The growth and dependency of using RSS feeds to distribute your blog's content to other publishers has been an acceptable and often rewarding vehicle for expanding your reach. Among the most popular applications of RSS are for displaying "related content". Additionally, many start-ups have relied on the RSS feeds to provide a categorized index of related blogs to help in a user search. Generally, all is well with this approach.
But, when RSS falls in the wrong hands, copyrighted data could be illegally claimed and publishers may find themselves victims of identy theft.
This article exposes the dangers publishers face when utilization of RSS is available to sites like
Are You a Victim?
Visit the site,
thebloghub.com and enter your blog's title in the search box located in the upper right of the page. Then press "
search"
If the returned results indicate "
No Search found", then great.
You're safe.
But
if your blog is listed in the returned results,
your site has been compromised.
Don't Panic, and read on.
DO NOT ENTER ANY INFORMATION ON THE SITE - Don't try to login with you email address or username, and Don't enter a password. (See below).
Click on your blog's entry and you will be surprised to see that all of your content is being presented as if it is theirs. The title will be yours, and all of your recent posts will be displayed. Google ads will be surrounding your pirated posts. If someone clicks on them, thebloghub will receive the AdSense revenue.
Worse, move your mouse over the title of each post. You'll notice that the links point to their own internal pages, again, not yours.
The only place you will see reference to your site is under a header link titled:
Visit Author's Website.
What's Going On?
In my opinion, thebloghub is preying you your emotional vulnerability. You see your content has been stolen and you want it back.
Further, many new bloggers enroll their sites with a variety of sites, hoping to gain instant exposure to readership, and for back-links.
After a while, the blogger forgets: with whom he has registered, with what username; and with what password.
My three blogs are listed on their site. And, like most other victims,
I did not join this site. I am not a member, and I did not give them permission to display my content and change my links. But, my information is there anyway.
What They Want
I believe that thebloghub is trying to obtain our various usernames, email addresses, and passwords.
With this information and your IP address, they can determine where you live. This geographic data can be used to correlate which banks and credit cards you use. Further, they can access your email and other online accounts to gain access to you finances, etc.
In short, they are trying to Steal Your Identity!
The amount of revenue they will receive from Google ads is minimal by comparison to the value of your financial data.
They don't care about your content, only your private information.
Don't give it to them!
What you Should and Should Not Do
As a victimized blogger, there are four things that
you should do:
- Change Your Passwords Immediately if you entered any information on their site.
- Read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- Complete and submit Google AdSense DMCA Complaint Form
- Forget about it.
Additionally,
you should NOT:
- Try to contact them directly
- Report your URL's to them using the "Report Content Page"
- Give anyone your usernames, email addresses, or passwords.
- If contacted by them, do not respond.
Providing any information to thebloghub will only indicate that "
you are a live one", i.e. "
someone who's fallen for the bait"
Summary
In summary, RSS feeds can be a blogger's best friend. They can be used to help distribute your content and help you obtain a broader readership.
But in the hands of organized criminals, RSS feeds can be used as a decoy to obtain your most private personal data.
If you have discovered that thebloghub has stolen your content, don't fall into their trap. Instead, follow the advice we provided above and let the proper authorities investigate and resolve the problem
Stay safe,
JL............
