If Google gets involved with the legal aspects, all they would be doing is claiming liability for a problem they didn’t create (but they bought Blogger to SPAM text ads, hellooooo). You can shut down syndication, you can create permission-based syndication, or limit what content is syndicated. The thief is liable, not Google/Blogger. There are ways to stop content thiefs.

I have had one “cease and desist” letter issued to one content thief, previously. I have also previously asked another Realtor to remove a post from her blog for reprinting one of my posts without permission (she was rude about it, but she removed it).

This is the blogosphere and it’s very open-source. If you don’t like dealing with the pitfalls of an open-source environment, maybe you should stick to ads and postcards, or print publications. If you want content removed go to the source. I do. And when I do I pull out my lawyers if I need to.

If you sign your posts and link back to your blog via your name, it really benefits you more than the spammer if they steal your content, anyway. My leads and PR were hgher when I allowed spammers to steal my blog posts with my full name linked back to my site. I kind of regret limiting what they can steal now, as most of them no longer steal my content because they can’t take the full post. Limit what they can take via Feedster and they won’t take it. However, if you can, use spammers to your benefit. They’re going to be here, so we may as well use them for something.

Cheers.

Instead, Blogger is asking you to take up the issue with the splog owner…. yeah, right, that’s gonna work…

The splog problem on Blogspot is one of the things that makes me shake my head. For all their technological savvy, Google seems to fumble a lot when it comes to Blogger.

Another case in point is the recent addition of the captcha functionality on Blogger to reduce comment spam. Since day one I’ve been curious (and dismayed) to see that even logged in Blogspot users must fill out the captcha in order to post a comment (assuming the blog owner has the captcha turned on).

IMHO, the fact that a user is logged into the system with a legitimate account should short-circuit all other spam tests.

The current situation shows that Google can’t even trust legititmate accounts to be human and not spambots, which is indicative of the real rot underneath Blogspot.

Thinking out loud…

Yeah, good idea – a blog that consists of making comments as posts, and auto-email each one to google’s abuse email address maybe? That would take like 5 minutes to set up.

So if they aren’t removing content, and have been asked to remove it because of a copyright issue, isnt’ there grounds for legal action?

Maybe, if nothing else, someone should setup a page whereby we can point out content that’s been stolen and automatically email Google about it?

And as for LJ and typepad, Typepad is a pay-service. Spammers don’t want to pay to setup quick spam blogs. And, I’ve come across LJ splogs: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/10/17/livejournal-splog/ , although there’s a disincentive because they are by default non-indexable.

Also, you would be unable to launch a class action lawsuit unless there was a cause of action – i.e. Google refuses to take down your copyrighted material