Re: Tools: Tracking down copyright violations?

["Collin Turner" <straylightsghost -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Dan,

In HTML I did it via keywords. Just created a nickname (example:zxenhup)
that would be VERY unlikely to be found in a casual search of the internet.

If you are going to be publishing something, a simple catchphrase will work.
(example:"The orange room's view") The key is, you pick the most unique bit
out of your piece, put it in a field in the 'ole spread sheet and use that
to track your work. Use a search with quotes and there you go. You'll find
it.

Now, that last technique is a pain. I prefer burying things in meta
data...MUCH easier. For my RSS feeds, I use WordPress plugins to watermark
my data. They track it and report.

In all honesty? I don't worry about it much. I follow a pretty free market
approach. I Creative Commons a lot of my work. I track it, I know who's
using it. Unless it's abused? I don't really mind. If they're earning money
from me, then I care a bit. Mostly, they wind up generating more traffic and
buzz for me.

If it's work I've done for someone else? Then I alert them and their lawyers
can have fun.

I also make sure I have a lawyer on retainer...hehehe. There are times
that's come in VERY useful on the more important pieces when a Strongly
Worded Letter won't do.

-Collin
------------------------------
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[image: Collin Turner] <http://www.collinturner.com>

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Dan Goldstein <
DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com> wrote:

> Hi Collin,
>
> Sounds like a great technique, but I'm not sure *where* to drop the
> sequence of characters. If I drop it in the actual text, wouldn't a
> plagiarizer be likely to make small changes in the text that break the
> sequence? Or should I drop the sequence in the HTML code as a
> non-functioning tag? Or...?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Collin Turner
> > Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 4:15 PM
> > To: Geoff Hart
> > Cc: techwr-l List
> > Subject: Re: Tools: Tracking down copyright violations?
> >
> > Meta Data...that's where you place your watermark. Even
> > cut and paste will capture the mark. It could be from
> > word, html, xml, or just a clever placement of characters
> > you arrange and conduct a search for. I used to drop a
> > sequence in pieces I would publish online and let search
> > engines capture. If anyone ever wanted to see examples
> > of my work I'd just enter that sequence and voila! It
> > was unique enough that the engines would display my
> > results almost exclusively no matter where they were.
> >
> > Even if someone took them without my permission.
> >
> > Usually a strongly worded letter was all it took to get
> > the work removed. If not, then other methods were
> > necessary.
> >
> > It just takes a little creativity, that's all.
> >
>
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