In this article, I’m going to walk you through the step-by-step process of sending a DMCA Takedown notice to force a splogger or RSS scraper to take down the content that they stole from you.
What is a DMCA Takedown Notice?
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (”DMCA”) was passed by Congress and became law in 1998. It was intended to address copyright issues on the Internet in some respects. One key feature of the DMCA provides liability protection for online service providers for content posted by others. This extends to web hosts and the server space that they sell to bloggers like you and me, as well as sploggers and other copyright infringers.
The logic behind protecting online service providers from liability extends from the notion that someone such as a web host can’t be expected to know about everything that their customers post online. Such a burden would be unfair. That liability protection is cut off, however, when the service provider is made aware of the infringement.
Notice of infringement is given through a DMCA Takedown Notice from content publishers like you and me. This extends to any kind of copyrighted content - articles, photos, videos, designs, etc.
RSS Scraping / Splogs - What Are They?
If you’ve been blogging for any amount of time, you have noticed someone somewhere is republishing all or part of your blog’s content by “scraping” your RSS feed. Many times, these punks will automate their blog to publish your feed up to 200 or 300 characters. Sometimes though, the real turds of the bunch will just republish your entire post content.
These types of blogs have been dubbed “splogs” - a cross between a blog and spam. The owners will generally insert AdSense ads and maybe some Kontera or similar links throughout the the blog in order to generate revenue from YOUR content. Their hope is that they will get picked up in the search engines and gather some traffic, and as a result, revenue without having to lift a finger.
I consider these types of site owners to be thieves. They are violating your copyright to your content by republishing it without permission for a profit. This conduct subjects the owners to both civil and criminal liability.
Many bloggers just consider this part of the pain of blogging and roll their eyes at these crooks. The fact of the matter is, however, that it will only continue to grow if bloggers don’t take control of what is theirs and put their foot down. What is particularly troubling is that several so-called “gurus” are out their preaching this as a way to create an easy cash flow. I’ve even seen videos where they say that bloggers want their feeds to be republished because it creates links back to their sites. Get real.
So, now that we’ve looked at splogging and scraping, let’s continue toward fighting the good fight.
How to Find RSS Scrapers for YOUR Feed
You can search for blocks of text in Google and get pretty good results. Additionally, you can follow your linkbacks in Technorati for decent results as well. You’ll probably find more than a few scrapers of your feed this way.
However, one tool that I’ve recently discovered is called CopyGator. It is simple and effective.
CopyGator has a couple of different options for finding scapers of your content. You can put a CopyGator badge on your site, which automatically finds the wrongdoers and turns an angry shade of red when it finds them.
Second, you can simply enter your feed address into CopyGator’s search engine and it scours the web seeking out the bad guys.
I just plugged in Engadget’s feed address into CopyGator to show you an example (Blogger Lane doesn’t have any sploggers yet apparently). Here’s a recent Engadget post that’s been replicated by a number of splogs:

It is likely that not all of these are scrapers/splogs. Some sites will get flagged because they have quoted a small portion of Engadget’s post in a proper blog post on the same topic. However, you get the idea.
Deciding to Take Action
Now that we’ve figured out how to find the bad guys, what are we going to do about it? Well, I used to be of the opinion that I would just send an email politely asking them to take the content down. Then, if that didn’t work, I would decide if I would take it to the next level. I have grown tired of this approach though.
I don’t owe these theives any common courtesy to ask them to remove stolen content from their site. The choice for me now is, “To whom do I send the DMCA Takedown Notice?” Google or the Hosting Company?
If the site is displaying Google AdSense, you can send a DMCA Takedown Notice to Google. The big G will then, in turn, suspend the owner’s AdSense account until they prove that the content has been removed.
If you decide to notify the hosting company, it will shut the entire site down. Yeah, that’s a good feeling. I’m leaning toward this one more and more.
How to Identify the Web Hosting Company
In order to get the proper notification information, you will need to identify who the web host is (unless you are opting to just send one to Google).
You can find the web host’s information by going to whoishostingthis.com.
