Plagiarism, article theft, extreme borrowing- call it what you will, it amounts to the same thing. It’s when you take my work and post it as your own. On the Internet, it’s as easy as copy and paste. Heaven forbid you should pay someone to write for you. And why go to all the trouble of actually writing your own material when a quick Google search gives you all the articles you need to construct a keyword dense, SEO friendly website?

It’s not just a problem, it’s our problem.

If you haven’t had your writing stolen yet it is likely you will. And it doesn’t matter if you are ghosting or doing works for hire (where you sell all copyrights). As a writer, it’s your job to know about this so you can inform your buyers. You are the expert here, remember? As freelancers, it’s our duty to do what we can to prevent and respond to the cut-and-paste petty criminals out there.

Copyscape, what it is and how it’s used.

Buyers are becoming savvy about article theft. You will see many job postings that reference Copyscape. You may run across their logo-

Copyscape is a private enterprise search engine that looks for copied text on the Internet. The free service allows you to type in a URL and search to see if content at that URL is duplicated elsewhere on the net. The premium service (which is the one buyers will use to check your articles) allows cut and past text entry and a search performed on that. It costs $0.05 per search, so it’s pretty cheap insurance for buyers worried about plagiarism. For a monthly fee of $4.95, Copyscape will monitor up to 10 pages of web content and send an alert if material is stolen. freniculla

This link will take you to the Copyscape forum , where you can read some of the horror stories. freniculla

Homebrew Copyscape

You may have read my article on SEO where I made up a word so I could see it appear on a Google search. You can do the same thing to track your articles. I added ‘freniculla’, a word I made up, at the end of the last two paragraphs. I made it white so it wouldn’t show up on the screen. But Google will track it. I can do a search for the word and any article that has it will show up.

I can also put in a request for Google to monitor the word (under Google blog search) and email me when new occurrences of it appear. Pretty neat.

Now, Don’t Panic.

So, I’ve told you that someday, you or your buyer will get ripped off. When it happens, the  natural reaction for me is to rant and rave and throw my laptop against the intricately sculpted 8-foot Buddha I have installed in my writer’s garret. But, as Buddha would advise, remain calm. Like most things, this too can have an upside.

Once you have your facts in order (original posting and date, Copyscape or other ‘proof’) and you have a calm and professional demeanor restored, then set about contacting the webmaster for the hosting site. You want them to do one of the following three things-

• Remove the material. This isn’t really your best option, but when informed of the theft, either the webmaster or, if pressed, the hosting domain, will take your stuff down.
• Instead of copying, link to the original. This isn’t a bad option, as usually you or your buyer will be happy to have another visitor to their site.
• Pay. Either pay for that article, or – better for me- pay me to write some original stuff that fulfills the same purpose. This is a great way to contact possible future employers, they already like your work enough to steal it.

If the easy and peaceful Zen path fails, there is information at Copyscape and other sites on what legal proceedings you can undertake, although I can’t imagine a small theft would warrant all the bother.

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