Make money from blogs - Using CreativeCommons to protect your work

If you post content on the internet, then people will find ways to get to this content. They can get your content using your RSS feed, or directly copy from your site, and there are very few tools that can actually stop a dedicated thief from stealing your content. However, for the other people who copy your content in the belief that content available on the internet is free, and can be copied without any problems, a brief insertion of legal terms and a copyright notice can be enough to scare them. Read more information on this in a post (link to article):

You can put a small copyright policy on your blog such that it stops people from copying your content, and one easy way of doing that is through a site called http://creativecommons.org/. On this site, you can setup a copyright policy by asking a few questions, and you get a small HTML cope that you include in the template on your site. If you go to the specific site called http://creativecommons.org/choose/, you can specify whether you want your content to be copied to be used for commercial purposes, or even prevent modification of your work.

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Make money from blogs - You find a site that copies your site, and want to take legal action

Suppose you come across a site that has copied your content, and you value content enough that you would like to get the other site to remove such content. The owner of the other site has not heeded your complaints, and you want to take the next step of requesting the hosting companies as well as search engines to remove the stealing site using the legal avenue of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). This post (link to article) details the items you should make sure you do before you proceed on this path;

1. You should realize that proceedings under this could take some time to come to a result
2. There are not too many precedents under this law
3. You will certainly need a lawyer to help guide you through
contd..

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Make money from blogs: Worried that copying your content will affect your Google ranking ?

Blog publishers are typically worried that when multiple people copy their content. They worry that they are losing readers because their unique content is appearing in multiple locations, they are worried that they may be getting penalized by Google if Google detects multiple locations for their content and flags it as an attempt to fiddle around with search engine rankings. Here is an article that tries to explain this in more detail (link)

This can be pretty scary to blow publishers. So what do you in such a case if your content is being copied by others without your permission ? Well, Google issues clarifications that it takes into account many factors before going ahead with such a penalty.

Make money from Blogs - Stop Plagiarism: Using JavaScript to prevent your content from being copied

Let me start out right away by stating that I really don't prefer using a method such as JavaScript to prevent my content from being copied. Why not ? After all, it is a pretty simple way to prevent people from getting at my content and copying it. And it is fairly simple to go onto the internet and find a large number of free Javascript snippets that will disable people from being to right-click inside your blogs, and hence not able to copy the content.
Well, here are some problems with this approach.
1. It will stop only novice users. People who have RSS in the case of blogs that provide a complete RSS feed will get the entire content already.
2. Also, when an internet page gets loaded onto a browser, it is already sitting on the user machine, and can be copied from the cache.
3. It can create resentment pretty fast. For somebody wanting to just take a small section of your blog and use it as fair use, or for sending in an email, or even for attribution, it can get annoying.
4. It does not work on all browsers, and if Javascript is turned off, there goes the support.
5. If there is a browser where the Javascript rendering engine is faulty, it can cause some vague errors that the reader will have no idea as to what this means.

In short, use it if you feel that a rudimentary protection scheme is useful, but understand that it will irritate some users, and for the serious copier, it will not be a block.

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Make money from blogs - Detecting plagiarism of your blogs - Use the Copy Tracker service (free)

In the last few posts, I have been concentrating on figuring out some of the tools you can use to stop plagiarism of your precious posts. After all, when you have written some great stuff, the last thing you would want is for somebody to copy your content without letting you know, and then posting it as their own. And if this site is a site that comes in search engines before your blog does, then you also end up losing traffic when somebody searches for that context. That will certainly pain you; however, it is not very easy to stop somebody from copying your content; what you should be focusing on is how to detect when somebody has copied your content.
There are many tools that you can use for this process, including the simplest available option of searching for a somewhat unique term from your post in Google search, or configuring Google Alerts for finding content very similar to yours. In addition, there are other tools that also help you find content that has been copied from your blog, and posted on another blog. One such free online tool is called CopyScape (link to site).
The usage is simple, just enter the URL related to the blog which you suspect has been copied, and the tool will find searches.
Once you find such blogs elsewhere on the net which seem to have copied your content, you can take the various actions that you would take in order to get the offending sites to remove your content.

