My work has been stolen and republished:

[Prejudice]

I find that someone calling themselves Bill Tom has stolen my story http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=491352 and published it on a very filthy site called Sex stories.
I'm shocked and apalled that this can happen.

If anyone knows any way for me to get it removed I'd be so happy! The link is http://orz8.appspot.com/cms/cms/show_article/1481022.html Please help!

It makes me sick to my stomach that someone would do this even though it's easy on the internet today.

Looking around at it makes me notice alot of stolen stories in several categories. If anyone has any idea how to get hold of the site's owner I'd be very happy.

 

[rosco rathbone]

By the way, which one's "Pink"? [/cigar]

 

[CeriseNin]

I find that someone calling themselves Bill Tom has stolen my story http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=491352 and published it on a very filthy site called Sex stories.
I'm shocked and apalled that this can happen.

If anyone knows any way for me to get it removed I'd be so happy! The link is http://orz8.appspot.com/cms/cms/show_article/1481022.html Please help!

It makes me sick to my stomach that someone would do this even though it's easy on the internet today.

Looking around at it makes me notice alot of stolen stories in several categories. If anyone has any idea how to get hold of the site's owner I'd be very happy.

If your work isn't copyrighted, then you're probably shit out of luck. This is why I never, ever show my stuff – not even to my www writing group.

 

[Kikori]

http://www.literotica.com/faq/06020588.shtml#08078427
Ask through the links there.
You also may be able to contact the administrator of the website where your work was re-published, since your upload date would be earlier than theirs, and see about their plagarism rules.

 

[FurryFury]

I pretty much expect anything on the web to be stolen, reused and so on but I'm sorry that it happened to you and that you aren't happy about it.

Follow the great suggestion above. Maybe you'll get something good to happen.

*hug*

FF

 

[Etoile]

This is also posted in AH, if anybody feels like answering in as many places as it was posted.

 

[DVS]

I find that someone calling themselves Bill Tom has stolen my story http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=491352 and published it on a very filthy site called Sex stories.
I'm shocked and apalled that this can happen.

If anyone knows any way for me to get it removed I'd be so happy! The link is http://orz8.appspot.com/cms/cms/show_article/1481022.html Please help!

It makes me sick to my stomach that someone would do this even though it's easy on the internet today.

Looking around at it makes me notice alot of stolen stories in several categories. If anyone has any idea how to get hold of the site's owner I'd be very happy.

Every story on that site is stated as written by Bill. Check out any category, even the how to section. I seriously doubt this guy wrote any of those stories. It might be a good thing for authors to check that site out for other plagiarist acts.

The instant a story, song, poem etc. is written, it is copyrighted. The only necessary thing to secure that copyright is to register it with the copyright office. That makes it easier to prove it's yours, if someone steals it. It won't stop the theft, but it is just a way to prove it's yours, if that ever becomes necessary.

In this case, since nobody is making a profit from the story, the only recourse is to have it removed. All you can prove is your version was posted first, because everything on the web is time and date stamped. The earliest posting assumed possession.

There is no need to register something, unless you need to prove ownership, like if you intend on profiting from it, like in a book or magazine, etc. Then, when you see something plagiarized, you get a lawyer and go after the stinking thief. When something is registered, the law is behind you...not just a time and date stamp.

Until then, a little due diligence every so often, to seek out those rare assholes that would post your story as their own ... and not even change the fucking title!

 

[FungiUg]

I find that someone calling themselves Bill Tom has stolen my story

I'm trying to see the link here between BDSM discussion. Trying, and failing.

Go talk to the site administrator where it's been republished. If you hold copyright (which in many countries as the original author you do), you can escalate to legal help if you need. There's no point whining to us about it.

Now, while you are talking to the site administrator, can you see if you can get the forum named changed from "BDSM Talk" to "random advice about everything"?

 

[LunachickXXX]

It's unfortunate that someone claimed to be the author of your work, but to call the site "filthy" is like the pot calling the kettle black...there are many authors on this site whom pride themselves in their "filthiness" so I'm not a fan of the name-calling.

