Not A Good Day In The Neighborhood
It started out with an email from an in-house lawyer at ALM. She wanted to know what became of my battle with the scummy scraper website, US Law dot com, a commercial enterprise built on the premise that it could take the content from legitimate blawgs, republish them, duplicate their image with their own logo superimposed on the face and sell advertising for their efforts.
ALM, publishers of such titles as American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, and blogs such as the AmLaw Daily and Law.com, just became aware of USLaw's scraping their content. They were not pleased, and have put their legal department to work to deal with the rascal doing them dirty. As the attorney for ALM told me, she was shocked by
ALM, publishers of such titles as American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, and blogs such as the AmLaw Daily and Law.com, just became aware of USLaw's scraping their content. They were not pleased, and have put their legal department to work to deal with the rascal doing them dirty. As the attorney for ALM told me, she was shocked by
"the idiocy of stealing ALM and other legal blogger’s copyrights, because a bunch of legal experts won’t notice or something??"
I'm not sure if she meant that I was a legal expert or she was, but it's about time that ALM realized this was going on. It's only been years.
Later in the day, an email came in from Eric Turkewitz at New York Personal Injury Blog. Not only had his posts been scraped by some garbage website called Web Online Law Degree, but they inserted some curious keywords in his text to boot.
Within minutes of Turk's email came another from Brian Tannebaum, who was apoplectic about a blog by someone named Steven G. Ericson called Judicial Abuse. It wasn't enough that Ericson scraped his post, but stole his title bar photo and the comments to his post as well. Seriously, he scraped the comment string. This was more than poor Tannebaum could take.
Some of us create. Some of us steal what others create. The latter don't care much about what they take. Some, like the "idiot" who runs US Law dot com believe that it's their right to steal. After all, if it's available on an RSS feed, it's theirs for the taking. But to the outside observer, the googler, the person looking for information on a subject, or just to read something interesting, they wouldn't know who was who. And there is no doubt that the those doing the stealing work far harder for the SEO juice that gets their scraped content higher on the search engine rankings than those who actually produce content. After all, they have more free time on their hands.
There are still many in the blawgosphere who don't realize what is happening around them, who they are getting in bed with. I was quite surprised to find that John Wesley Hall's blawg, Law of Criminal Defense, sports a banner on his sidebar for US Law, as if this somehow benefits him rather than supports a scraper. And Hall's a former president of the NACDL and a long time blawger. You would think he would know better. Yet there it is, proudly displayed, supporting a website that steals content from blawgers for its own profit. And he's not the only one.
Many of those who create are angry about those who steal from them, but they are frustrated by the lack of any reasonable avenue of recourse. As the blawgosphere and internet continue its expansion, this problem will continue to mushroom. The scum have no reason to stop, and will continue to shamelessly steal.
It's time that an effective means to take down these scrapers, to remove them from the search engines, to have their ISPs and servers disappear them. The problem is out of control and an effective remedy is needed. The first step is for all legitimate blawgers to recognize the problem and disengage with these "networks" and blawgs and commercial websites. Don't link to them, don't recognize them, don't support them by displaying their banners. Call them out whenever possible as the scrapers and scum they are. Stop the madness.
Later in the day, an email came in from Eric Turkewitz at New York Personal Injury Blog. Not only had his posts been scraped by some garbage website called Web Online Law Degree, but they inserted some curious keywords in his text to boot.
Turkewitz writes which nonetheless Houston rapist invulnerability profession Mark Bennett is "live-twittering" currently (here) whilst his dependent picks a jury, during slightest a single sovereign justice ruled only final week which a sovereign manners demarcate tweets from court.Houston rapist invulnerability? It will take one strange search query to come up with that phrase, but it's unlikely that Turk wants to be known as having written it or that Mark Bennett is thrilled to be called the Houston rapist invulnerability. This is the sort of website that produces those 100 Best Law Blog lists that people with low self-esteem link to because some unknown person of unknown competence puts their blawg on a list of no merit on a website of no substance. Everybody loves a list, especially when it makes them feel special.
