say I take no pleasure in reprimanding students who cheat, but there is just no wiggle room for this type of behavior in college, and there shouldn't be in the world of blogging either.

This plagiarist either captured my posts through my email subscription, or more likely from my RSS feed- therefore a friend told me to shorten those feeds so that this would no longer happen. I apologize to the many of you who read my posts by either of these two methods- now you will actually have to click to finish reading. I am truly sorry that one bad rotten apple will add an additional click to your day.

My intention is to have the offending blog shut down because while my posts seem to appear in the greatest abundance, there are other blogs that have had their work stolen as well.

I am tempted to leave the blog URL here for you to see in astonishment, but my attorney husband thought that I should hold off for now since I just filed a complaint yesterday (and still need to submit the remaining 29 stolen posts).

I will say, that this thief is rather indiscriminate in her choices of posts since she included my Beauty Spotlight Team Dessert Island Post as her own, and Lola's Secret Creamy Lipstick-- both of which were clearly about, or for me specifically. She also forgot to remove some of the internal links that lead right back to my blog- tisk tisk! Also the repeated use of pictures of my cats in my house seems an odd choice for someone out to steal the content of others for some sort of personal gain. Any way that you look at it the offense was despicable, and you just have to hope that the bad karma will be justly rewarded!

Lola (shown above) does not approve of her name being misused!

Thank you to Jamilla for making the discovery that I was being ripped off! Thank you to my Beauty Spotlight Team, Beauty Blog Coalition, and Beauty Blogazons friends- all of whom had wonderful advice on how to deal with this wretched situation. A special thank you to my very good friend Rachel (The Beauty Professor) who called me on the phone the moment that this came to light to talk me down since I was so furious! xoxox

What are your thoughts?

31 comments:

  1. Outrageous and offensive. Your blogs are so well crafted, and it's been clear to me from the beginning that you devote considerable thought and time into the images and content of each blog entry. It is amazing how stupid thieves are ... I am only glad that her utter stupidity and lack of deception allowed you to find the copying. There should be consequences for this offender.

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    1. Than you for your kind words of support, Ellen! That really means a great deal to me! There is just something so upsetting about seeing your words and images wrongfully appropriated by a thief-- it's especially weird seeing pictures of parts of your own house and kitties that somebody is trying to pass off as their own. My hope is that the blog gets shut down quickly- because nobody should be able to exploit the hard work of other people without real consequences! Thank you for weighing in-- I really appreciate it a great deal!

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  2. Lola, I was horrified and heartbroken to see this happen! I too, have been attacked by scraper blogs - one from India was particularly bad. Even though I went to short feeds, they kept on scraping!

    Good luck! You are absolutely doing the right thing!

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    1. Me too, Jamilla! That said, it truly is thanks to you that I became aware before further damage was done. I'm sorry to hear that you have been on the receiving end of a scraper blog-- it is just horrific! I hoped that short feeds would be the answer! I just hope that the blog gets shut down! :-)

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    2. BTW, I am so delighted to see that you are back to blogging-- I will definitely be paying you regular visits!

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  3. I'm sorry this happened to you and to your lovely blog. You put so much care and love into this and to see your work be stolen so blatently must be so upsetting.

    Stupid thieves are so....so....STUPID! I'm sputtering because of how egregious and....STUPID this whole situation is.

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    1. Thanks, honey!! It really is grotesque! I just hope that they are eliminated from the blogosphere quickly!!! Thanks for your ongoing support!

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  4. Despicable! I'm so sorry this happened to you. Filing all those notices is so time consuming. I'm just glad you found out before she copied even MORE of your hard work.

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    1. Thanks, Elvira!! Filing those notices is such a time intensive task-- and it's hard not to be super irritated while doing it that you have to be doing it!! I agree-- if it weren't for the lovely Jamilla-- who knows how long it would have been before I discovered it!!!!!!!!!!!