On the internet it's so easy to copy and paste, or save an image that someone else put the time into creating and uploading. Perhaps embedding unique tags into your work (a unique mix of letters and numbers somewhere in there) in a place where it can't be easily spotted or edited out can help you, so you can search google and find an unauthorized copy immediately.

Also, do you regularly sell your work or publish it for profit? In the US you must pay a fee to copyright something so unless you get some profit for it it might not be worth the investment for you. If it gives you peace of mind, go ahead.

Lastly, if they copied it, it means they liked it, envied it, and wanted to share it with a broader audience. I'd be 90% pissed, but 10% of me would be sort of flattered.

-Luna

 

[DVS]

It's unfortunate that someone claimed to be the author of your work, but to call the site "filthy" is like the pot calling the kettle black...there are many authors on this site whom pride themselves in their "filthiness" so I'm not a fan of the name-calling.

On the internet it's so easy to copy and paste, or save an image that someone else put the time into creating and uploading. Perhaps embedding unique tags into your work (a unique mix of letters and numbers somewhere in there) in a place where it can't be easily spotted or edited out can help you, so you can search google and find an unauthorized copy immediately.

This is a nice idea, but I don't think it's feasible. If a smart thief was aware it was code, he would delete it from the story. You could google a particular phrase that's unique to the story, though. That might work just as well.

Also, do you regularly sell your work or publish it for profit? In the US you must pay a fee to copyright something so unless you get some profit for it it might not be worth the investment for you. If it gives you peace of mind, go ahead.

Lastly, if they copied it, it means they liked it, envied it, and wanted to share it with a broader audience. I'd be 90% pissed, but 10% of me would be sort of flattered.

-Luna

My car was stolen about a year ago. The fact that they stole it does mean they liked it, even envied it and wanted to share it with a broader audience...but as their own. I was 110% pissed and not flattered one bit. My car wasn't the only car in the world, and the only thing that made it desirable was that it was easy picking...kind of like a copy and paste thing.

Thieves are pretty low. Even those who don't profit monetarily from their thievery. It seems to me that this person wanted to start up a story site and he had no stories. The next best thing to do is go and steal some. What's the harm? He's not stealing it like one would steal a car. The original author still has a copy.

But, he could have given the author credit for the story, but if you check out the other stories on the site, credit for all of them goes to one person. I'd guess he/she/it didn't write a single story on that site. More likely he wore out his copy and pasting expertise.

A story is copyrighted in many countries as soon as it's written. There is no copyrighting form that needs to be filled out for those rights. But, in the case of the U.S., there is a registration form that allows the copyright owner to register the work as theirs. They are then sent a certificate of ownership that is proof that they are the author.

Unless there is profit being made from the story, it's not worth the $20 or what ever to register the story. And when it is published on a web site like Literotica, that can show ownership because of the time, date, and year it was posted on the site.

I don't know for sure, but because every story is listed with the same author, I would suppose that every story on that site is stolen. I'm not one for name calling without good reason either, but I think this is a good reason where filthy fits. And in this case, I don't think the poster was talking about sexual filth.

 

[LunachickXXX]

DVS,

The car analogy is a bit different...if someone steals a car, they steal it to sell it for parts or they scratch off the VIN number and hawk it to some misinformed buyer, they don't drive it around and brandish it on their own (unless they are reallllyyy stupid). In this case, they're using his work to develop and add content to their site and they denied him credit of it; this is low and nothing about the practice of stealing is flattering. I just threw in the part about being flattered because...hey, sometimes you have to make the best of a situation. The OP seemed pretty pissed, so it's just an after thought to have that might help him feel a little better.

