Burglary, theft or stealing are all punishable crimes out here in the real world. This is why there is no reason why these crimes should go unpunished in the World Wide Web. As the Internet advances, the crimes pertaining to it are also increasing and getting more sophisticated. One of the most prevalent and devastating crimes on the Internet is content theft. This means stealing someone else’s online content and distributing or re-posting it as yours. Given the anonymity that comes with the Internet, web content theft is a crime that usually goes unpunished.

Theft targets

Web content thieves are making a lot of money out of the content that they steal. This content can range from written works and other text to photos and artworks. Websites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Mixx are sites that aim to give searchers a tailored experience of the Web. Thousands of websites and millions of content are being added to the Web everyday, and the mentioned sites aim to provide the user tools to wade through this website jungle. Unfortunately, content theft is also prevalent in these sites. These thieves submit or post their content (an art piece, a photograph, or a piece of literature), claiming that it is originally their own. What’s worse is that the website users even vote for this content.

See the signs

Web content theft is a serious violation that should be stopped at all costs. Despite the fact that not enough people are paying attention to the issue and it is often difficult to trace stolen content back to its source, there are now some indications that you can look out for to determine if content is stolen.

Just as real-world burglary is rampant in dark alleys and deserted lots, web content thievery is common in free blog hosting websites like blogspot, com and blogger.com. If you come across those pages that is chockfull of advertisements on top (that you actually have to scroll down for a while before seeing the content you are interested in), then that is a sign of stolen content. If the text, artwork or photograph has no author, artist or photographer, then it’s very likely that it’s also stolen.

Internet justice and marketing

The World Wide Web is a world that has rules that everyone needs to abide by. Online marketing is also an area that needs to be monitored. Some SEO companies who claim to provide you with high search engine ranking are actually resorting to illegal tricks in order to deliver their promise. Make sure you work with honest SEO companies like Blackwood Productions.