Plagiarism-Finder Site: Copyscape

Unauthorized use of intellectual property on the Internet is a real problem. Plagiarism can draw traffic away from the creator of content, robbing the author of whatever revenue might have come from a visit to the original page.

A friend of mine on an online community brought up what looks like a pretty good method of at least finding pirated materials" Copyscape "Search for copies of your page on the Web."

I've tried a free, online, service of Copyscape, and found that, so far, the pirates seem to be neglecting me. I can't say I'm disappointed.

I believe that this is an effective service. It doesn't protect your copyright material, but Copyscape makes it practical to find those who are copying it.

It even pulled out one of these quickie-review posts that some sites use to attract visitors. That sort of thing I don't mind, since the ones I've seen have universally included a link back to my page. Unauthorized, yes. Free publicity, also yes.

The original discussion, where I learned about Copyscape, is Copyscape and plagiarism.

[Post script - Another, similar, resource has been brought to my attention, Numly (Beta).]

Related posts on Apathetic Lemming of the North:

• Another Abuse of Copyright: If This Isn't Illegal, it Should Be!
• Copyright: a List You Shouldn't Myth
• Copy, Steal, Rob, Whatever: Another Violation of Intellectual Property Rights (August 3, 2007)
• Copyright Infringement, YouTube, and Video Sharing (July 28, 2007)
• Sploggers: Intellectual Property Thieves (July 28, 2007)