I love your blog though. I’ll definitely be checking out your other posts.

–Franzi

Thank you for the story and congrats on running at least one plagiarist out the door!

Some years ago, I was creative director for a sizeable Toronto agency, interviewing applicant writers. One guy was “particularly proud of” one ad series in his portfolio.

“So was I, when I wrote them”, I said… and pointed to the framed copies on the office wall behind him.

He at least had the good grace to blush and leave quietly.

It does console that you have been able to shut down spam blog networks, however i am afraid that a coordinated push is most likely impossible due to the fact that the ISPs are actually benefitting. It reminds me a great deal of the situation with music and movies, where the creators of the pieces are suffering, and i have often thought about this situation when i ran a record company. The problem is not limited to the actual file sharing programs or their users, it is in fact promoted by the purveyors of hardware, utilising as they do references to the possibiity of downloading copyrighted material as a selling point. Its irony of the highest order that maunfacturers such as Apple, after promoting their wares using these techniques have stepped in and created alternative download networks whereby they are benefiting from the situation directly, replacing the record companies and distribution networks with their newer model.

I agree that the online situation is pretty grim. We, content creators, are under attack from a lot of different sides including, as you put it, synonymized plagiarism, truncated plagiarism and other spam techniques. I’ve had a lot of luck in shutting down spam blog networks by attacking the revenue stream, but even my victories are but drops in a bucket.

It’s going to take a coordinated push from multiple sides (ISPs, copyright holders, etc.) to make any real change.

I’ll keep everyone posted!