They Stole My AC Content and It's Serious

Actually I've stopped laughing, but there is still the occasional chuckle. It's only been a few weeks since I started contributing to AC but the content bandits have already struck. I came across an article with an identical title to my "Collecting the Casino Chips of Monte Carlo" and the summary was mine, word for word. I clicked on the link and the initial shock turned into disbelief and then laughter. There were some obvious phrases that came from my article but about a third of the text consisted of synonyms for the original words, sort of.

There were dozens of gambling-related articles on this site with great-sounding summaries, but the actual articles had been massaged into oblivion as far as composition was concerned. The site is freegamblingcasino.info, and I suspect that all the gambling-related articles there are less than original works.

Let me digress slightly and fill you in on WHOIS. There are many software tools available for Web hosts, webmasters, IT technicians and hackers. The basic information tool is WHOIS. By doing a WHOIS you can see the contact information pertaining to the domain owner. Also included is the creation date for that domain name and the current name server.

There are many domain registration companies including Domains by Proxy that offer "privacy" registrations whereby their contact information is listed in the WHOIS and the entity or person who actually owns the domain is kept "private" (also known as "concealed").

As a consumer contemplating an online purchase, the WHOIS information might influence your decision to buy. I would think a reputable online merchant would list his actual registration contact information rather than keep it private.

I did a WHOIS on freegamblingcasino.info and found what appears to be real information on the domain's owner. Interestingly the domain had been registered through GoDaddy with Host Gator nameservers listed. A ping of the site confirmed that the site is hosted on a Host Gator server. GoDaddy and Host Gator are US companies but the owner of our gambling information domain is a gentleman named Laurentiu in Romania! Okay, that explains the atrocious grammar.

Let's go a step further and say that this site had accurately copied a bunch of articles from AC and other legitimate sites. The domain owner has accepted agreements from both GoDaddy and Host Gator, which stipulate that the domain will not be used for illegal activities. Every web hosting company has a Terms of Service Agreement, which stipulates that there will be no child pornography, warez, or hate sites, posting copyrighted material, etc.

From www.hostgator.com/tos.shtml:

"Use of our services to infringe upon any copyright or trademark is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized copying of music, books, photographs, or any other copyrighted work. The offer of sale of any counterfeit merchandise of a trademark holder will result in the immediate termination of your account. Any account found to be in violation of another's copyright will be expeditiously removed, or access to the material disabled. Any account found to be in repeated violation of copyright laws would be suspended and/or terminated from our hosting. "

Many hosts look the other way unless someone complains; they receive a letter from an attorney, or receive a subpoena. I hope to produce another article or two on sites that steal in the next few weeks.

My original article is here:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2329090/collecting_the_casino_chips_of_monte.html?cat=24

The comedy version is here:

http://www.freegamblingcasino.info/collecting-the-casino-chips-of-monte-carlo/

You can do a WHOIS here:

http://www.internic.net/whois.html