I have two blogs. You are reading Again? Really? My first blog, Health Insurance Issues With Dave, started a year earlier. Some of you visit both sites. Some read only one of the blogs. Since the other blog deals specifically with the American health care system, you would think that the readership would be limited to U.S. residents. That’s what I thought.
My blogs contain links to source information as well as to songs to lighten what can sometimes be a very serious subject. Since some of the topics on the insurance blog may appear several times, say, for example, the Texas lawsuit that was designed to destroy our health care system,
I often link to previous posts that may have already covered the topic. About eight years ago I started to notice pingbacks from a site in Eastern Europe. My blog was being lifted, word for word, and being posted on another website. Why? I can only imagine that they were adding content in the hopes to sell ads. There was nothing I could do. This went on for a few months until they tired of me and found the work of some other unsuspecting blogger. Now the website stealing my blog is located in Spain.
The Eastern European site lifted my blog and posted it without changes. I recently followed the pingbacks to a site based in Spain. The Spanish site runs my blog through a translator to Spanish and then back to English! The picture was me, but the post was now called Well Being Coverage Points About Insurance With Dave. Some of it still makes sense. Some of it is pure gibberish. There are still links, but it would be foolish to click on them. And, what is really crazy, the blog appears to have lots of readers. I have always wanted to visit Barcelona. Could you imagine what it would be like to be stopped in the street and greeted by one of my “readers”?
I may joke about my new found fame in Spain, but this is a more serious subject for those outlets that post content as part of their business. My most recent insurance post dealt with Senator Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) effort to prevent the Biden administration from resolving the Family Glitch, a problem within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). My research led me to an excellent article from Justin Backover of WFMZ TV. The station is in Allentown, Pa. I could read his article on the station’s website or FIVE other sites. The other websites fail to mention either Mr. Backover or his employer. They simply lifted some or all of his content and are now selling advertising based on his efforts. Do they get away with it? Sure. Who knows where these websites are based? And their cookies are now in your system.
I have no idea how to address this plagiarism. Since I don’t sell advertising and these posts are simply for our amusement, it is hard to say how I am being hurt by this. But it is wrong. And all the fame I may acquire in Spain or Lower Slobbovia isn’t worth it.
Dave
Picture – In Lower Slobbovia – David L Cunix