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  5. Oh my goddess! I cannot believe this. Egregious is an elegant word to describe plagiarism since it deserves some good old %$&#@!!!!
    I have had students copy paste a whole online article without even taking the trouble to remove the author's name at the end of the post and then deny the whole issue as if I were crazy. Plagiarism is just sad. Sorry to read you have been put in such an uncomfortable position by a thief :(
    All the best to you!

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    1. Hi wefadetogray!! Pretty awful indeed!!! OMG, I have had students to the exact same thing!!! I have just googled the first paragraph before and had the whole paper pop up online-- pretty dumb move to assume that the faculty is unaware of Google! Fortunately we have this plagiarism scan on campus-- and all of the students upload their papers, and it is analyzed carefully and then the results are submitted to me. It is a deterrent for some, but not all. I also find it so brazen when a student has submitted poor papers and then all of a sudden produces scholarship that you would expect from a Princeton professor- LOL!

      Thank you for your support-- it means a great deal to me! :-)

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  6. Really awful this person did that. I hope her blog gets shut down.

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    1. You and me both, Iris!! Thank you so much for your support!!! <3

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  7. How terrible! I'm so sorry this happened to you. I know blogging is incredibly hard work, & having that work stolen is just awful. I hope the blog is shut down soon!

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    1. Thank you, Toby! I hope that it gets shut down soon as well! xo

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  8. Hi Helen :)
    I'm so sorry to read this happened to you :'( I feel so bad for you knowing the time & effort you put into your blog. Shoot, I just posted a blog sale last week & couldn't believe how time consuming just that alone took me to get done! I don't understand why someone would do this, what is the benefit to them? Especially considering they copy word for word and to top it off putting pictures of your beloved pets & home!?! Crazy! Terrible now you have the daunting task of filing a complaint for each post. I pray this issue gets resolved quickly & that blog shut down in a heartbeat!
    Good Luck!
    XOXOX Naomi

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    1. Hi Naomi!!! Thank you for your ongoing support-- it really means a great deal to me!!! It is a daunting task having to submit each of the complaints. It is beyond off-putting seeing the kitties posted on someone else's blog as though they were her cats, her house etc. You just have to believe in karma!! I hope that it is resolved quickly!

      Now what a minute, after all of this time that we have interacted- do you mean to tell me that you have a blog that I don't know about?? Your name isn't hyperlinked- so I had no idea!! I would love to visit you there!!! Please send me your URL!! <3 xoxox

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    2. Hi Helen!
      Oh no, I don't have a blog, haha. I just solely put up a blog sale through muablogsales at wordpress. I was doing some Spring cleaning and thought to make a little chump change for my future Fall Burberry Beauty purchases, lol..also eying the light pink creme blush from Chanel in Inspiration. Chanel's Fall collection is already available for purchase on Nordstroms site now, but I'm trying to resist and wait to swatch it in person.
      Oops, sorry for getting off topic! Anyways, while preparing for the sale, it gave me a deeper appreciation for the time and effort fabulous beauty bloggers like yourself who put up new post on a daily basis. I can only imagine how upsetting it is to see somebody swipe your work and claim it as their own. What a lazy bum this person is that they don't even bother to edit the proof they jacked your content (what really kills me is them keeping the pics of your pets and home- I find that extremely disturbing), though it hopefully makes it easier for you to get their so call blog shut down, but it's truly unfortunate that you even have to go through this process in the first place. It's simply disgusting!
      *HUGS* my friend, I'm wishing you the best!
      XOXOX Naomi

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    3. What a great idea, Naomi!!!!! Chump change for a highly anticipated haul makes good sense to me!!!! I haven't yet looked at the Chanel light pink creme blush, but that sounds VERY tempting. I'm not sure when the Burberry collection will hit the counters, but am pretty sure that I will want way more than I "need"- but what else is new!!

      Yeah, stealing my hard work really pisses me off, but why on earth would someone steal pictures of my cats?! Lola, no less!!!! You are right though-- that makes their theft even easier to prove. Of course the fact that they left my watermark on all of my photographs makes it even more stupid since that isn't the name of their blog.

