My website has been copied. Help please!

[wfmk]

I've had this site going for the last couple of years:

www.telephonenglish.com

and I have just noticed that a copy has just sprung up here:

three 'w' shindig-jp dot com (don't want any trackbacks to this message)

As you will see, it's a replica which has stolen vast amounts of text, images and even staff names!

My site is hardly big business, and is probably only useful for the CV, so I cannot afford a lawyer. Any idea how I can nail the cyber-thief?

Furious :x

[Lord Illidan]

Spam!

EDIT : Sry, I acted way too fast...It is not spam!

[wfmk]

No it's not spam. Why would I want to show off a rotten copy of my site?

I'd ask elsewhere, but the only other forums I use are Newcastle United (soccer) and teaching forums, and I thought someone here could help :(

[DirtDawg]

This happened to me too, just not as drastically. Some S.O.B. stole my custom background image. In the end, I let it go. I'm not sure where to even begin attempts to shutdown the creeps. Maybe you can contact their isp?

[Kindred]

Eh, I would maybe send them a brief email or something (check the guestbook link to find more info on someone involved). Seems they are directly linking to your images anyway, you could always rename the images on your site and put up some vulgar ones for the other site to link to. Or something. :)

[henriquemaia]

What do you think about Ubuntu as a distribution?

[wfmk]

Love Ubuntu, but have to use Windows for work as my business needs a fully-working reliable version of Skype.

Got it on my laptop after struggling for hours with wpa/ndiswrapper/bcm 4318 wireless.

Loved the advice on vulgar images, might just do that :)

[cunawarit]

Love Ubuntu, but have to use Windows for work as my business needs a fully-working reliable version of Skype.

I've used Skype under Fedora, it worked well.

I would imagine that for Ubuntu you can install this: http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-deb

[djsroknrol]

Eh, I would maybe send them a brief email or something (check the guestbook link to find more info on someone involved). Seems they are directly linking to your images anyway, you could always rename the images on your site and put up some vulgar ones for the other site to link to. Or something. :)

Kindred's idea sounds like fun, that is, if you can't get any satisfaction out of the mess....It might be a great way of getting them shut down in a hurry...;)

[wfmk]

I will have to make sure the vulgar picture is not copyrighted though :)

Have any of you guys been spamming his guestbook? :)

[K.Mandla]

Seems they are directly linking to your images anyway, you could always rename the images on your site and put up some vulgar ones for the other site to link to.
That's what I'd do. If they're going to steal your site and leech your bandwidth, you might as well give them the proverbial finger. Rename your images and put some garbage in there in place of the old ones.

Or better yet, an image that says "This image stolen from ..." in the picture, along with the original Web site address. Might as well get some advertising out of it.

[Lord Illidan]

No it's not spam. Why would I want to show off a rotten copy of my site?

I'd ask elsewhere, but the only other forums I use are Newcastle United (soccer) and teaching forums, and I thought someone here could help :(

I apologise, mate. But it's rare to see a member whose first post is that...I confess I was a bit too fast.

[Lord Illidan]

I would send them an e-mail, not just a guestbook, and tell them that they are violating your copyright, etc.

[wfmk]

Thanks for all the tips. Changed the 'headset.jpg' but he has images resized at his end.

Looks like he didn't start off his little e-venture wanting to be a teacher:


<meta name="keywords" content="Irish pub , Saitama, Japanese sexy ladies , Food , Irish pubs in Japan . Saitama Irish Club , Irish friends , All things Irish , アイリッシュ・パブ , 埼玉 , ">
<meta name="description" content="The Shindig Irish pub Saitama attracts trendy Japanese ladies wanting to meet and make friends . Noted for good wholesome food . ">

The eejit :D

[stuh84]

I'd do a bit more changing if I was you, I had to actually search thru the images to find the one you had changed. Do something fun, like replace them with images of goatse or tubgirl or other such horrible disgusting images.

[wfmk]

Thanks for that. :D Didn't know what a Tubgirl was until I did a Google image search [-(

Would love to go down that route, but will wait until he ignores/ gets back to my emails before trying it on. I think the random abuse in his guestbook is enough for now :)

[wfmk]

He shouldn't have hotlinked to my site.

Look at his homepage :D

[maniacmusician]

rofl, thats awesome. that guy needs to be taught a lesson.

that tubgirl idea was kind of nasty...funny, though. I would recommend it. I dunno, i think you should harass him some more, make his site really look like a complete joke.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I like the "Mi Inglish is reelly good" thing :P

Subtle stuff like that is good. Nothing too vulgar...

I think you should do something with those flags on this page (http://www.shindig-jp.com/howitworks.htm).
Either mix them all up, or replace them all with mis-spelled plain text ;)

[maniacmusician]

that guys hotlinking the flags from skype, not wfmk's website, so he wouldnt be able to do anything to them.

btw; after wfmk went to all that trouble to avoid a traceback to this site, you posted a link that did just that lol. and i already clicked on it :KS

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Nay, that is where they are linking to.

Right click -> View image or looking under Image Properties brings us to telephonenglish.com.

[Imsati]

Thanks for that. :D Didn't know what a Tubgirl was until I did a Google image search [-(

Sweet mother... That is the *LAST* time I Google Image *ANYTHING* I hear about on the internet...

[ice60]

i would put them on a link farm to get them delisted from search engines, although it might end up getting them ranked number 1 if it's not done properly lol.

i'd also post alot at hacking forums and get a good reputation, then i'd tell them what had happened :mrgreen:

[Kindred]

Sweet mother... That is the *LAST* time I Google Image *ANYTHING* I hear about on the internet...

You're not really on the internet until you've seen that and a few others..

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Little suggestion for the your web site, by the way, wfmk.
Those Flashy links should have Alt attributes, or use some fancy Javascript. There's a chance that someone may be running it through a translator, in which case the Flash won't work. (And accessibility is important for text-based browsers and less fortunate Flash-less operating systems and browsers).

[wfmk]

Thanks for the tip. Will look into it.

Still can't believe that such blatant theft/plagiarism can take place on the web these days.

[Imsati]

You're not really on the internet until you've seen that and a few others..

Already been to one "Rotten" site...I think this most recent Google search makes me at least an honorary member of the internet.

[maniacmusician]

woops, my bad.

yes mess around with them.

[Bezmotivnik]

Here, read this (http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/).

[wfmk]

He's taken the site down. Only the guestbook and a contact form remain. :)

[maniacmusician]

congratulations man. what's up with those last few messages in his book?

[Titus A Duxass]

Re Tubgirl - if you haven't seen it don't go there whilst you are having breakfast!!! - It's the pits!

[henriquemaia]

Here, read this (http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/).

These are very good advices indeed. I also think that it's important to be professional and respectful. Good tip, Bezmotivnik.

[Bezmotivnik]

Good tip, Bezmotivnik.
I live to serve, educate & entertain! :mrgreen:

[atrus123]

It's probably worth mentioning that Tubegirl is definately nsfw. Luckily I already know it by reputation, but if I didn't, I might be tempted to check it out while I'm here at campus.

[barrosz]

very cool thing to do, loved the fried chicken!