Within minutes of Turk's email came another from Brian Tannebaum, who was apoplectic about a blog by someone named Steven G. Ericson called Judicial Abuse. It wasn't enough that Ericson scraped his post, but stole his title bar photo and the comments to his post as well. Seriously, he scraped the comment string. This was more than poor Tannebaum could take.
Some of us create. Some of us steal what others create. The latter don't care much about what they take. Some, like the "idiot" who runs US Law dot com believe that it's their right to steal. After all, if it's available on an RSS feed, it's theirs for the taking. But to the outside observer, the googler, the person looking for information on a subject, or just to read something interesting, they wouldn't know who was who. And there is no doubt that the those doing the stealing work far harder for the SEO juice that gets their scraped content higher on the search engine rankings than those who actually produce content. After all, they have more free time on their hands.
There are still many in the blawgosphere who don't realize what is happening around them, who they are getting in bed with. I was quite surprised to find that John Wesley Hall's blawg, Law of Criminal Defense, sports a banner on his sidebar for US Law, as if this somehow benefits him rather than supports a scraper. And Hall's a former president of the NACDL and a long time blawger. You would think he would know better. Yet there it is, proudly displayed, supporting a website that steals content from blawgers for its own profit. And he's not the only one.
Many of those who create are angry about those who steal from them, but they are frustrated by the lack of any reasonable avenue of recourse. As the blawgosphere and internet continue its expansion, this problem will continue to mushroom. The scum have no reason to stop, and will continue to shamelessly steal.
It's time that an effective means to take down these scrapers, to remove them from the search engines, to have their ISPs and servers disappear them. The problem is out of control and an effective remedy is needed. The first step is for all legitimate blawgers to recognize the problem and disengage with these "networks" and blawgs and commercial websites. Don't link to them, don't recognize them, don't support them by displaying their banners. Call them out whenever possible as the scrapers and scum they are. Stop the madness.
Great post Scott. I have a similar problem with scrappers stealing my blog content as well.
One way bloggers could become aware of scrappers is by setting up a google alert with the keywords in the post.
Unfortunately, this is a problem that will not go away so quickly. You are doing a great job "outing" the alleged scrappers.
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I don't seem to have a lot of problems finding them. It's smacking them that's problematic. My arms are too short.
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My name is Steven G. Erickson and I like what I see in your blog in my occasional visits. When I "copied" your blog, I noted doing so with the title, saying it came from you, and have several links to your original post.
I am not out to make a profit from having posted it, just getting the word out. From what I have read on the subject, I figured it is covered under "Fair Use" statutes.
If putting content that isn't mine on blogs is considered being a "scraper", then I am a "scraper".
If I wasn't so wronged by our pretend justice system here in the US, I would never have blogged, written letters to the editor printed in newspapers, and I would not be teaming up with judicial reform activists nationwide.
Take care and thank you.
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First, you didn't steal from my blawg, but from Brian Tannebaum's Criminal Defense.
Second, you have no clue what fair use means, and no, you don't get to define it any way you please because you have no clue what it is. Fair use allows you to excerpt something for the purpose of adding commentary to it. You just lift the post in its entirety. That's called copyright infringement. and it's unlawful. The fact that you may not be using it for commercial purposes doesn't change the fact that it's flagrant and inexcusable copyright infringement.
Third, no matter what happened to you at the hands of someone else, that doesn't give you the right to steal from those whose content you agree with. Tannebaum is not your free source of material to maintain a blog. If you have something to say, write it yourself. If you can't, then you have no business trying to maintain a blog on the backs of others.
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Steven,
Maybe I can help.
You and I have never met. I'm a defense lawyer. I've never prosecuted anyone nor have I had anything to do with your criminal case in which you were "wronged."
How about this, you take down my post and don't steal from other blogs anymore.
Is that fair?
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That's one heckuva deal. I'd grab it.
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I altered my post. Please let me know if the altered post is okay with you. stevengerickson@yahoo.com
http://judicialmisconduct.blogspot.com/
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I see where this is all going Steven. It's ok, I'll let you pick your fight with me. Entertain yourself my friend.
