With more and more people using the internet for various purposes, internet plagiarism has become a cost-effective and easy way out for those people who want to get things done without paying for it. If you are wondering what internet plagiarism is all about, here’s the cue. When someone copies your articles in their entirety, paragraphs, or phrases for business, academic or other purposes from various websites with or without rephrasing the sentences, or without giving credit to the source, it comes under the purview of internet plagiarism.
I've had this happen more times than I can keep track of, yet as frustrating as it is, you need to educate yourself on your rights and fight back.
Automatic copyright
From April 1, 1989, explicit copyright is no longer necessary. Anything that’s created privately after this date is automatically copyrighted and protected for your lifetime, plus 70 years. So, it’s like copyright by default whether there’s a copyright notice or not, unless you know otherwise.Ways to give due credit
As mentioned earlier, if you give proper credit to the website, author, or source of the information, you won’t be violating the copyright. However, it may often become an uphill task to understand what’s the right way to give due credit.Work available on public domain: To begin with, even when the work is on a public domain, get the author’s permission to use it. Unlike what many people think about public domain work being free for use without any copyright infringement, the truth may be just the opposite. For example, a particular artwork can use distinctive characters to achieve protection under trademark law. These characters usually function as a source identifier or logo. Similarly, ideas may not be protected under copyright law, but may be protected under contract law or trade secret. So, it’s always better to seek permission via electronic-mail and keep the reply handy in case some disputes arise later.
Permission for protected work: You will need permission if you wish to use something that’s protected, and which isn’t licensed for your online use. If your use is not likely to be a fair use (eg, using others' works for distance learners, using image archives for the Art History slide collection etc), or is not otherwise excused from liability for infringement, you will need to get permission. The type of permission you need to get will depend on the nature of the work that you wish to use. For using the work of freelance writers, you can obtain permission through Ingenta, while for music related work, you have to check with BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC and seek permission from the concerned authority.
Copying someone else’s content – when is it ok?
When you think that the way the original author has expressed an idea or fact is the best way to communicate the point you want to make, you can copy the content. Called quoting, this method helps you to take the exact words from an original source and express an idea effectively. However, even when you are quoting, you will have to cite the author’s name or the source either at the place of mention, as a footnote or as part of the bibliography.Finding plagiarized content
To find if someone has plagiarized your content, the tool that’s most used by people is Copyscape. You can buy credits using your credit card or PayPal account to use the tool. Copysentry ($4.95 a month) that monitors the web automatically for copies of your web pages can help as emails are sent to you as soon as material coped from your website appear at some other online address. This way, you can know the moment someone copies your content. You may also use the advanced plagiarism search of Copyscape (5 cents per search) to find your own content’s uniqueness before uploading the same on your site.Those interested in free, unlimited service may check Plagium and Article Checker, both of which help in detecting plagiarized content but are not as reliable as Copyscape.
Your content is copied without your consent – What to do?
“WhoIs” check: Use WhoIs to perform a lookup and find the domain name and email address of the website that’s the culprit. Send the offenders a “cease and desist” letter asking them to remove the copied content from their site. Sending a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice via email is a common practice adopted by many webmasters who have found their content being copied or ripped off without their consent. If you can find a phone number, call them and settle the matter more quickly as contacting via email and getting an answer from the other party may delay the process. You should also send a message to the hosting provider of the site that has infringed your copyright.Non-compliance by the offender: If the offending website owner doesn’t respond to your mail/phone call, or doesn’t remove the copied content by the date you have given them, you will need to file an official complaint.
Filing an official complaint: Apart from filing your complaint officially with the U.S. Copyright Office and Google Inc, you may also file a protest with FeedBurner in case someone is republishing your feed content. Usually, it is seen that Google may respond to the complaint either by terminating the offending subscribers or by disabling/removing access to materials which are claimed to be the related to the infringing activity.
Contact Advertisers: If the offending website is earning revenue from Google AdSense and other advertisers, report the same to let the advertisers know how their ads are showcased with illegal content. You can draft an email with ‘AdSense Policy Violation’ as the subject where the problem is described in details and send the same. You may check more details at Google AdSense Support.
Request search engines to ban the site: If everything else fails, this is your last option. Remember that search engines don’t have the time or interest in “helping” you. Rather, they are only interested in taking action. Since this is very serious act, make sure that you have obvious evidence of violations and use this method as the last resort.
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