Alert: If you blog expect your content to be copied.

With the recent post on the Apple iPad 2 (http://justlocal.blogspot.com/2011/06/apple-ipad-2-doesn-work-with-google.html) I noticed within 24 hours my blog (or part of it) had been copied and used by another site. The site purports to report US news and trends. There was no original content on the site and the only purpose I can see for the site is to promote Amazon ads as a affiliate so as to earn commission.

Unfortunately if you’re a blogger, or a business sharing your information and putting in your time and resources to create blog content, the reality is your information will often be copied by others to profit off. You’ll gain no benefit as these sites will rarely link back to your content.

What interested me in this latest post is I really found it interesting to see how a site not only took the content from my site, but then also decided to run it through an automated process to change the words slightly. I suspect in an attempt to make the content sufficiently different so as not to be detected as a copy.

Here is the start of my original content.

For some reason Apple has decided not to deliver the full browser experience for users of the iPad 2 (even if we ignore Flash). I decided to check out Google docs and Microsoft's Office web apps.

Here is the copy which has been modified by another site.

For some reason Apple has resolute not to deliver the full browser experience for users of the iPad 2 (even if we ignore Sparkle). I resolute to check out Google docs and Microsoft's Office web apps.

The word decided had been changed to resolute and the word Flash to Sparkle. Obviously the software product Flash has nothing to do with Sparkle.

In fact whilst the text looked visually similar, if we checked the source code many characters had been changed, perhaps to make a direct text comparison even more difficult. The following is the source code of the copied material on the site.

F&#959r &#1109&#959m&#1077 reason <em>Apple</em> h&#1072&#1109 resolute n&#959t t&#959 deliver th&#1077 full browser experience f&#959r users &#959f th&#1077 <em>iPad 2</em> (even &#1110f w&#1077 ignore Sparkle). I resolute t&#959 check out Google docs &#1072n&#1281 Microsoft&#39;s Office web apps.

The aim of sharing this information is to help others who are blogging and wanting to advance their business on the internet. Few people when they start blogging realise the level of copying on the internet. Most people will feel it is OK to copy a short amount of text and provide a reference back to the site, but that isn’t the way the internet or even many businesses tend to work.

Make sure if you’re providing content via the internet that if it is copied by others and used as their content, you’ll be OK for that to happen. If not you’ll need to put into place a strategy which helps you achieve your objectives.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au