A little while ago I posted
a little something
on my iPod and Linux. After some time I noticed a weird referer in my
log files (by now you should be aware that I occasionally scan my logs
for odd entries ;-)
The referer pointed me to a weird site.
I've seen this script (used at infobloggs.com) before and it's
basically a horrible PHP script, stealing content from other sites to push the
owner's own site(s).
As you can see, the text is copied verbatim and a link to 7daycloser.com
is appended (I don't see the correlation between Linux, iPod and selling
homes neither ... iPods are not that expensive).
Of course I was not happy with this. If someone copies my text, I expect
them to at least tell where they found it. So I contacted the server
hosting infobloggs.com, SiteGround LLC. I was fairly sure this company
would act on this kind of lame theft, for they have a
copyright
notice, as well as a anti
spam policy posted on their site.
Unfortunately, SiteGround LLC's abuse desk seems to care about a few
bucks made on selling an account more than obeying to their own terms,
for this is what I received from them:
To help us prevent any copyrights infringement and in
accordance with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, please provide us with
the following information:
- A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or
authorized agent;
- Identification of the copyrighted work(s) claimed to have been
infringed (please provide us with a copyright certificate if available);
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to
be the subject of the infringing activity and information reasonably
sufficient to permit us to locate the material (please provide us the
URL of the infringing material);
- Information regarding how we may contact you (for example, mailing
address, telephone number, E-mail address);
- A statement that the copyright owner or its authorized agent has a
good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of
is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law: "I have
a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner
complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or
the law."
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and
made under penalty of perjury, and, if an agent is providing the
notification, a statement that the agent is authorized to act on behalf
of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed: "Under
the penalty of perjury I state that the information contained in my
complaint is accurate and I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner
of the copyright I claim is infringed."
So I provided them with everything they so needed to stop content stealing
thugs, yet it was not enough. They needed more:
However in order to proceed with your request we will need the
certificate of copyrights provided or court decision stating that our
client is not allowed to use the materials in question.
Please note that such a disputes are generally solved by the court
where the web hosting company is not a party.
Clearly they don't care about spammers on their servers and try
to get rid of me again. Of course I'm not going to court over this. I was
hoping on a good abuse desk, yet Larry Thompson (Abuse Department) was
clearly not interested in helping and stopping abuse.
I tried to clarify a few things to Larry:
The hosting company may not usually be a party here, yet since
your company hosts the domain, and is
owner of the domain,
I take you accountable for this domain and thus for the stealing of content.
But since your company clearly doesn't mind this kind of behavior,
I'd like to ask for your permission to publish our email
conversation online, for the rest of the world to see. Taken the
reaction into account regarding content theft, I doubt you morally
(can) refuse this.
Larry refused to reply to this, so I take it I have his permission.
Otherwise, sue me in a Dutch court for defamation!