Make money from blogs - Great article on copyright steps you should take

For the last several posts, I have been focusing on how to prevent copyright theft (essentially when somebody either manually or automatically copies your content and then posts it on their blog). It is something that is not pleasant to watch. I had this happen to me a couple of times:

- Once when I discovered that another site was copying my content totally (an email to a couple of email addresses such as admin@, webmaster@, and so on managed to stop this copying without an actual response from the other side.
- Another time I had an email from another site owner where he wanted permission to take my content. It was polite, but when I looked at the other site, it had copied content from many sites with just a credit at the end. I suggested that the other person could just copy a paragraph, but I did not get any response after that. That ended that particular discussion.

I realized that I needed to do more research in this area, and came up with this article (link to article) that enumerates some steps that one should take. The site recommends steps such as adding a copyright notice in your blog, add a section about how to license your content, and then use tools such as third party tools, and others such as Google Alerts to actually detect whether your content is being used elsewhere.
The first few steps will not stop anyone from actually using your content, but to a person with even a certain amount of ethics, it will cause them to pause and reflect.

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Wordpress Plugin: Digital Fingerprint - How to identify a splog that is copying from your blog

One of the biggest problems facing Bloggers is the proliferation of copycat blogs. You post some rich content, the work of lots of effort, research, and something you really like, and suddenly it is being copied and posted onto other blogs without a credit (and for a normal reader, it would seem that the other blog is the creator of that content). And since you made your content available on the web, it is very very hard to prevent somebody from copying your content. You can try using some solutions that will put off some automated tools, and other solutions will thwart people who are less able, but it is impossible to prevent your blog from getting copied (even though you own the copyright to your content, the legal process for shutting down another blog can take time).
What you need to do is to find out quickly who all are copying your blogs so that you can take action geared towards warning these sites, and preventing them from copying your content. There are many tools / plugins that can do this, and one of these solutions is a Wordpress Plugin called 'Digital Fingerprint' (available at this site):
From the site:

This plugin helps blog owners stay vigilant against unauthorized content use by the overwhelming majority of blogs that are splogs. To combat splogs use of your content, this plugin will place a digital fingerprint, customized and tailored by each individual user of this plugin, into blog posts. The fingerprint is only visible in the RSS feed, not on the website itself. For example, already I have included my fingerprint in this post and unless you are reading this in an RSS reader, you haven’t seen it.
Once embedded in your post, the plugin allows you to quickly and easily search the blogosphere for references to the digital fingerprint using Google Blogsearch, BlogPulse, and Sphere (see the admin screenshot, above). It also allows the quick and easy search for your digital fingerprint of the web itself using Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

You should refer to the site above, read the steps, and use the plugin; it can be real helpful in your effort to prevent people from copying your blog and going scot-free.

Make money from blogs - AntiLeech Wordpress Plugin: How to protect your RSS feed from getting copied automatically

For bloggers, a RSS feed is something critically important. With a RSS feed, you can build a set of dedicated readers who get pinged everytime you generate new content, as well as be able to control how much of your post you want them to see. If users are impressed with what they read, they will come to your blog more often to read other content on the blog, and spread the word around. So, having a RSS feed is critical. At the same time, a RSS feed is also a very useful tool in the hands of somebody who wants to make a simple automated system of copying your feed. Such a person will have a website build of content from many similar blogs, and automatically generate content from these different feeds. And since Google does not index RSS feeds, this other site will use a mechanism to take this feed and create a post on the other site. Of course, you hate this, but what can you do, short of stopping your RSS feed. Or you can take the effort to try and identify this person from your RSS feed and block, but it is no easy matter.
Another option is to use a Wordpress Plugin to try and give a different content to such an automated system (called a splog, a blog build from feed spammers who automatically take content from feeds and convert them into content on another blog, hence stealing your content). One way to reduce or prevent such stealing is through using a Wordpress Plugin called AntiLeech Wordpress Plugin (site). What does this Plugin do ?
From the site:

AntiLeech does not prevent the splogger bots from accessing your site. It produces a fake set of content especially for them that includes links back to your site (and mine, too, ok?) and sends it only to them. When they steal this content, it appears online just like normal, except now you've turned the tables on them and have provided them with useless content.
AntiLeech can detect a splogger bot using its User-Agent string (an identifier that some bots send when they are collecting data), or by IP address. You can enter a User-Agent or an IP address into the Options panel of your WordPress blog. When a visitor with a qualifying (any checked option on the options page) User-Agent or IP address visites your site, they will see only the generated content.

