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Stealing content for your web site - The [name deleted] way

January 22, 2005

Update - 16 March, 2007: I have decided to remove the name of the person involved because I think that enough has been written about him, and it's been a couple of years since the original incident. Since I'm ranked high on Google for his name, I don't see the need to let it stay that way. The hyperlinks to his site have also been changed to example.com

I know we all have writer's block from time to time. It's not easy to keep writing on your blog regularly. Some people wait a while, take a break, and come back when they have something worth writing about.

But not [name deleted].

Because Mr. [name deleted] thought that rather than write something original of his own, it would be oh so much easier to simply steal articles from others (Shanti has more) and reproduce them on his site. No, this wasn't with anyone's permission of course. He simply copied it word for word and posted it on his blog. To give it an air of originality, he even copied the comments from the original sites and posted it on his site. Hey, you gotta give him marks for thinking this through.

What was Mr. [name deleted] trying to do? We don't know. But after Amit Varma brought it to the attention of some of us, we decided to send an email asking him to remove the posts and give him 24 hours to comply. Well, we didn't get a response from [name deleted] so he's about to feel some blogger wrath from us. Next time somebody does a Google search for his name, he may get a little bit about [name deleted]'s blatant plagiarism.

Amit's article on plagiarism also talks about writers in major publications stealing large chunks from others. Having worked in the IT media in India, I know from first hand experience that this is common in the IT publications too. I have seen plenty of people do it, and I've worked with some of them. Some at least tried to paraphrase it. Many didn't bother. It was amusing to watch someone with no clue about SQL Server, for example, write a full article on the full-text search feature. It was clear they didn't exactly learn it all in two days. Plagiarism was so easy that it came naturally.

As a writer, I absolutely hate it when others rip off my work, and it's something I can never imagine doing. But hey, when the Slimes of India takes its page 4 Hollywood gossip directly from the Internet every day without any editing, and nobody bats an eyelid, you know that the problem is serious. It's not a crime if you don't get caught, right?

Well, Mr. [name deleted], you have been caught, and the Indian bloggers have something to say about it. Here's your 15 minutes of fame notoriety, mate!

Update: Ravages has sent an email pointing out further theft on [name deleted]'s site. But don't believe him; compare for yourselves:

http://www.example.com/2003/10/web-process-design.html
http://blogs.mit.edu/chsakda/posts/388.aspx

http://www.example.com/2003/10/query-against-uddi.html
http://blogs.mit.edu/chsakda/posts/389.aspx

http://www.example.com/2003/11/bad-art-night.html
http://crossimpact.net/archives/2003/11/17/bad-art-night-ex-votos/

http://www.example.com/2004/03/sun-ldap-provider.html
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/chrismay/entry/sun_ldap_provider_sucks/

http://www.example.com/2004/05/accessing-utk-ldap-server.html
http://blog.maisnam.com/archives/000062.php

http://www.example.com/2004/11/tomcat-in-high-volume-sites.html
http://www.jroller.com/page/carlossg/?anchor=tomcat_in_high_volume_sites

http://www.example.com/2004/12/open-source-identity-management.html
http://www.manageability.org/blog/stuff/single-sign-on-in-java/view

http://www.example.com/2005/01/collaboration-technologies-and-portals.html
http://jroller.com/page/portlets/20050202#collaboration_technologies_and_portals

Update (26 January): [name deleted] has apologised for his actions.

Reader comments

I can think of a nice filmi title for this: Rohan Pinto Ko Rona Kyun Aata Hai. I feel kind of sorry for the jerk, but he made his own bed ...

Posted by amit varma at January 22, 2005 2:51 AM

I can think of a nice filmi title for this: Rohan Pinto Ko Rona Kyun Aata Hai. I feel kind of sorry for the jerk, but he made his own bed ...

Posted by amit varma at January 22, 2005 2:52 AM

MadMan,

I had no clue who Rohan Pinto was until I read about him on your blog; and Amit's blog; and Shanti's blog; and Gautam's blog; and Chandru's blog.

You guys are doing well to stand up for a principle, but in the process, have given this cheat more airtime than he deserves.

As Gautam put it in his blog, shame is not exactly something these people would feel. So giving them any mention, that too by entire the A-team of the Indian blogosphere, only plays into their hands.

Condemning them to anonymity may perhaps be a good way to go.

Posted by Nitin at January 22, 2005 7:49 AM

This reminds me of the time some weirdo managed to copy not only my posts but my entire TEMPLATE, and made it a clone blog until Ravages found it on his tracker and informed me about it.

Some people, I tell you.

Posted by Whirlwings at January 22, 2005 11:33 AM

That mail was originally sent to me by blogger Chenthil

Chandru

P.S. What's this about not believing. Believing who - me or him?

Posted by Ravages at January 22, 2005 3:08 PM

Oh. Is that copycat from Delhi? :-D I know TOI is shit but didn;t know they depended on the web for their Hollywood gossip.

Posted by suman at January 22, 2005 7:14 PM

I agree with Nitin. Mentioning that slime ball on all the A-list blogs gives him undue publicity, however negative but he is getting noticed. I am not sure what exactly we can do about it but if anyone of you has Creative Commons, then you can explore violation of CC. Email Lessig to explore plan of action.

I am not gonna write about it although I am not a A-list blogger but enough attention has been lavished on him already. Bombard him with email or spam his comment box for every post.

Posted by Patrix at January 23, 2005 12:17 AM

Patrix and Nitin,

What we're doing is making a point that if you openly plagiarise, a bunch of people will take notice and expose you for it. And this is a particularly egregious example, since he copied from so many different sites.

