Plagiarism is wrong, writers work hard…
All true.
All meaningless when the metal meets the meat. You don’t want your stuff stolen, don’t put it on the web.
Moral condemnations are both ineffectual and a questionable thing to spend your time, effort and stress on. Just saying.
You don’t want your stuff stolen, don’t put it on the web.
Moral considerations aside; if you don’t want your car stolen, don’t get one.
Moral considerations aside; if you don’t want your business broken into and looted during a blackout (or at night), don’t start one. (I mean, morals aside, just starve to death)
Moral considerations aside; if you don’t want your print-on-paper articles and work OCR’d and put up on a plagiarist’s website then don’t write anything …ever.
This isn’t the most interesting topic discussion. You’re running the telemarketing scripts from the “I got mine” looter’s playbook.
But what if you wrote something with, say, a “cliffhanger ending?” Where you did reveal some information, but otherwise the reader has to consult your expertise for the rest.
If the copy-cat can’t complete the article when the (could be a reader, could be a client) asks; will they consider it worth stealing?
The interesting questions are: 1) What gets lifted, and why? 2) What doesn’t, and why? Generally, the same questions you’d ask if you were going to have a car and thievery exists.
It does always amuse when the 'net turns out to be nothing like heaven, but exactly like the real world everywhere else, and nobody has the faintest idea how to deal with it.
Comparing to situations where you can reasonably take measures to prevent theft, AND there is a regulatory agency with the chops and the mandate to help you deal with a theft if it happens…interesting comparisons. Slightly hackneyed, a touch over simplified…
You highlight my point really well however. None of the traditional theft fighting/preventing measures are available to you OP. The 'net is far too young and unregulated for those at this point. Protectionism is a highly alluring but ultimately questionable stance, IMO.
Just my opinion, but I suspect the time resource and frustration involved in getting the stolen content removed will outweigh it’s ‘replacement cost’.
- You can let it go and move on (as has been suggested and probably your best option IMO)
- Fight for what’s yours (but I think you’ll only get a rather expensive sense of vindication)
Ultimately, the choice is yours. I’m just asking who steers your ship? You, or content thieves?
Good one… As I said before, a nice and friendly cease and desist letter may work. But the truth is that just as with car thieves, we will never eradicate copycats. Copycats have always and will always exist, to some greater or lesser extent depending on the issue. However, I strongly believe we should not let it go. It will be complicate to get legal action rolling, but thanks to the OCILLA, we can defend what we rightfully know is our own content.
Here is a link I found on the subject, I hope it helps:
Well you can take some legal advice and can charge some legal action on him/her.