Perhaps the OP will clarify on the usage of the term "filthy" b/c when I read it I thought he meant that there are "cleaner erotica sites", and "dirty grittier ones" and I just believe the criteria that makes a site one or the other is subjective. I've read many stories from the site and they aren't much different from ones I've read here (and now I know I should probably try and find the TRUE source and give my page hits to them instead). Basically...when I read "filthy" I thought it implied the site's reputation is degraded by the surrounding content (i.e. other authors and story content etc), and not the site's content management practices and respect for crediting original work which is really where the problem lies.


Thought of another way to protect your work...perhaps publish it online as a PDF? It can still be copied but its much harder to copy onto another site than text, & your audience can still read it at their leisure.

 

[DVS]

DVS,

The car analogy is a bit different...if someone steals a car, they steal it to sell it for parts or they scratch off the VIN number and hawk it to some misinformed buyer, they don't drive it around and brandish it on their own (unless they are reallllyyy stupid). In this case, they're using his work to develop and add content to their site and they denied him credit of it; this is low and nothing about the practice of stealing is flattering. I just threw in the part about being flattered because...hey, sometimes you have to make the best of a situation. The OP seemed pretty pissed, so it's just an after thought to have that might help him feel a little better.

Perhaps the OP will clarify on the usage of the term "filthy" b/c when I read it I thought he meant that there are "cleaner erotica sites", and "dirty grittier ones" and I just believe the criteria that makes a site one or the other is subjective. I've read many stories from the site and they aren't much different from ones I've read here (and now I know I should probably try and find the TRUE source and give my page hits to them instead). Basically...when I read "filthy" I thought it implied the site's reputation is degraded by the surrounding content (i.e. other authors and story content etc), and not the site's content management practices and respect for crediting original work which is really where the problem lies.


Thought of another way to protect your work...perhaps publish it online as a PDF? It can still be copied but its much harder to copy onto another site than text, & your audience can still read it at their leisure.

Stealing is stealing, in my book. Taking something of mine and making it yours...I don't care what it is. By the way, the person that stole my car eventually gave it back. Police said, because of the parts that were missing, this guy took what he needed to get his car up to par and gave me back the trash. Unfortunately, he needed almost everything.

But, because he took things like one fender, one headlight, one outside rear view mirror, and things like that, they figured he had the same car, just mine was in better condition. Well, now his is in better condition. True, some people steal cars to strip them and sell for parts, but not all.

As for the use of the word filthy, only the OP knows what was meant, so neither of us should be jumping to conclusions about it. When I used it, I meant that the person probably stole all of those stories from other sites and that was pretty lame. I used filthy because it was already part of the conversation...trying to be cute, I guess.

Jumping to conclusions on what someone means in a post is how stupid fights get started. We always should give the benefit of the doubt. I try to always do that, but I know that sometimes it isn't easy.

Using PDF files to post a story is better than text to keep them secure, but in some cases, it is possible to copy text from a PDF file. Or, you could just save the whole file on your computer unless the site has that option restricted. At Lit, there are limited ways in how we post our stories, so it's not difficult to copy and paste here. But google can sometimes find a theft. That's what I meant by searching for a unique phrase.

If you have your own web site, there are a number of things you can do to keep your stories more secure, but one thing you can't disable is the person's eyes. Just like if a thief wants into your house, if someone wants your story, they can get it.

The words are on the screen in front of them. It might take a while, but they can type the story off onto another page in notepad or even Word, if they want. Just open in another window and type away. There is no way to stop that.

Yes, the person needs to be able to type, but that's a small hurdle when nobody is watching over his shoulder. Who knows who this guy is? He could be some 15 year old doing this in the middle of the night, on a computer in his bedroom. Damn kids!

 

[Etoile]

You don't have to pay to own the copyright to your work. By having written it, it's yours.

Proving it is another matter, though, which is why the U.S. Copyright Office offers to keep track of that for you - to the tune of $45.

But you still own the copyright, even if you haven't registered it.

 

[DVS]

You don't have to pay to own the copyright to your work. By having written it, it's yours.

Proving it is another matter, though, which is why the U.S. Copyright Office offers to keep track of that for you - to the tune of $45.

