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Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39119087,00.htm

Domain firm in online content rip-off scam
silicon.com uncovers more web copycat and content theft scams...

By Andy McCue

Published: Thursday 11 March 2004

In a twist on the website copycat rip-off exposed by silicon.com earlier this week, another scam has been uncovered involving the theft of online content that is then used to sell advertising.

Following on from our exposé of the serial website thief ripping off car websites wholesale and gaining from advertising sales on the bogus sites, silicon.com has been alerted to a domain-name website that is stealing content from organisations such as the New York Times.

Domains Magazine at first appears to be a genuine information source on domain-name registration and website hosting, complete with the latest news about the industry.

But the twist is that none of the content is its own. The site steals content word-for-word from a variety of computer and internet publications and more mainstream sites including The New York Times, removing the author and publication name and passing it off as its own.

The clicks this regular news service attracts from people looking for advice on domain names are then used to sell advertising to a host of gambling, casino and porn sites.

silicon.com was alerted to the ruse by Kevin Heller, an intellectual property and internet lawyer based in New York, who said he is aware of an increase in these types of scams.

"I have received several complaints recently from website operators that either individual posts have been taken without attribution or entire sites," he said. "I am also aware that Google has received notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to remove links to such offending websites."

Heller said firms hit by these rip-offs should take a screenshot of the infringement to preserve the evidence and then serve DMCA take-down or copyright infringement notices to the hosting ISP and search engines listing the offending site.

The Domains Magazine website is managed by Internet Billions Domains Inc, based in Costa Rica and hosted by a Canadian company. The company did not respond to requests for comment.