Perils of the Internet - Pt 2 - Plagiarism
Have you heard the quote "Imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery"? I'm sure people only say that to make you feel better when you
discover someone is copying something that you have slaved over and invented.
Nothing can help that sinking feeling you get when you discover that
someone is using one of your testimonials from a function that you worked your
socks off for, and passing it off as their own. Yes, the dreaded plagiarism.
Whether you want to call it copying or imitation, it is still literary theft of
your intellectual property and possibly fraud too.
In this issue, we
will be looking at plagiarism on the internet, the effects of it, how to detect
it and what you can do about it.
What is copyright?
"Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company
creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, exhibit a
degree of labour, skill or judgment." from the UK Copyright Law factsheet.
Copyright is ownership of any written work, music or photographs. If they
are your own original work, they belong to you and any unauthorised copying of
them is classed as plagiarism. Some people assume that when they do an internet
search for images that the photos are available for general use. The search
engines pull those
images from people’s websites so they are all invariably
covered by copyright laws.
Plagiarism - the pitfalls
Copying someone else’s text or photos creates a multitude of problems. Everyone
has their own writing style. If paragraphs are taken from different people, it
is often blatantly obvious as the text lacks flow and readability. The text on
your website should reflect your own values and beliefs, not someone else’s.
What a Picture
Using photographs other than your own is very
misleading for potential clients. A bride will be expecting what she sees in the
photographs on your website. If your images aren't your own; you could have some
very unhappy clients.
A photograph is worth a thousand words. From
previous surveys, photographs are a very important part of your marketing
material, and something that receives more scrutiny than the written word.
Photos, whether they are stock or taken from other sites, will never sell your
services as well as your own; as a recent comment from a bride on a bridal forum
confirms, 'I dismissed that website immediately because of stock photos. If he
can't show what he does, it can't be good'.
What About Search Engines?
Google, and indeed other search engines, don't want duplicate results in
their indexes and will therefore penalise sites containing content already
elsewhere on the web.
The algorithms used can detect identical and even
very similar copy and drop it from the results. More recently photos can be
detected in a similar way.
Detection
Text - Copyscape is
your friend! At www.copyscape.com you can paste in each page URL of your website
and Copyscape will flag up any sites using similar content. It can be used 20
times in a month for free. For any more searches and other features, there is a
charge. Another simple method for detecting plagiarism of your text is to copy
and paste a sentence from your website into the Google search bar.
Pictures - You can now search for identical
images using Google. Just click the Google images, click the camera icon in the
corner and paste the URL for the picture in the task bar. If your photograph has
been used anywhere else on the internet, Google will find it.
Solution
If you discover that your intellectual property, whether it's text or
pictures, is being plagiarised, in the first instance try the amicable route
such as a polite phone call or email. If contact details aren't visible on their
website, do a search of their site at www.who.is. In many cases, this is enough
and no further action will need to be taken. If not, a cease and desist letter
should be sent. Examples can be found on the internet. Another route to take is
contacting their web host and reporting the problem. On many occasions, hosting
companies will not support a site that is contravening someone else's
copyright.
Members of AMPdj who fall victim to plagiarism can also
contact the member support line for help and advice.
Until next month ... Happy DJing
Sandy
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Thought for July
"I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a
two-word phrase from another writer. ~ Jack Smith"
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