But you still own the copyright, even if you haven't registered it.

Wow, Deja Vu all over again.

 

[Etoile]

Wow, Deja Vu all over again.

I tried to make what you said short and sweet to avoid tl;dr syndrome.

 

[DVS]

I tried to make what you said short and sweet to avoid tl;dr syndrome.

What is this? Short for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

 

[LunachickXXX]

Stealing is stealing, in my book...

As for the use of the word filthy, only the OP knows what was meant, so neither of us should be jumping to conclusions about it. ...

Jumping to conclusions on what someone means in a post is how stupid fights get started. We always should give the benefit of the doubt. I try to always do that, but I know that sometimes it isn't easy...

Yes, the person needs to be able to type, but that's a small hurdle when nobody is watching over his shoulder. Who knows who this guy is? He could be some 15 year old doing this in the middle of the night, on a computer in his bedroom. Damn kids!

Agreed about the stealing part. And I didn't mean for anything I wrote to come off as a flame post and I try to use language that conveys that I'm asking for OP's clarification. The topic in general of protecting one's work on the net interests me and hence I've been following this thread.


As for "who this guy is" I tried to dig a little deeper. (If your not interested in the technicalities of the site in question, this might be tl;dr) I work with web design and development so there is usually an etiquette to this stuff, and this guy just isn't following or complying. The website in question is one that runs off of a google server, and the ip address of it is based in Mountain View, CA. No domain registry info is available due to the strange hosting plan; the appspot.com server option from Google is meant for applications, not blogs or websites. He probably did this on purpose to avoid purchasing a normal domain name and thus entering the registry info? Anyone who owns a domain name has to put their real contact info, and if someone has an inquiry they can contact the domain registrant, even if the info is hidden (they will put a text box and foward the message you type in). There is no contact option on the website, no web master address, or place to even report broken links. There is a humorous "© copyright Sex Stories" at the bottom of the page...with no last updated date or year.

It's definitely a shady site, and I doubt the author has written any of the stories. These are all probably farmed in some way from elsewhere. Unfortunately this is such a widespread practice the original writers might not be aware, and if they are, they might just give up. If the OP really wants his work removed, he should probably report the site as a misuse of the google appspot tool. Otherwise, there is no other way to contact the domain registrant without using some potentially blackhat web investigation techniques.

 

[DVS]

Agreed about the stealing part. And I didn't mean for anything I wrote to come off as a flame post and I try to use language that conveys that I'm asking for OP's clarification. The topic in general of protecting one's work on the net interests me and hence I've been following this thread.


As for "who this guy is" I tried to dig a little deeper. (If your not interested in the technicalities of the site in question, this might be tl;dr) I work with web design and development so there is usually an etiquette to this stuff, and this guy just isn't following or complying. The website in question is one that runs off of a google server, and the ip address of it is based in Mountain View, CA. No domain registry info is available due to the strange hosting plan; the appspot.com server option from Google is meant for applications, not blogs or websites. He probably did this on purpose to avoid purchasing a normal domain name and thus entering the registry info? Anyone who owns a domain name has to put their real contact info, and if someone has an inquiry they can contact the domain registrant, even if the info is hidden (they will put a text box and foward the message you type in). There is no contact option on the website, no web master address, or place to even report broken links. There is a humorous "© copyright Sex Stories" at the bottom of the page...with no last updated date or year.

It's definitely a shady site, and I doubt the author has written any of the stories. These are all probably farmed in some way from elsewhere. Unfortunately this is such a widespread practice the original writers might not be aware, and if they are, they might just give up. If the OP really wants his work removed, he should probably report the site as a misuse of the google appspot tool. Otherwise, there is no other way to contact the domain registrant without using some potentially blackhat web investigation techniques.

That's interesting stuff. I'd bet the OP as well as anybody else who has a stolen story there would be interested in knowing as much as possible about the site. I know he didn't write all of those stories, but the same name is connected to each. He's been busy. So have you.