Interview - Jonathan Bailey - Plagiarism Today
Content plagiarism is something that effects almost every freelance writer at some point in their career. Jonathan Bailey has worked tirelessly to fight internet plagiarism and educate writers on ways to protect their work. He is the Author and Webmaster of Plagiarism Today.
Angela: Jonathan, thank you for spending some time with me today! My first question is what inspired you to launch Plagiarism Today? I understand you're not a Lawyer, you're simply a man who decided to take a stand against plagiarism. Was there a defining moment for you? Some event or circumstance - where you just said to yourself - someone has got to do something about this, and that someone might as well be me?
Jonathan: I've been writing and publishing content on the Web for nearly 12 years now. It started with my poetry, literature and short stories and has progressed into other areas over time. About seven years ago I discovered that my work was being plagiarized after being tipped off by a reader of mine. Coming from a journalism background, I knew that I had rights but I was unsure how to enforce them. I ended up resolving the first case and then, after a bit of research, found hundreds of copies of my work all over the Web under other names. One by one I began to address them as I learned the law and the techniques to use. Finally, in 2005, I began to experiment with RSS and blog reading. I knew that this was an interest of mine and a part of my life. I decided finding blogs on the topic was in my best interest. However, after several searches, I failed to find any other blogs on the topic so I decided to start one. The rest, as they say, is history.
Angela: Now that we understand what got you going, what keeps you going? The work that you do on Plagiarism Today requires a tremendous effort on your part and a considerable amount of your time. What motivates you now and fuels your passion to continue to fight to make a difference?
Jonathan: When I started PT, I first did it in private, using a hidden folder on my server. I wanted to make sure I had the interest and the desire to keep it going longer than a few months. The plan was, initially, to do that for three months and then take it live. But after just three weeks, I realized that my interest was only growing and I took it live early. This is a very rapidly-changing field, there's always new stuff to keep me interested and excited. However, I think the best part is helping people and doing at least a little bit of good from time to time. I help people the best I can and that has been very rewarding.
Angela: I understand you also offer consultation services for Webmasters and Writers?
Jonathan: Yes, I have been working full time on PT for the past eight months and that has been supported by my consulting service. This was really something that the clients came to me with, asking me for help and services well beyond what I normally provide and offering to reimburse me. I agreed to it and have watched it grow. I do offer a wide variety of consulting services, including ones aimed at companies building products in this field, at Webmasters needing help protecting their work and schools/universities seeking to deal with plagiarism issues. However, it is important to note that, to date, I have never turned down anyone who has asked for help with a content theft issue due to an inability to pay. I did not start doing this for the money.
Angela: Do Blogs face an even greater risk of content plagiarism than websites do?
Jonathan: Definitely. At issue with Web sites is the RSS feed, which is great in the sense that it enables readers to peruse the content whenever and wherever they please, but worrisome in that it makes all of your content available for scraping and republishing on other sites. Though HTML scraping is possible, spammers find it easier to grab from RSS feeds since the format is standardized and there is less formatting to remove. Also, since it automatically updates as new content is posted, they are able to keep their duplicate sites up to date easily. Traditional Web sites do not have these issues, but also lack the built in readership and accessibility. It is a trade off. Bloggers can aid themselves by adding a fingerprint to their RSS feed, a string of letters and numbers unique to the site. They can then search for this fingerprint in any search engine and detect most scrapers. This can be accomplished either through a plugin, such as the WordPress Digital Fingerprint plugin, or through FeedBurner.
Angela: If you could offer some really simple advice for a beginning freelance writer as far as protecting their content is concerned, what would it be?
Jonathan: The first thing is to be aware of the problem and understand that it almost certainly will happen. Learn both the laws and the tools you need to detect and stop such misuse. If you consider these issues before creating a site, it is much easier to control your content than it is to go back later. If you have static content, such as a story or a poem, use Google Alerts to let you know when duplicates of it appear. Just create an alert for a unique quote from the work and you're done. Dynamic content, such as blogs, need fingerprinting, as mentioned above. Also, learn how to use sites such as Whoishostingthis and have a stock DMCA notice and/or cease and desist letter handy for when your work is copied. Finally, look into copyleft licensing such as Creative Commons. It helps to separate out those that just want to share your work from those who want to abuse it and it shows good faith in working with your readers.
If you find yourself in a battle concerning your content, the web's premier source of information to help you is Plagiarism Today! Many, many, thanks to Jonathan Bailey for allowing me to pick his brain and share his experience and knowledge with all of us!