* Copyscape detects copying
Do you care if your Web content is misappropriated? I suspect that for most of us it isn’t really a topic we’ve given much thought to. Indeed, we might wonder what we have that is worth reusing without authorization.
Well the bigger your Web site and the more original content you have publicly available the more likely it is to happen. I am constantly finding copies of Gearhead and Backspin columns on sites that never requested permission and, worse still, didn’t add Network World’s copyright to the pieces (FYI: If you want to use any of my columns on your sites drop me a note and I’ll forward it to the powers that be – they almost always don’t mind as long as you include the NW copyright.)
My finds come from a variety of sources including Google Alerts but even though I do discover quite a few unauthorized copies, these are most likely just a small sample of what’s out there. My casual approach is due to not having a pressing business case for finding and dealing with copyright violations.
But if you have content that you really don’t want reproduced on other sites and a business case to back that up then you will need to be much more thorough in your searches.
A serious problem you will face is that your content may not be easy to identify on another site as it may have been modified or repurposed in all sorts of ways. A new company that claims to have methods for detecting plagiarism and quoting might be what you need. The company is Copyscape.
Copyscape offers a free service that will search for the content of a specified page using the Google Web APIs. Copyscape’s fee-based Copysentry service provides weekly or daily scans for as much your Web site as you like and will alert you of any plagiarisms the service discovers.
Weekly scanning by Copysentry Standard costs $9.95 per month for up to 20 pages and 25 cents per month for each additional page, while daily scanning by Copysentry Professional costs $19.95 per month for up to 10 pages and $1 per month for each additional page.
Copyscape also promotes its “Global Web Rights” campaign and provides tools and information on defending your organization from Web content theft and copyright violations.
This is an interesting service that should do well as the Web and the real world become evermore entwined. I think the pricing is perhaps a little high but this service and others that will appear could well be one of the must-have supports for organizations that are serious about their Web services, content and applications.
