What's the deal with 'phantom followers' and content thieves?

  • docandcjautrey · Member ·

    It seems to be a large network of content thieves at work. Multiple WP accounts are used but all are obviously the same user in many cases. I’ve heard lots of speculation but I’m not sure what kind of scam is going on, but it’s happening system wide and I don’t like it. I think I can see what’s happening enough to know that it must also be very difficult for WP staff to identify or control, while I sympathize I also recognize this as a very serious problem and a threat to the security of the entire WP community.

    My questions are:

    1. What is WP doing to eliminate this threat?
    2. Can I ask WP to view and identify questionable ‘followers’ on my blog then target them for removal?
    3. If not, how do I block or remove them myself?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • timethief · Member ·

    Please read and act on:
    https://en.support.wordpress.com/prevent-content-theft/
    https://en.support.wordpress.com/fair-use/

    Copyright Infringement – What to Do

  • timethief · Member ·

    We cannot block or delete subscribers from public blogs. Anyone and everyone can access public blogs and that’s indeed what the public designation means. However, please read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

    To change blog visibility to Private go to Dashboard > Settings > Reading scroll to Site Visibility and choose option 3
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

    You don’t need an upgrade of any kind at all to invite multiple people to contribute to a private blog. See:
    adding users http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/
    user roles http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/
    Note that you have complete control over everything that’s posted to your blog via comment moderation
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

    For trolls, you can “blacklist” them at Settings > Discussion toward the bottom of that page. Enter their email address, their username, and if they included it, their website URL. That will automatically send them to moderation so that their comments do not appear on the blog. Do note though that if they are determined, they can use a different email address or username to get around that.

    Also, do not put their IP address in the blacklist. IP addresses are no longer unique, and you might end up blocking legitimate visitors. In fact for over a decade only about 30% of us have IPs that trace back to any individual computer. Also, all they would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.

    Our reality is that if the ability to remove or followers existed our time would be squandered on removing unwanted followers because anyone can get a new email address and or a new IP in seconds flat and then they can subscribe again to any public blog they were removed from.

    If someone has an inappropriate rating for a Gravatar image, please log into to Gravatar and use the “Report Abuse” link on their Gravatar profile bottom right hand corner to let Staff know.

    Also note that on this page > Settings > Discussion if you scroll down you will find you can set a Maximum Rating for gravatar display on your blog.

    G — Suitable for all audiences
    PG — Possibly offensive, usually for audiences 13 and above
    R — Intended for adult audiences above 17
    X — Even more mature than above

    If the follower has an inappropriate blog hosted here at WordPress.com, you can also report that to us so we can deal with that: Report Mature or Spam Blogs http://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/

    Please see this Staff reply concerning spam followers:
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/a-follower-who-just-linked-my-blog?replies=31#post-2183095

  • catwoodsporchparty · Member ·

    docandcjautrey, and WordPress staff

    I know we are responsible for protecting our own copyrighted content. I have been trying to contact a site that is displaying dozens of my blog’s photos without permission. While looking around I found photos from 29 WordPress blogs that are also displayed there and I’m betting like me, they did not give permission, and that they don’t know their content is there. I cannot contact all those myself due to physical limitations and I really think WordPress needs to make some kind of general announcement. I would like a WordPress staff email address. I won’t mention the name of the site publicly.
    Again, I know it is up to us to protect our own content.
    I don’t want to take my blog private.
    BTW none of that site’s contact information works.

    I’ve had some dubious followers show up over the last few months and I don’t know if that’s connected to the content theft or not.

  • timethief · Member ·

    In order to pursue any copyright issue you must locate the web host of site where your stolen content is published without your permission http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ and then file DMCA takedown notice with the site’s web host. Are you clear on that?
    Copyright Infringement – What to Do https://en.support.wordpress.com/copyright-infringement-what-to-do/

  • timethief · Member ·

    I would like a WordPress staff email address. I won’t mention the name of the site publicly.

    If your copyrighted material has been used without your permission and in violation of the law, and it is on a site being hosted by wordress.COM please submit a formal DMCA notice by following the instructions found here: http://automattic.com/dmca.

  • catwoodsporchparty · Member ·

    Yes, thank you timethief, I am aware of contacting the host, and will do so, but it’s good to have that link.

    The site doing the infringing is not hosted by wordpress.com.

  • timethief · Member ·

    The site doing the infringing is not hosted by wordpress.com.

    Right and that’s exactly what I suspected.

  • docandcjautrey · Member ·

    timethief,

    Thanks for your time and effort, it is sincerely appreciated. Although I was already aware of most of it, I scanned the info you provided. But I find the “answers” or solutions provided woefully inadequate.

    I realize WP is not at fault here, there will always be scammers who find ways around the rules. But I do believe WP has a responsibility to make the entire membership aware of the threat and furthermore to take strong (er) actions to eliminate it.

    WP has issued conflicting statements regarding this issue and I can clearly see that it is both a new and emerging threat, and also very difficult to combat. (Kudo’s to those who are already working on this problem) I can sympathize to that extent, but still this remains a WP security breach problem, not the responsibility of the membership to address.

    Sorry but,….. “Hey it’s the internet”, doesn’t cut it for me. Not when WP claims to take “privacy and security” so seriously.

    Beyond that, if this problem persists or increases, I’ll be looking for a new blogging home.

    Thanks again for your time and efforts, but I’m gonna leave this one marked as “unresolved”.

  • timethief · Member ·

    As you think you need a Staff response you can type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for one. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Then please subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.

  • auxclass · Member ·

    Beyond that, if this problem persists or increases, I’ll be looking for a new blogging home.

    So EXACTLY what would you have WordPress.COM do about sites that are not hosted on their servers?

  • docandcjautrey · Member ·

    Thanks timethief, you have been very patient and helpful and it is greatly appreciated.

    auxclass,

    If I had the answer to that, this thread would not exist. And like I said, this is a WP concern, not the memberships. We just ride in their vehicle, they are responsible for maintenance.

    I hope to be a small part of a solution rather than create a larger problem, bringing this to the attention of the WP staff is one way of initiating a solution that mutually benefits the entire community.

  • rachelmcr · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    If you notice anyone with a WordPress.com-hosted site violating the WordPress.com terms of service, please report them following our guide to Report a Site.

    Our team takes these reports seriously, and each report helps us improve our internal systems for dealing with those kinds of violations.

  • docandcjautrey · Member ·

    Rachel,

    Thank you.

  • jamesg1951 · Member ·

    A user on whynogod is accessing personal information of the members of that blog and posting it public ally can you at least have the administrator delete messages with personal information of the users in them?

  • auxclass · Member ·

    @jamesg1951 – assuming the blog is on WordPress.COM you can report the blog as noted in the link above to the Terms of service group – make sure to have a link to the comment(s) in the report – – or you could ask the blog owner to remove them

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