Read more about this plugin from other blogs at Google Search (link)

Make money from Blogs - Make it harder to copy, set the RSS feed to provide only a summary

Let's start with a simple statement: It is impossible to prevent somebody copying from your blog. I was once set a challenge by somebody that an online exam result cannot be copied. The site where the exam result was posted had set the result to be opened in a new page without any title, with right-click disabled by JavaScript, and many other protective measures. Many of those worked, but I was finally able to get the content by looking at the Internet Explorer Cache folder. This was just an example of how you cannot prevent a determined person from getting your content. What you need to do is to make it more difficult to get (since that will prevent many of the less-technically equipped people from leeching your content); and you need to focus on identifying people who have stolen your content, and focus on them removing this content.
Now, let's talk about your RSS feed. An RSS feed has many advantages, since RSS provides an easy way to implement the logistics of building up readership on your blog. If you didn't have RSS, you would have to build an alternate system that would allow people to easily subscribe, that would notify them when you have added new content to your blog, and that would also allow this content to be easily viewed on many different feed readers.
However, the RSS feed also provides the same advantages to somebody wanting to copy your blog. Normally, when you configure your RSS feed, you get 2 options - you can either just deliver a summary of the RSS feed, or deliver the entire contents of the blog. Hence, if you are more concerned about another blog leeching your contents (and if your blog occurs in search engines lower than the other blog), then define your RSS to deliver just a summary of the content. Poeple will get a link to come see the full content.

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What to do when somebody accuses you of copyright violation ?

If you are indeed violating copyright and are not able to defend yourself on clear grounds, it may make sense to acknowledge that this may have indeed happened (either by mistake, or deliberately), and remove the offending material that is copyrighted. However, there are many cases when the notice for copyright violation has been mistakenly sent (or when the copyright violation was done by a tool, which screwed up somewhere). If this matter was reported to Google Adsense, Adsense will send you a notice of the complaint, since Google follows the terms of the DMCA (link to article). Google's policy is:
It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). For AdSense publishers, if we receive a notice or otherwise have reason to believe that your site is infringing, we may terminate your participation in the program.
However, if you believe that you have a strong case (link to article), then you can make a counter argument to the case. Follow the steps in the information at the link above, and you can actually fight against wrongful claims of copyright violation.

Use Google Alerts to detect if somebody is copying your Blog

It is not uncommon to find somebody copying your content, and the hard fact to accept is that you may not be able to do anything about it. The internet makes it so very easy to find and copy content that you may be fighting a losing battle in trying to prevent people from copying your content. As an example, a RSS feed provides your content (partial or full) to anybody who can receive this RSS field, and even if you were not providing access to a RSS field on your blog, there are many other ways to get RSS updated content from another blog or site.
The recommended process is to find who all is copying from your content, and then try and get that content removed from all those sites where it is being copied (by corresponding with the site owner, or through a complaint to their host, or to Google Adsense if the other site is running Adsense). The question is, how do you detect whether somebody is copying your content ? There are many tools available (commercial or free) available for this purpose - Google Alerts is one of these tools that can be configured to send you a periodic report (link to Google Alerts site).
What are Google Alerts ? Learn more at the FAQ (link)
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. You can also choose to have your alerts delivered via feed to the feedreader of your choice (e.g., Google Reader or add the feed to your iGoogle page).
What is the maximum number of alerts I can create?
You can create up to 1000 alerts. To create more alerts, you can either delete any existing alerts or request alerts to be sent to a different email address. Please remember that you can only have up to 10 unverified Alerts at any given time.

What are the different types of alerts I can sign up for?
Google Alerts currently offers 6 variations of alerts - 'News', 'Web', 'Blogs', 'Comprehensive', 'Video' and 'Groups'.
A 'News' alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.
A 'Web' alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.
A 'Blogs' alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.
A 'Comprehensive' alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.
A 'Video' alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.
A 'Groups' alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.

So, define one string that you believe is getting copied, and update that into your Google Alerts page.

