Plagiarism and other forms of workplace theft

Copyright theft, plagiarism – whatever you call it, I was recently a victim of a light-fingered online fraudster. Yes, a US scoundrel of a website was stealing the fine words from this very blog and publishing them as their own. This dishonourable operation neither asked my permission nor had the decency to attribute the pilfered posts to the AfternoonDebate blog or me personally.

Tackling copyright theft

I’m not the only writer this happens to. There are two common responses from victims:

1. A resigned shrug of the shoulders and brushing it off as a peril of the digital age.
2. Those who put up a fight.

As a freelance journalist and copywriter, I make a living from the words I write, so someone stealing them makes me angry. Yes, I’m a number 2. Stealing copy is not only dishonest, it's also a legally dubious pursuit that you can get in a lot trouble for. 

So what did I do? I confronted the website owners and also made a legal complaint via Google about the site (it was a Blogger powered website). At the same time a fellow victim (the wonderful Evil HRLady) also threatened website takedown action via the DMCA (Digital MilleniumCopyright Act). The result: the website has been taken down and no longer has any content. Victory.

Is someone stealing your praise?

Plagiarism isn’t the only form of theft that can happen in the workplace (and we're not just referring to your stapler that's gone missing again). Every day unscrupulous managers and leaders take credit for their subordinates work - they steal your hard-earned praise. How do you feel when your boss beams with pride as someone slaps him or her firmly on the back for the work you’ve done? 

Do you shrug your shoulders or put up a fight?

Special thanks to Evil HR Lady for spotting the thieving website and getting them taken down.