Monday, May 28, 2018

Blog Scraping: Stop Stealing My Content


I recently discovered that my blog content (new blog posts) are automatically being scraped/illegally copied in full onto the website, Dollsbybertrand dot com. This site has a link under the menu that reads, Doll Collecting (Blog) which links readers to a page on their site that contains my most recent blog post.  Titles of my blog posts also appear in search results with the URL of that website in the URL address, which makes my copied material appear to have originated from their site.

I have sent requests for the link and scraping to be removed/discontinued, but the requests have been ignored.  My most recent email was sent to the site administrator, owner, billing, and everyone else associated with the website after gaining the source information from the WHOIS privacy service, contactprivacy.com.  The note I sent is copied below:

I am the author of the Black Doll Collecting blog at Blogspot.com.  Your site currently links to my blog content from your home page to a site that appears to be the original source of the blog.  This is content scraping.  You do not have my permission to use my original content and images as your own.

Please remove the link to my Black Doll Collecting blog from the main page of your Dollsbybertrand.com website immediately.  I have tried to contact you twice through the contact link on your website with this request, yet my blog posts continue to feed onto your site and are also found on Google searches as though they originated from your site.  My materials are copyright protected.  If you want to avoid copyright infringement ramifications, I ask you to immediately remove the link to my blog from your Dollsbybertrand.com site, remove it from any other sites that are scraping my content, and remove any additional scraping tools you are using to copy my content.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

An official notification will follow.

Debbie Behan Garrett

There is also a Facebook page under the name Robert Talley with status updates that are only links to my scraped blog posts.  The Facebook intro reads as follows:
Intro
This is most probably a fake page, but I sent a message by Facebook Messenger that reads similar to the one sent to the website administrator et al.  If this is not rectified after the Memorial Day holiday, I will contact Facebook regarding the Facebook piece.  I am posting this information here (as the official notification mentioned above) because this post will feed onto the Dollsbybertrand website so that anyone who visits their site will know that the blog posts there are scraped from this blog.  This is noted in my current blog post signature and will continue to be noted until this content theft ceases.

dbg

Thank you for reading this original post published by Debbie Behan Garrett at blackdollcollecting.blogspot.com.  If you read from any other source, such as Dollsbybertrand . com, you read from a site that has scraped my original content.  They say imitation is the best form of flattery.  I am not flattered by those who steal or otherwise use my content without my express permission.

Follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black
Check out my eBay listings here.

26 comments:

  1. Sheesh! I hope this situation is corrected immediately!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Debbie! I really hope things will get solved really fast. Don't they know that they are committing a crime?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not sure if they realize this is criminal or not. Unless they are incredibly stupid, they should know. Ignorance is no excuse for such an infraction.

      dbg

      Delete
  3. How horrible, I hope they are shut down quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope you can get this resolved quickly, this is horrible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is horrible, Brini, because I am at a standstill in continuing to blog here. I would hate to have to close this blog because of someone's foolery.

      dbg

      Delete
  5. Tsk. I, too, hope that they stop stealing your content,

    Aside: I appreciate your cleverness in sharing this problem here and how it will automatically pop up there. So readers there will see the true source of the content and the owners will not be as free to ignore your requests.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, D7ana.

      Since my email requests for them to discontinuing scraping this blog had been ignored, I decided the best way to get their attention was to write this post to expose what they are doing. It is now apparent that the posts links on the Robert Talley Facebook page are manually added because a link to this blog post (outing the Dollsbybertrand fake blog) was not added on Facebook. So they are now aware that I know what they have been doing.

      dbg

      Delete
    2. Applause. And you know that they know ... tsk. Tsk on them, I mean.

      Delete
  6. he even stole your post about stealing your post. how sad. At least those reading his page now will see that his content is stolen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. They are brazenly using an RSS feed which automatically publishes my posts on their website making it appear that my posts were written by them.

      dbg

      Delete
  7. Good grief. Theft in plain sight, and brazen about it, too. Truly distressing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they have no shame and it is quite distressing. This too shall pass.

      dbg

      Delete
  8. This is awful!! This is like copying off someone during a test and even writing their name. Ugh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly, GG. Do they have no shame? Do they think anyone would feel comfortable buying something from someone who does this or are they so simple-minded that they do not realize what they are doing is improper?

      dbg

      Delete
  9. Good luck, chica! That's pretty low for that feller to do.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hope she reads your post and disconnects your blog. You have a great blog and it is sad that she thought it was okay to steal your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you MDW. I am still working on getting it resolved.

      dbg

      Delete
  11. Update: I found an email address for Mr. Talley and wrote him yesterday with the request to remove my blog from the website. It has now been removed! Thank God!

    dbg

    PS I will delete this post prior to publishing another. I am so glad this has been resolved.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love your blog and have learned so much about dolls of color in just a short period of time thanks to your info. A shame that someone would steal it for their own and not give you the credit that you so deserve. Hope this is resolved soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tricia,

      Thank you for your concern. I posted a comment just above yours that my blog has been removed from that website.

      I am so relieved as it was a nightmare knowing my posts were there appearing to have been written by someone else.

      I hope you will continue to enjoy this blog.

      dbg

      Delete
    2. I apologize for not catching autocorrect's misspelling of your name, Ticia.

      dbg

      Delete

Your comments are appreciated. To eliminate spam, all comments are being moderated and will be published upon approval. Thank you!