Hello group, One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. It appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb Project pages to build their site. Has anyone found a successful way to prevent these thefts? The CCs message is below with county name Xed out. Les Shockey SC WVGenWeb >Les, > Do you know what the policy of Rootsweb is as to their statement that > anything submitted to Rootsweb is copyrighted and the property of the > submitter? Do they do anything about someone who is stealing material > from one of the GenWeb sites and reposting it to another site as their > own? I am having this problem with a couple named Larry and Kim > Weaver. They are stealing the cemetery list I have posted on the XXXXXX > Co. site and re-posting them to another Internet database as their own > work. Any attempt to contact them about this has been ignored. It's been > going on for over a year, but only came to my attention several months > ago. I have demanded they remove the names they stole from the XXXXXX > site from this other web site known as FindAGrave. It's been several > months now and they have done nothing. >Will Rootsweb stand behind me and help me keep this couple from stealing >my hard work which I have donated freely to the Project? What can I do to >stop them from continuing to take my cemetery list and how do I make them >remove what has already been stolen? >I also believe they are stealing data from several other sites and I've >have written to the webmasters there too. Do you or Val have any >suggestions or advice for me? Les Shockey email address = lshockey@citynet.net or wvgenweb@citynet.net RootsWeb Listowner for the SHOCKEY family discussion group. SHOCKEY-L@rootsweb.com Visit the Jackson County, WVGenWeb Page, part of USGenWeb Project at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvjackso/JACK.HTM Visit the (West Virginia) WVGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgenweb/

I teach Internet Technology and must convince my students that they abide by the law when learning to build and create their Web sites. This is information we discuss in class. Copyright is implied even if it isn't specifically posted, whenever work is published. This was established in the Berne copyright convention, and original works created after 1989 is copyrighted whether a notice is posted or not. It applies to web sites. Facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted, but the way they are presented is. If FindAGrave is copying your work exactly and posting it, they are in violation of copyright law. If they are retyping the data and presenting it in a different format, there probably are no grounds for contention. Recent laws and decisions: 1991--the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that no one can copyright a compilation of facts, such as the information contained in a telephone directory's white pages (Feist vs. Rural Telephone) 1993--the Clinton Administration formed its Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights as part of the Information Infrastructure Task Force to resolve intellectual property disputes and digital distribution of text, images, and video and audio recordinmgs. A revision to copyright law was proposed in 1994, but it has met with considerable opposition because it is seen as limiting communication among scientists and educators. 1998--the On-Line Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act was signed into law to reinforce intellectual property rights on the Web. The law protexts an ISP from liability for copyright infringements on the ISP's Web servers as long as the ISP has no prior knowledge of the infringement. Once the ISP is informed of a copyright violation, the ISP must disable the online access to the information that has been questioned. Go after the ISP. Find out where FindAGrave is hosted and inform the ISP that they are violating copyright and the above law. There is no reason that they can't link to the site where the copyright owner has posted the information. That way, the CC receives the credit for his or her hard work and it brings more traffic to the site. Susan Susan Stockbridge Bellomo http://www.rootsweb.com/~nmgenweb/ State Coordinator, NMGenWeb County Coordinator, Chaves, Grant and Otero Counties ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lesley Shockey" <LShockey@citynet.net> To: <STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 7:51 AM Subject: [STATE-COORD] Fwd: Copyright > Hello group, > > One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. It > appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb Project pages > to build their site. > > Has anyone found a successful way to prevent these thefts? > > The CCs message is below with county name Xed out. > > Les Shockey > SC WVGenWeb > > >Les, > > Do you know what the policy of Rootsweb is as to their statement that > > anything submitted to Rootsweb is copyrighted and the property of the > > submitter? Do they do anything about someone who is stealing material > > from one of the GenWeb sites and reposting it to another site as their > > own? I am having this problem with a couple named Larry and Kim > > Weaver. They are stealing the cemetery list I have posted on the XXXXXX > > Co. site and re-posting them to another Internet database as their own > > work. Any attempt to contact them about this has been ignored. It's been > > going on for over a year, but only came to my attention several months > > ago. I have demanded they remove the names they stole from the XXXXXX > > site from this other web site known as FindAGrave. It's been several > > months now and they have done nothing. > >Will Rootsweb stand behind me and help me keep this couple from stealing > >my hard work which I have donated freely to the Project? What can I do to > >stop them from continuing to take my cemetery list and how do I make them > >remove what has already been stolen? > >I also believe they are stealing data from several other sites and I've > >have written to the webmasters there too. Do you or Val have any > >suggestions or advice for me? > > Les Shockey email address = lshockey@citynet.net > or wvgenweb@citynet.net > RootsWeb Listowner for the SHOCKEY family discussion group. > SHOCKEY-L@rootsweb.com > Visit the Jackson County, WVGenWeb Page, part of USGenWeb Project at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvjackso/JACK.HTM > Visit the (West Virginia) WVGenWeb: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgenweb/