      Thans for your support, my friend-- it means a great deal to me!
      xoxox

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  9. You have to wonder... why? You know, just why. Did the person honestly think NO ONE would notice? A close friend of mine (a published author with many books to her name, a website and a cooking show) had many of her pictures, articles, links etc, plagiarized by someone with a HUGE following; and when confronted, had the subscribers turn on MY FRIEND via emails, threats, etc. Many, many days of emails, calls, texts and legal-stuff (my eyes glazed over at it all) the thief was shut down and well, damages are forthcoming to my friend.

    In this day and age of being able to research just about ANYTHING online, why would a person be so stupid, lazy and careless as to plagiarize? I sincerely hope you are able to wipe this person off the screen and bring charges against the person. It's disgusting.

    Hugs to you, my friend. You WILL prevail!

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    1. Hi 3bDiva!

      Thank you for your support! You really do have to wonder what is wrong with people who steal in this way.It's shameless and pathetic. Your poor friend, what she must be going through!!! I hope that the guilty party is forced to pay a great deal in damages-- there is no excuse for what was done to your friend and I would hope that this is over swiftly for her!

      I hope that this is resolved quickly as well!!! Thanks again <3

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  10. Well I always want to steal your pictures since they are so amazing but I'd rather be your friend! I know you don't have time for this nonsense so I hope it's resolved quickly.

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    1. Thanks, Marcia! you put a smile on my face-- which is better than the scowl that this situation has created! I hope that it resolves quickly as well. <3

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  11. I just don't understand what someone gets out of this kind of thievery. Where is the gain? ... I love reading your blog (even if I'm not a frequent commenter :)), and I wish you a swift resolution, and hope this person realizes their stupidity.

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    1. Hi Lucy!! I'm so happy that you love reading my blog-- thank you for being moved to leave a comment-- you have no idea how much that means to me!!! Thank you so much for your support on this issue--it has been so upsetting, and feeling all of this love and support is unbelievably touching and helpful! I hope that it is resolved quickly as well! :-)

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  12. A deplorable action by an obviously stupid person. If you are going to steal another blogger's posts, shouldn't you be smart enough to erase watermarks and links. Good luck with getting her blog shut down.

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    1. Agreed! You would think, so-- but it's such a stupid idea in the first place that it isn't surprising that they left all of the evidence in! I hope that the blog disappears quickly! It makes me sick to my stomach seeing so many of my posts there!!

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  13. Oh, the absolute nerve!!! Despite it being outright WRONG...as many have said why would anyone do that and think no one would notice??? What's to gain?? Crazy. And I'm so, so very sorry you have to go through this mess when you already spend so much of your time and energy to bring us all amazing, original content. Poo poo on the wannabes and copycats!!!!

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    1. Isn't that crazy?! Thank you for your support and kind words, Gummy! What is even more brazen is the fact that her home page and recent posts feature only my stolen posts. Once you dig deeper you see that my posts are all over the fake blog-- which also has Google AdSense-- so the thief is making money off of my work and the work of other bloggers that she stole from! D I S G U S T I N G!!!!!!!

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  14. i'm so sorry to hear about this! I can't even imagine how frustrating/infuriating it must be to see your hard work passed off as someone else's!

    Also, I don't know if this will help, but there is a code you can put on your blog to block right clicking/copying. You many already have it but just wanted to share!

    Best Wishes,
    Julianne

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    1. Hi Julianne! Thank you so much! First I was merely frustrated and upset that my content was stolen. Now I am frustrated and upset that Google/Blogger hasn't taken down the blog, or at the very least my posts-- yet they have taken down the Google Adsense banner that I alerted them to. So far they have protected their interests, and not those of the bloggers who have been ripped off!!!!!!!

      Thanks for the heads up about the code-- I think I added that al long time ago, but need to double check, As I understand it-- scraper blogs usually lift content from RSS feeds. I shortened mine and no new content of mine has appeared on that fake blog for a while.

      Thanks for your support-- I hope that you never have to deal with this-- it is just horrible! <3 xo, Helen

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