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If somebody copies from your blog, then report to Google Adsense

One of the most critical ways to grow the readership of your blog is to get fresh content on a regular basis. Another important criteria is that your blog has content that is not copies onto many other sites, and is more exclusive (having exclusive content means that somebody searching for this content in a browser search will find your blog first; on the other hand, if other sites have the same content, then it is likely that atleast some of them will be listed before your site in search, reducing the potential of people visiting your blog).
And even on a matter of principle, why should you accept somebody else copying your content ? You do the hard work, and somebody copies your content and has a free time ? There are many tools available that enable you to determine whether somebody is copying your content, and you should use these tools on a regular basis. Once you find somebody copying your content (if the person just uses a few words or lines to refer to your blog, that is something you can consider since that means that the other blog is actually driving content to your blog; but if the other blog is totally copying your content, don't accept that).
Send an email to the blog owner, leave a comment, write to their hosting company, do all these steps to escalate. Further, if the person has Adsense on their site, certainly report this copyright violation to Google Adsense (link to article):
From this page:

If you believe that another site is illegally copying the contents of your site, you may send a notice of alleged infringement by following the procedure below. Once we've received your report, rest assured that we will take appropriate action. To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail -- not by email, except by prior agreement) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights.

File the report at this actual Google AdSense DMCA complaint form (link)

India: Obtaining duplicate copy of documents

People encounter this problem once in a while. You have invested money in a Fixed Deposit, or in Mutual Funds, or some other such investment method (including investing in a private company). Suddenly you find that you cannot locate the proof of such an investment (you could have lost it, it could have got destroyed in a fire or similar accident, or any other such reason). Panic sets in, after all, what do you do now ? Visions of losing your money come to mind.
The best method to prevent such an occurrence from happening is to make a copy of all your important finance documents and keep them in a safe location so that you have a backup. However, what happens when you have not taken this precaution ? Read this article to learn more (link to article):

To make sure you don’t have to dig deep in such a situation, here’s a guide on the process you can follow to get a duplicate copy of key documents such as NSC, FD, Form 16, Pan Card, mutual fund scheme, insurance policy and home loan papers. “If the papers, however, cannot be traced after reasonable efforts and you suspect they may have been stolen, a report at the nearest police station must be filed immediately,” advises Amitabh Singh, partner — tax & regulatory services at Ernst & Young.
To ensure there is no misuse, instantly inform the respective departments about the loss of original papers/document/policy. The next procedure should be to apply for a duplicate. As a policy, most financial schemes allow for issuance of duplicates on payment of a nominal fee. According to post office regulations, you can get a duplicate certificate issued if loss of the certificate has arisen out of theft, mutilation, defacement. You would be required to send an application to the post office where the NSC was issued.

As recommended, make sure that you keep a duplicate copy beforehand. To get a copy later takes more effort and running around multiple locations, but it is possible and something you should work through.

What to do when somebody steals your post ?

There are some blogs that I host, where people can talk about health; including offering tips and advice. This is valuable stuff, and I was looking forward to it getting better indexed in Google, and more widely available to people. This would drive more visitors, and is part of the overall plan to make more money from your blogging.
Then you find a site that seems to have content similar to yours. You look closely, and it is in fact exactly the same content. You get mad, but are unsure of what to do. After all, this is somebody who is free-loading off you, and while you do the effort to add new content, this person just takes your content (and most content remains legally copyrighted unless you explicity sign your rights away). The idea is not to get mad, but to get even. When this happened to me, I started exploring ideas of what to do in order to ensure that this copying of content does not happen. What some of these people who content do is that they add a link back to your site after putting all the content on the site, and then claim that they are giving your credit. This is not permissible, I would be okay if they were to copy a few lines and then claim that the rest of the content is available on the linked site; not okay to copy the whole content.
Here is a summary of the steps that I could find that seemed logical, after doing a scan of the internet for solutions (these are in order in terms of escalation):
- Use tools such as Copyscape to find people who copy your content. This may take a bit of effort, but is worth it
- Contact the owner of the site that is copying your content (could be admin@site name, or if there is a section for comments or an eamil link, use that). This works for a majority of the cases
- If you can't find contact details, do a Whois check to find the contacts for the site; you can get their contact details and send them your message
- Find out who is the hosting infrastructure provider and contact them
- If you are still not getting a response, send off details to the advertisers that this site is actually in copyright violation
- Post details about how your post has been copied, in the hope that getting their name called out publicly would get them to stop and desist
- Various search engines have pages for reporting abuse, do this for the major search engines
- Contact the relevant authorities and report this copyright violation
By now, you should have seen some action, else you will need to start taking legal action