At 09:51 AM 3/6/2004 -0500, you wrote: >Hello group, > >One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. It >appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb Project pages >to build their site. > >Has anyone found a successful way to prevent these thefts? > >The CCs message is below with county name Xed out. > >Les Shockey >SC WVGenWeb You didn't include the county name, so I couldn't compare that site. I did visit FindAGrave and compared their Jones county, IA information to the information I have on my Jones county site. There is much that is the same, but much more that is different. They do not have all the information that I do--they have some information that I don't. Some people who contributed information to their pages are they same people who contributed to my pages, others are different. All entries include the name of the contributor. The site appears to be legitimate. Here is their disclaimer: >Any information you submit to Find A Grave is subject to editorial review. >All content you submit must not conflict with the copyright laws of any >country, state or other legal entity. No copyright is claimed on >non-original or licensed material. > >Find A Grave, Inc. attempts to provide accurate information to the public. >We have thousands of sources for the data on our site and we list >information for millions of names. As with any project of this scope, >there will be inevitable inaccuracies. We are not responsible for any >actions taken or emotions invoked as a result of the information found >within our website. Of course, someone could take information from my pages and contribute it there, but I didn't see anything to indicate that had happened. -Isaiah

Is the problem with Find-a-Grave, or with the couple who is copying the info and sending it to them? A communication with the Find-a-Grave folks might put and end to this. Larry Flesher Lesley Shockey wrote: > Hello group, > > One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. > It appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb > Project pages to build their site. > > Has anyone found a successful way to prevent these thefts? > > The CCs message is below with county name Xed out. > > Les Shockey > SC WVGenWeb > >> Les, >> Do you know what the policy of Rootsweb is as to their statement >> that anything submitted to Rootsweb is copyrighted and the property >> of the submitter? Do they do anything about someone who is stealing >> material from one of the GenWeb sites and reposting it to another >> site as their own? I am having this problem with a couple named >> Larry and Kim Weaver. They are stealing the cemetery list I have >> posted on the XXXXXX Co. site and re-posting them to another Internet >> database as their own work. Any attempt to contact them about this >> has been ignored. It's been going on for over a year, but only came >> to my attention several months ago. I have demanded they remove the >> names they stole from the XXXXXX site from this other web site known >> as FindAGrave. It's been several months now and they have done nothing. >> Will Rootsweb stand behind me and help me keep this couple from >> stealing my hard work which I have donated freely to the Project? >> What can I do to stop them from continuing to take my cemetery list >> and how do I make them remove what has already been stolen? >> I also believe they are stealing data from several other sites and >> I've have written to the webmasters there too. Do you or Val have any >> suggestions or advice for me? > > > Les Shockey email address = lshockey@citynet.net > or wvgenweb@citynet.net > RootsWeb Listowner for the SHOCKEY family discussion group. > SHOCKEY-L@rootsweb.com > Visit the Jackson County, WVGenWeb Page, part of USGenWeb Project at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvjackso/JACK.HTM > Visit the (West Virginia) WVGenWeb: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgenweb/ > > > >

Lesley - Also report it to FindAGrave - see their policy at: http://findagrave.com/disclaimer.html Since their are Ancestory.com pop-ups - are you sure this isn't yet another one of their sites under a different name? R/S MAK --- Lesley Shockey <LShockey@citynet.net> wrote: > Hello group, > > One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. It appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb Project pages to build their site. ===== MAKTranscriber - http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwood http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiportag http://www.rootsweb.com/~wimonroe __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com

Here is the administrative contact to report any problems to. You also can contact the server which is burgoyne.com that they have rented space on, but the site is user submitted. Registrant: Find A Grave (FINDAGRAVE-DOM) PO Box 522107 Salt Lake City, UT 84152-2107 US Domain Name: FINDAGRAVE.COM Administrative Contact, Technical Contact: Tipton, Jim (JT3468) jim@FINDAGRAVE.COM Find-A-Grave PO Box 522107 Salt Lake City, UT 84152-2107 US 801/671.4677 fax: 801/581.8045 Record expires on 20-Jun-2008. Record created on 21-Jun-1997. Database last updated on 8-Mar-2004 13:53:48 EST. Domain servers in listed order: NS1.BURGOYNE.COM 209.197.0.2 NS3.BURGOYNE.COM 209.197.0.6 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lesley Shockey" <LShockey@citynet.net> To: <STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 9:51 AM Subject: [STATE-COORD] Fwd: Copyright > Hello group, > > One of my CCs is having a problem with an outfit called FindAGrave. It > appears that they are stealing information from the USGenWeb Project pages > to build their site. > > Has anyone found a successful way to prevent these thefts? > > The CCs message is below with county name Xed out. > > Les Shockey > SC WVGenWeb > > >Les, > > Do you know what the policy of Rootsweb is as to their statement that > > anything submitted to Rootsweb is copyrighted and the property of the > > submitter? Do they do anything about someone who is stealing material > > from one of the GenWeb sites and reposting it to another site as their > > own? I am having this problem with a couple named Larry and Kim > > Weaver. They are stealing the cemetery list I have posted on the XXXXXX > > Co. site and re-posting them to another Internet database as their own > > work. Any attempt to contact them about this has been ignored. It's been > > going on for over a year, but only came to my attention several months > > ago. I have demanded they remove the names they stole from the XXXXXX > > site from this other web site known as FindAGrave. It's been several > > months now and they have done nothing. > >Will Rootsweb stand behind me and help me keep this couple from stealing > >my hard work which I have donated freely to the Project? What can I do to > >stop them from continuing to take my cemetery list and how do I make them > >remove what has already been stolen? > >I also believe they are stealing data from several other sites and I've > >have written to the webmasters there too. Do you or Val have any > >suggestions or advice for me? > > Les Shockey email address = lshockey@citynet.net > or wvgenweb@citynet.net > RootsWeb Listowner for the SHOCKEY family discussion group. > SHOCKEY-L@rootsweb.com > Visit the Jackson County, WVGenWeb Page, part of USGenWeb Project at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvjackso/JACK.HTM > Visit the (West Virginia) WVGenWeb: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgenweb/ > >