5 ms·

did you get it taken down?

kevando 13y ago
Yeah, I'm curious what happened? I had a client have something like this happen. No stolen code, but someone copied her site.
- smacktoward 13y ago
  I had a friend who had this happen to her -- some SEO spammer picked up the complete text of her blog and posted it under a bunch of different domains, full of hidden links. It was reasonably easy to deal with, though; all you need to do is figure out where the sites are hosted, and then submit a DMCA complaint to the host's abuse address indicating they're hosting illegally copied copyrighted material. Legitimate hosts will take stuff like that down pretty quick. There's two things the DMCA requires that they'll look for in your complaint before they'll take action, though, so make sure you include them: 1) The statement "I swear under penalty of perjury" that you hold the copyright for the material, or that you are representing the person who does; and 2) A list of filenames that contain the infringing content. (If the host won't take action, you can file the complaint at whichever registrar the domain was registered through, too.)
dangero 13y ago
I contacted ODesk explaining what happened with all the evidence. By the next day the guy I had hired was contacting me saying that ODesk suspended his account indefinitely. He continued contacting me for about a year saying that he could no longer feed his family after "what I did". It was kind of a nightmare, but I think ODesk had pretty swift judgement because that's the kind of press they don't want. I also talked to the company that was using my code. They explained that they had hired him on ODesk and had no idea. They wanted nothing to do with the stolen code, and were very apologetic for their accidental involvement.
- user24 13y ago
  I'm not convinced the greater good was served in this case. edit as I'm being downvoted rapidly. All I'm saying is that oDesk typically connect a westerner with a developer in somewhere like India who thinks that being paid $3/hour is fantastic, and who's other options for a job are basically hard manual labour. Obviously I don't know the details of this situation which is why I just said I wasn't convinced. It seems very plausible to me that the worker really was unable to feed his family after having his account terminated, and it seems like a bit more lenience on the part of oDesk would be more reasonable. In the western world, if you steal code you expect to get fired. I totally understand that and that's why I just said it wasn't clear-cut to me that the right thing happened here. It might be, but I'm not sure. In the western world if you get fired you have a lot more options. Maybe situations that involve basically exploiting workers in other countries need a bit more sensitivity. I don't know. Maybe not. I'd appreciate a discussion instead of just downvoting.
  - bermanoid 13y ago
    These "workers" that are being "exploited" are just copying and pasting code, in this situation. In this case, the code doesn't even work properly, since it's calling someone else's analytics callback. No work has gone into this, just willingness to steal code. That's called cheating the customer...fuck these guys. Even if they need the money.
    - user24 13y ago
      I admire your certainty. Maybe it is as simple as that and I'm overthinking it. I can't quite express the difficulty I'm having in a comment so I'll try to write it up some time. I can't argue it yet, but my intuitive feeling is that it's socially irresponsible to create this economy for them and then pull the plug like this. The bigger picture, I think, is that OP got his code stolen which sucks, but the contractor (or one like him) may have to sell a kidney or go back to working 18 hour shifts in the factory with toxic fumes now. That doesn't seem proportionate.
      - Forplax 13y ago

Yeah, I'm curious what happened? I had a client have something like this happen. No stolen code, but someone copied her site.

smacktoward 13y ago
I had a friend who had this happen to her -- some SEO spammer picked up the complete text of her blog and posted it under a bunch of different domains, full of hidden links. It was reasonably easy to deal with, though; all you need to do is figure out where the sites are hosted, and then submit a DMCA complaint to the host's abuse address indicating they're hosting illegally copied copyrighted material. Legitimate hosts will take stuff like that down pretty quick. There's two things the DMCA requires that they'll look for in your complaint before they'll take action, though, so make sure you include them: 1) The statement "I swear under penalty of perjury" that you hold the copyright for the material, or that you are representing the person who does; and 2) A list of filenames that contain the infringing content. (If the host won't take action, you can file the complaint at whichever registrar the domain was registered through, too.)

dangero 13y ago

I contacted ODesk explaining what happened with all the evidence. By the next day the guy I had hired was contacting me saying that ODesk suspended his account indefinitely. He continued contacting me for about a year saying that he could no longer feed his family after "what I did". It was kind of a nightmare, but I think ODesk had pretty swift judgement because that's the kind of press they don't want. I also talked to the company that was using my code. They explained that they had hired him on ODesk and had no idea. They wanted nothing to do with the stolen code, and were very apologetic for their accidental involvement.

user24 13y ago
I'm not convinced the greater good was served in this case. edit as I'm being downvoted rapidly. All I'm saying is that oDesk typically connect a westerner with a developer in somewhere like India who thinks that being paid $3/hour is fantastic, and who's other options for a job are basically hard manual labour. Obviously I don't know the details of this situation which is why I just said I wasn't convinced. It seems very plausible to me that the worker really was unable to feed his family after having his account terminated, and it seems like a bit more lenience on the part of oDesk would be more reasonable. In the western world, if you steal code you expect to get fired. I totally understand that and that's why I just said it wasn't clear-cut to me that the right thing happened here. It might be, but I'm not sure. In the western world if you get fired you have a lot more options. Maybe situations that involve basically exploiting workers in other countries need a bit more sensitivity. I don't know. Maybe not. I'd appreciate a discussion instead of just downvoting.
- bermanoid 13y ago
  These "workers" that are being "exploited" are just copying and pasting code, in this situation. In this case, the code doesn't even work properly, since it's calling someone else's analytics callback. No work has gone into this, just willingness to steal code. That's called cheating the customer...fuck these guys. Even if they need the money.
  - user24 13y ago
    I admire your certainty. Maybe it is as simple as that and I'm overthinking it. I can't quite express the difficulty I'm having in a comment so I'll try to write it up some time. I can't argue it yet, but my intuitive feeling is that it's socially irresponsible to create this economy for them and then pull the plug like this. The bigger picture, I think, is that OP got his code stolen which sucks, but the contractor (or one like him) may have to sell a kidney or go back to working 18 hour shifts in the factory with toxic fumes now. That doesn't seem proportionate.
    - Forplax 13y ago