How to Deal with Plagiarism Online

No one said it better than Tom Lehrer in his song Lobachevsky:

“Plagiarize
Let no one else's work evade your eyes
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes
So don't shade your eyes
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize!”

There are myriad unscrupulous scoundrels online who live by the above mantra. They take the easy way, thinking they will not be caught. These dubious denizens of the internet lack the energy or creativity to write original material and therefore swipe your work to earn a few cents online.

Preventing Plagiarism

There is plenty of good advice online on what to do if you have been plagiarized, but there is not much you can do to actually prevent it. Copyscape recommends that you post a banner on your pages that warns would-be plagiarists that you are checking your work with Copyscape.

Should You be Flattered?

Sure, if it makes you feel good, go ahead and be flattered. Unfortunately, the truth is that most stealing is done by bots these days that are only looking for keywords in your content. They are stealing gems and crap together indiscriminately. If want to pat yourself on the back, look at your comments and article views. That is where you will find the true kudos you deserve! Once you have done that, get the stolen material removed.

What to do if You Have Been Plagiarized

If you find your work on a stranger’s site, without your consent or byline, there are a few steps you can take. First, write a polite letter pointing out the webmasters mistake. Assume it was done by accident. In her article, “What to Do if You're a Victim of Online Plagiarism, Whether Forgery or Flattery”, Mechele Pellebon offers a well-worded, polite letter to use on your initial contact.

I would only ad to Mechele’s work that a small postscript be added, to note you will take the next step: go for the throat. Use a DCMA notice to advise the search engines of the violation. The DCMA rules allow for immediate and swift action that can get the plagiarizer’s site banned from Google and even get their Adsense account shut down. Google, Yahoo and MSN all have DMCA pages where you can get the information you need to follow this procedure.

While there are some less drastic methods you can use like contacting the webhost, the more writers who take aggressive action against plagiarism, the fewer plagiarizers there will be. While a lawsuit is the final remedy, few of us are willing to spend that kind of time, energy and money to take matters to court.

Is Embedded Code Possible for Writing?

There is a certain level of protection granted to videos and images through embedded code. Your content can be displayed on another website, but you are always given credit. Because plagiarism is all about taking the easy route, wouldn’t it be easier for lazy webmasters to embed your content on their pages? This gives you a link back and credit for your work and the lazy one still gets the traffic he is after. Seems like a perfect solution to the problem.

While there will still be those who want to take credit for the piece, most plagiarists are just looking for free traffic to their sites. Embedding code could be used to make copy functions impossible, so swiping would be much harder. Always going for the easy route, plagiarizers will use the embedded code instead. If there is a developer out there who is ready to tackle the question, it is likely many writers will jump on that train to protect their work. If such a code exists, it is a well-hidden secret.

What to do For Now

Until embedded code is available for writers, we will have to use the tried-and-true methods of Copyscape’s Copysentry or Google Alerts. These services telling you when either duplicate content or specific keywords are found online.

Because copywrite infringement online is a “when”, not an “if”, monitor your work and protect yourself from these dastardly deeds.