For example, let’s say I’m Engadget and I wanted to tag article33.com from the above screenshot (they are totally ripping Engadget off word for word). I go to whoishostingthis.com and enter “article33.com” in the search box. The results tell me that Cirtex Hosting is the website host for article33.com and provides a direct link to Cirtex Hosting.
Upon arrival at Cirtex Hosting, I clicked on the “Contact Us” button at the top of the page. On the contact page, I saw an email address for Abuse@CirtexHosting.com. This is where I want to send my DMCA Takedown Notice.
You can generally find this contact address by going to a contact page or a dedicated “Report Abuse” page that some web hosts have. If all else fails and you can’t find a contact email to send the notice to, just give them a call and let them know what’s going on. The web host will require that you submit a DMCA Notice so they can protect themselves under the federal statute if the owner complains. Remember, the web host is not the bad guy here, they are just holding space and are even absolved of liability because they don’t have “knowledge” of the infringement until the DMCA Takedown Notice is provided to them in accordance with the federal statute.
Sending the DMCA Takedown Notice to Google
If you’re going to send the notice to Google instead of the web host, you will need to either mail it to:
Google, Inc.
Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
or, fax it to:
(650) 963-3255, Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
Google has specific directions that you must follow in order for them to recognize your DMCA Takedown Notice. Follow these directions before you send it to Google.
DMCA Takedown Notice Form
I’ve used the following form on many occasions for both Google and web hosts. So far, it’s worked just fine for me.
—————- begin form —————-
VIA EMAIL
[Hosting Company Name]
[Hosting Company Address]
[Hosting Company State]
[Hosting Company Phone/Fax]
[Hosting Company Email]
[date], 2009
RE: DMCA Takedown Notice
Dear Sir or Madam:
I would appreciate your assistance in responding the below-described infringing material located at http://www.[scraper's_website].com. This page is scraping original content of others through the use of unauthorized RSS syndication, including [yourwebsite.com].
1. Identity of Infringed Material. The posts infringing on [yourwebsite.com]’s copyright can be accessed at the following URLs:
http://www.[scraper's_website].com/[permalink_to_post_pages]
2. Page and Infringing Material. The text in the posts found on the above referenced pages is infringing material. It has been copied and pasted with no changes from the following URL:
http://www.[yourwebsite].com/[permalink]
3. Contact Information. You may contact me at contact@[yourwebsite].com
4. Unauthorized Use. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials as described above is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. Ownership Representation. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[your name]
————– end form ——————-
What Happens Next
Google or the Website Host will generally suspend their account and inform them of the DMCA Takedown Notice. They are required under the DMCA to comply with your notice.
If the site removes the content, then Google or the Website Host will generally restore their services fairly quickly. If they do not respond Google’s suspension, you can always follow up with the Web Host later.
One final caveat: The DMCA allows a party subject to a Takedown Notice to file a counter notice, which essentially states that they have a right to display the content on their site. If they do this, then you have 14 days to file a lawsuit or the provider is required to put the content back online.
Google, however, is not required to reinstate their AdSense account - but they do. Even in the clearest case of sploggers and scraping, Google will put the AdSense ads back on the spam-filled site. As you are well aware, Google is making money from their theft of your content as well.
If they file a counter notice, you are then faced with the decision of whether to hire a laywer (if you haven’t already) and go after this person. There are many remedies available under copyright law, buy there are many pitfalls as well. Accordingly, you should talk to an attorney about your particular situation if you get to this point.
If it was me that received a counter notice though for content that I had written, that counter notice would be Exhibit 1 in every discovery device and pleading throughout the case. I would jump up and down on their statutorily required statement “Under penalty of perjury I have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.”
Final Thoughts
There are many ways to combat infringement of your rights online. A DMCA Takedown Notice is a very direct and agressive way to do so. For sploggers, I think it’s justified. But that’s me. You may want to try to talk to the infringer first to give them a chance to take it down without such an adversarial means. Or, maybe, you want to try to stick it to them with some more evil revenge like this and this. Whatever you choose to do, do something.