9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

My old website has resurfaced online without my permission, what can I do?

by Lainie
8 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
I don't know where to post this for advice, so if it is in the wrong place I apologise, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

Last night I received an email from Google Alerts which said two pages from my old website had been mentioned. I clicked the links thinking this isn't my site anymore.

Now, I gave up this website three years ago, deleted all the content, uploaded one blank page, cancelled the hosting package, had a long chat with someone from the hosting company who was trying to get me to change my mind and then I let the domain name expire naturally.

I knew the domain name could be sold again to a new owner but I didn't make any agreement with the purchaser of my domain name to also purchase my website's content, so none of my site's contents should be displayed.

I certainly didn't expect all my original content to be up there. Everything is exactly the same and even the About Me page is still about me!

I'm really confused. How on earth did they get all my content and what can I do about it?
  • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
    Originally Posted by Lainie View Post

    I don't know where to post this for advice, so if it is in the wrong place I apologise, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

    Last night I received an email from Google Alerts which said two pages from my old website had been mentioned. I clicked the links thinking this isn't my site anymore.

    Now, I gave up this website three years ago, deleted all the content, uploaded one blank page, cancelled the hosting package, had a long chat with someone from the hosting company who was trying to get me to change my mind and then I let the domain name expire naturally.

    I knew the domain name could be sold again to a new owner but I didn't make any agreement with the purchaser of my domain name to also purchase my website's content, so none of my site's contents should be displayed.

    I certainly didn't expect all my original content to be up there. Everything is exactly the same and even the About Me page is still about me!

    I'm really confused. How on earth did they get all my content and what can I do about it?
    Google takes snapshots of site pages and often lists them long after they have expired (are you getting there via google?) Typing in the site name and getting them also is puzzling. The association with the physical location should have long since been broken.

    So, looks like either it was not deleted (due to your quirky webhosts) and the association of the domain not broken or you are looking at snapshots or something.

    The other thing that comes to mind is that you are looking at your web browser cache version of it, clear your cache, try a different browser or someone else's machine or one in a store.

    Type the old physical full address of the site. You should get not found.

    Hope something out of the above helps.
    Signature

    Feel The Power Of The Mark Side

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10894639].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    It may be someone has downloaded your site from the Wayback machine. This is a ploy used by unscrupulous SEOers. They buy an expired domain then use the Wayback machine to download content which is stored on Archive.org to recreate the site.
    Signature
    Discover the fastest and easiest ways to create your own valuable products.
    Tons of FREE Public Domain content you can use to make your own content, PLR, digital and POD products.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10894757].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    I would send a polite but firm email to the new owner that they should remove your content immediately or they can purchase it for $_______(not including the About page). Advise them that they need to do one of the other within ___ days or you will be sending DMCA notices.

    You know you are not dealing with a very smart thief if they even put the About page back up. I think that would concern me the most since they are probably also involved in other shady practices that may somehow start to be attributed to you.

    I never used it and I don't know if it is still around but a dozen years or so ago there was a company that offered a service to restore expired websites. It was only $20 or something and by mining the Wayback machine they claimed they could often restore an entire website including themes, html, content, and url's for posts and pages so old links would work again.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10894873].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lainie
    Thanks for the replies...

    Ianfear63... I know it's not a cached version because my pages were made years ago and had a .htm extension, these pages have a .html extension which is something I would have done had I kept the site but the task was too big for me at the time because there are hundreds of pages.

    When I clicked the link I was curious to see what the new owner had done with my old domain name, I was shocked to see my old site exactly as it was when I deleted it.

    Kurt... I think this must be how they have the entire website.

    I'm full up with a cold at the moment and not thinking straight, I think the best idea is to send them an email and request they remove all my content and see how that goes.

    Janice... I will try the email approach but the domain name is owned by a company called Perfect Privacy based in Jacksonville, Fl and the email address is [@ domain discreet.com] so it already sounds dodgy to me anyway.

    I'm not holding out much hope of them co-operating with me.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10895265].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      Originally Posted by Lainie View Post

      Thanks for the replies...

      Ianfear63... I know it's not a cached version because my pages were made years ago and had a .htm extension, these pages have a .html extension which is something I would have done had I kept the site but the task was too big for me at the time because there are hundreds of pages.

      When I clicked the link I was curious to see what the new owner had done with my old domain name, I was shocked to see my old site exactly as it was when I deleted it.

