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If you haven't already, try adding some "trap streets" to your data. Map makers occasionally include streets that don't exist, so if a competitors map includes
by SyneRyder 8y ago
If you haven't already, try adding some "trap streets" to your data. Map makers occasionally include streets that don't exist, so if a competitors map includes it too, it's clear that the competitor copied it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
I did that with an online marketing dictionary I wrote years ago, some of the definitions included strange usage examples that contained the names of several of my friends. When a competitor scraped us, instead of shutting them down, the boss negotiated a data licensing arrangement with the scraper instead, so we ended up getting a revenue stream & backlinks out of the incident.
If that fails, and talking to them directly doesn't work, then the DMCA is often effective. I've made DMCA requests against websites that distributed cracks of my software & they often disappeared in a couple of days.
- partycoder 8y agoSimilar to trap streets are "phantom settlements", aka "paper towns", which are fake towns rather than streets. Now, this idea is not limited to maps: Google used trap search results to catch Microsoft using Internet Explorer to scrap Google search results: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-search.html https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- m0nty 8y agoI was told all these phenomena (on maps) are referred to as "cartographers' follies", so the other names are interesting to hear. In the "real world", it was commonplace for compilers of mailing lists to include several "phantom names" in their lists. If those names received a mail, the list-holder would send an invoice to the person who sent it. Simple, elegant, very difficult to bypass way to protect your knowledge-based business.
- stef25 8y agoThis is the same as "poison pills" right? A directory website would include some fake entries so that if they pop up on other sites they could have only come from copying the original directory. A scraper could get around that by x-referencing the data with another source, if possible.
- S-E-P 8y agoThough that creates quite a bit of extra overhead, and you only really have to catch them once.
- codedokode 8y agoCopyright protects only creative works, not any information as I understand.
- wongarsu 8y agoIt doesn't in the US, but collections of information are protected in the EU and some other places [1] 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_generis_database_right https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_generis_database_right
- bena 8y agoIt's a little weird. Trap streets often aren't protected by copyright as the existence or non-existence of something is a fact and facts aren't copyrightable. And maps are nothing more than a collection of facts. As are recipes. You can take the recipes in a cookbook, write them down, and disseminate them how you choose and no one could say boo. Which is why Coca-Cola guards its recipe carefully. Once it is known, they can't do anything about it. You can't copyright "a lot of sugar, carbonated water, caramel coloring, mix". But you also can't just photocopy a map and sell it as your own. Presentation falls under copyright. The look of the map is a distinct piece of art that has copyright protections. The combination of colors, fonts, line thickness, placement of labels, etc, are all things you can't reproduce. But the information that Bob Street crosses Bill and Jill streets at these points, that's just facts.
- bausshf 8y agoInclude a base64 encoded image as a street name.