The idea, apart from shaming Pinto, is to make an example of him and make enough noise that it serves as a derrent to any other slimeballs considering it in the future. Beware the power of the bloggers! (And on Monday, there will be another surprise.)

Hey, "A-team" - I like that. :)

Posted by MadMan at January 23, 2005 12:28 AM

Me - A list? Wooohoo!

Posted by Ravages at January 23, 2005 11:31 AM

heyyyy!!!
Suddenly he is a celebrity. Wait a min, how come I am not on the A-list? How come my posts are not being copied?! I hate this Pinto guy for totally ignoring me...looks familiar though. Wish we could all land up at his place in San Jose for some tea.

Posted by alpha at January 24, 2005 5:54 AM

That shit has finally shutdown his blog and most websites. Well done, guys!

Posted by Harish at January 25, 2005 5:04 AM

I think Nitin might have had a point if he was just plagiarizing but his www.nsswitch.com site is in the very least giving misleading information or at the very worst bilking people out of money and committing fraud. I looked up redcross.org on his site and it said I could purchase it! It seems he has already disabled the offending system, which is a good thing at the very least, but several people including my self have taken screen shots.
I have sent emails to his hosting company, internic, as well as google at this point and hopefully at the very least this will get him to stop.

Posted by robi at January 25, 2005 10:32 AM

Read his answer. Its online at rohanpinto.com today on the 25th of Jan. Wonder how long it will be.

Posted by Vijay at January 25, 2005 3:34 PM

Now he has a link to a Deepak Chopra book on his site. Called

Peace is The Way

Posted by Robi Sen at January 26, 2005 12:09 AM

I dont really care if this guy plagarized or not, but being a FRAUD is a criminal offence anywhich way you look at it!!. I have taken your word for it and have filed a complaint at http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp on behalf of all you folks.

lets throw this guy into the slammer for life !!

Posted by Jignesh at January 27, 2005 1:18 PM

So we should all make the same complaints to http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp as if they receive a few dozen complaints they will react, they probably wont react on one or 2

Posted by tones at January 28, 2005 2:06 PM

Hi Madhu,

I wanted to send you all an email, but then thought that posting this message wherever I could "may" be better.

Please...Please...Please... DO not pursue this issue. I have let it go with no anger or malice. Like Amit Said "people make mistake, shit happens, lets moven on". So lets all do so. I made mistakes, and (not to offend anybody or start another chain) others did too... Why dont we all let bygones be bygones and just move on....

I admit that my rep has been ruined, years of hardwork has gone down in a matter of 3 days and may take 20 years to rectify. But thats the price I pay. I do not want others to pay a price like I did for mistakes that they "may" have commited.

This issue is causing a huge "rift" between people who knew each other so very well and were "brothers in arms". Who am I to cause this. If you do get an opportunity to do anything abot this, i request you to advise everybody else to just let this go. let it be a closed chapter with a "lesson learned".

Nobody could every rectify the damage it has caused. But we could all stop pursuing this and not fight like cats and dogs.

If people really want to do something about it, then delete all those posts that are out there. If posts could be edited, they could be deleted too... (but thats just my thoughts). Or let the posts remain, but do not contibue badgering each other.

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

this exact same post would be posted on all blogs I see that indicates any continuation of this topic. (and probably some which have references to me directly and no continuation)

Rohan Pinto

Posted by Rohan Pinto at January 28, 2005 10:56 PM

Rohan, I'm done with it. And I think all of us are too.

Posted by MadMan at January 28, 2005 11:13 PM

Check Rohan Pintos site!, it points to Abuse.net ! Wow!

Rohan, if you are reading this, i guess, its out of Madhu's control now!

Posted by Arjun at February 17, 2005 8:03 PM

Move over 'for your site'. Here's Rediff stealing content from my site!

I run a couple of sites, one of which is a 100 word review blog called Milliblog (http://www.itwofs.com/milliblog). The blog is reasonably popular. Recently, my 100 words on Emdan Magan, a new Tamil film soundtrack, with music by Vidyasagar went up on August 16th. I do have postings on a couple of other forums to back up the posting date in case my date is questioned. Rediff's review was posted by S Sudha on August 21st. (http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/aug/21emdan.htm)

Do I see a Kaavya-styled internalized lift here? Sample these!

Mine: "As a soundtrack, Emdan Magan disappoints…"
Rediff: "Vidyasagar's score for Emden Magan is not great; in fact, it is disappointing…"

Mine: "Varaaru is marginally catchy, which will need significant help from its picturization to impress better"
Rediff: "Vaararu Varaaru is marginally catchy, but will need significant help from its accompanying visuals to impress."

Mine: "Kalloori is a routine youngster's track in the usual Vidyasagar mode."
Rediff: "Kalloori is a routine youth track in the usual Vidyasagar style."

Mine: "The composer returns to his Thambi-styled melodies in Koligundu kannu and Mannmeedhu - both are beautifully tuned and very well sung."
Rediff: "He comes up with his Thambi-style melodies in Koligundu Kannu and Mannmeedhu, both of which are tastefully tuned and very well sung."

How's this for plagiarism? And to think I actually run a very popular website on plagiarism (albeit on Indian music! - http://www.itwofs.com)

Posted by Karthik at August 22, 2006 5:27 PM

Shit remains long time..............., do not steal other peoples work or ideas. Or atleast acknowldege. But the old habits do not die, watch out.........

Posted by Barb at March 15, 2007 5:42 AM

Just to let you know IndiaNIC.com is another site who are stealing contents from various sites and posting at blogspot to gain link benefites. here is the link to your reference.

http://opensourceprogramming.blogspot.com/

Posted by Amber at December 5, 2008 5:59 PM

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