      Kurt... I think this must be how they have the entire website.

      I'm full up with a cold at the moment and not thinking straight, I think the best idea is to send them an email and request they remove all my content and see how that goes.

      Janice... I will try the email approach but the domain name is owned by a company called Perfect Privacy based in Jacksonville, Fl and the email address is [@ domain discreet.com] so it already sounds dodgy to me anyway.

      I'm not holding out much hope of them co-operating with me.
      I find that strange that the new owners of the domain would want to keep or steal the entire website unless it has some presence in the search results for certain keywords, in which case, you should see that they have put up their own affiliate ads to capitalize on that.

      One things for certain, the contents are not on your web host's servers, the domain nameservers are disassociated with where the domain is pointing too when it expires.

      The only conclusion then is that they have stolen/recreated your content and site. So, I would take snaphots of all pages, save them, including your contact details in the about, find out the administrative contact and send them a take down/cease and desist notice. Threaten legal action if not complied with. Disclaimer: I'm not a Lawyer, but something along those lines.
      Signature

      Feel The Power Of The Mark Side

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10897105].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Lainie,

      What everyone said is possible, and likely what happened. Going to the wayback machine can ONLY restore the STATIC content, at the point it was scraped. So if youtube died, and someone tried to use the wayback machine to restore it, the login, search, post, editing, suggestions, etc.... would NOT work, though the site would look the same at first glance.

      .html was the old standard, but many changed it to .htm to simplify working on windows systems that started as 8.3 format names. It is possible that some scraper, or program reformatted the names. ALSO, as I implied earlier, a PHP(for example) file CAN NOT be copied! If they wanted to copy a PHP file, they could scrape the page and rename it to .html or .htm. They would NOT copy the php file, but the appearance of it at that moment.

      One reason for copying your whole site is to maintain links. If a popular page changes, even in some minr way, people may stop linking to it, etc.... Also, google could sense a change and maybe spider things and see differences or something, and rerank pages. So I could see why they would want the domain as it was if it was popular, saleable, or attracted certain people.

      Hiding the ownership details is a good idea, and isn't a sign of bad intent. Though reconstructing your site like that IS. Such a place should allow you to pass on details like this. Just make it clear that you are complaining to the owner of that domain name, record it, give them a reasonable time and, if they don't comply, report it to the registrar. Give THEM a reasonable amount of time and if THEY don't comply, report both to the REAL registrar, and start legal action. Give them a reasonable amount of time and if they don't comply, report it to icann.

      A word of advice. I am not a lawyer, but the above should work, and is more than reasonable.

      Steve
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10897307].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    If you are having trouble finding a correct contact source on the site or through whois you can still send a DMCA notice to their host. To find out who is hosting there site you can go here: whoishostingthis.com

    From my experience hosting companies usually act swiftly when they receive DMCA notices.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10897028].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lainie
    My old website was de-activated on 09-Jun-2014 by the hosting company and they said 'please note that once deleted, all data associated with that hosting account (including web pages, databases, e-mail configuration and storage) will be removed from our servers.' And the domain name expired four months later on 20-October-2014. So It's only 2 years, it just seems like longer.

    Amazingly, in 2008 someone copied and pasted my sales page to their own site, which I had paid to have written professionally, I wrote to the owner of the website twice and they completely ignored me. I then wrote to their hosting company asking them to remove the content or else I would be forced to take further action and the page was gone within 48 hours.

    It was simple to do then because I was the owner of the site and could prove the content was mine, what worries me is I no longer have the site or the email address attached to it. The only thing I have is my name, is that enough to prove all the content is mine? Or is it a case of their word against mine?

    I've spent a bit of time on my old site today and some things that shouldn't be working still work. I've clicked the 'buy now' button on my ebook page to see what would happen and it took me to the right page on Paypal, I could have paid myself for my own book if I'd continued but I don't think it would have downloaded properly. I also tried a free download ebook and it arrived as a corrupt file that couldn't be opened although the title was correct. The Google search feature still works.

    All of my affiliate links now link to the home page. The DMCA content protection badge is still there on every page which I find weird considering they've stolen it from me.

    Some Youtube videos still show, Facebook comments are still showing.

    I've also gathered all the information I need to start writing the emails, I just need this cold to go and my head to clear a bit so I can think straight.

    Thanks again for all your help.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10898794].message }}

Trending Topics