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Yeesh. Yeah, you now label the stolen wares as stolen, but you haven't stopped the stealing.
Is it possible that you really don't understand that that's, well, wrong?
I've got it that you think that more attention should be paid to this stuff, and that you don't have knowledge, skills, and wit to draw attention to it yourself with your own writing, but all you're drawing attention to with all this is Niven's 16th Law.
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I'm thinking the Hartford Courant's and the Christian Science Monitor's lawyers might have a different view of "fair use" than you, Steven. Especially since you're wrong.
I'm fascinated by the way the criminal mind works. What is it, in your mind, that makes stealing Mr. Tannebaum's content okay?
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I can provide my address for any serving of papers. I can show up in person for any hearing.
The only lawyers who I have seen serve their clients have been gone after, arrested, disbarred, and discredited. I am not talking about lawyers that have been bought and paid for by official criminals and their friends, they live well off the blood of others.
Lawyers seem to run this country. There is one now in the White House married to another lawyer.
I would never have written anything, blogged, or be here if it weren't for dishonest lawyers, a corrupt town hall, and no checks and balances in America.
I was attacked on my own property. For that I got a year in prison. A child molester got probation. I got a bill for over $17,000 from Attorney Michael H. Agranoff for having to defend myself on my own property during an attempted mugging, and he threw the case. I attempted to grieve him and he didn't have to explain not having a legal file on me, a client/attorney agreement, discrepancies in his bill, or why he neither appealed my conviction or filed a reason for not appealing.
After paying taxes my whole life, not wanting heroin dealers and prostitutes soiling my front yard with their Connecticut State Police Officer friends, I got prison.
I don't care about any lawyer. You are slaves to the system, and paid well for selling your souls.
If I piss on an American flag, tell why, and then post the video online, I'll be sure to let you know.
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Thank you. You will then at least be producing your own content instead of stealing other people's worth.
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"Oops," he explained, "work."
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I think this is a slip of the finger that explains the whole problem with blog scraping.
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Go, barn dog, go. Bite his ass somemore.
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Have you ever noticed how people who think "you're on their side" feel free to take whatever liberties suit their purpose? What a flaming moron this Erickson is.
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Yes, it's sort of frustrating when my site gets scraped because people searching for police misconduct statistics have to muddle through a bunch of sites that grabbed an older report I made but then don't see the more detailed newer reports that are on my site but not the scraper's.
It's not so much the harm done to me when a scraper takes my content wholesale, but to the people trying to find the info I'm producing.
Sure, it's nice that someone thinks my content is worth using as if it were their own, sometimes with even a tiny attribution, but I wish they would be a bit more up-front about where they got it and specifically point to the relevant page where a reader could find other related information at least.
Personally, I do what I can not to republish anything and when I republish a snippet quote I try to call that out as a quote from another source and source it... but it doesn't help for me to complain about it since it's not like I can do much about scrapers, I have shorter arms Scott.
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I'm a syndicated columnist (found you and started following your tweets through Walter Olson), and amazingly, these 100 Best Law Blogs people aren't just targeting people like you. They told me *I* "won" this award. Um...I'm a syndicated advice columnist and blogger known as "The Advice Goddess." I did win a case against a New York lawyer in Santa Monica Small Claims Court recently, but I'm not an a lawyer...just an advice columnist who, that day, tried to dress "lawyerish."
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Well that will teach you to dress "lawyerish".
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Well, I thought she looked fetching in that black robe and wig, although when she addressed the court as "My lord," and referred to the lawyer as "my good friend," I began to suspect that she wasn't trying to look like an American lawyer.
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Just thought I'd offer a few hints as an Internet old-timer.
I would start by complaining to the infringing site's Internet provider. (Use "whois" followed by a domain name or IP address (1.2.3.4) to look up who owns a site. If your machine doesn't have the "whois" command, there's a web version at http://www.geektools.com/whois.php .)
You might also complain to abuse@google.com and abuse@yahoo.com. Both search engines try to keep their data free of abuses like that, although it's a huge, ongoing task.
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