How to build a website using 3 keys (Ctrl,C,V)
How to build a website using 3 keys (Ctrl, C, V) and make hell out of sunshine. Rather, how to build a website using 3 keys and get sued for online plagiarism. Or, how to copy a website and be stripped off your online identity and reputation. Simply, how to be dead before you even start off online.
Facts apart, plagiarism is a crime which is wildly spreading over the online world. Plagiarists, like spammers, have mushroomed to a phenomenal extent that they do not even bother about the cyber laws which condemn the act. According to a research done by Fasthosts, one in every five businesses have at least an item of their website plagiarized by another company. Sad thing is, sometimes such copycat-companies enjoy more profits than original site developers.
Online Plagiarism: Exactly, what is online plagiarism? A plagiarized item is a stolen item. A material is plagiarized when proper credit is not given for content (text, design and concept) copied from another website. In other words, it is stealing someone’s online work without due permission. By all means, plagiarism is a scourge, especially for the online world because, a) the plagiarist is lost in millions of other websites and b) plagiarism is a simple ritual of cut, copy, paste.
Cyber Laws against Plagiarism: It is a wonder that many web geeks still plagiarize in spite of being aware of the DMCA and its Section 512. But it has always been a routine for plagiaries to scrape through existing content and replicate it on their websites. It can be said that a really big part of content available online is information that has been used over and over again.
DMCA: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a US Copyright law which implements the treaties made under World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and is considered as a largely enforced act related to Internet activities. Under the act, it is an offense to produce and disseminate technology and services, intended to bypass the measures (known as Digital Rights Management) that control access to copyrighted works. It also penalizes the act of outsmarting an access control, whether or not there is real infringement of copyright itself. In addition to the above things, the DMCA extensively enforces penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.
OCILLA: The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is a safe harbor for service providers, (including ISPs), against copyright liabilities if they adhere to certain prescribed guidelines and promptly block access to the allegedly infringing material (or remove such material) if they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder or his agent.
DCI’s battle with plagiarists
With online plagiarism rampant all over the web, every other company is reeling under the scourge of it. Dot Com Infoway has itself been a victim of online plagiarism. Recently, DCI busted a few website rip-offs of our own corporate site enforcing the DMCA on them.
The sad part is that these plagiarists did not bother to change even the text of the site. It is just a beginning and our SEOs are still unearthing more sites that have plagiarized our site. Only thing is, the list grows like a dragon tail.
Below are some of the sites that plagiarized ours:
www.endeavourtechnologies.co.in
www.elinksol.com
www.rayssoft.com
To give you an inkling of how effective our plagiarists were, we have given the screenshots of our corporate sites and a plagiarist’s site below:
As a victim of copyright infringement, DCI has taken steps under the DMCA, filing a CEASE and DESIST notice to Google and the concerned OSP. This is a clean strategy for busting existing plagiarists and circumventing plagiarism in future.
These are times when we think about a robust law enforcement body, specifically for worldwide Online Copyright Infringement and particularly, in the Indian subcontinent, where thousands of IT service providers operate and serve global companies. In worst case scenarios, there are possibilities for online infringements upon top secret files belonging to government institutions or organizations. Though DMCA and OCILLA come handy in catching cyber criminals red-handed, more severe laws and penalties would annihilate copyright infringement and make the web climate more conducive and secure for businesses.
