SmartHouse Admits to David Richards' Content Theft
Posted by junger | May 1st, 2008
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
A representative for 4SquareMedia, the Australian company owned by mass plagiarist David Richards, has admitted to Richards' theft of content, despite his "ghost hacker" excuses.
In an email sent to me, Nicole Bence, a "director" at 4SquareMedia, has the audacity to ask if they can use content from CE Pro — after I asked them AGAIN to remove a story they stole from us (emphasis is mine).
Hi Jason,
My name is Nicole Bence and I am a Director at 4Square Media. I understand David has put up some of your stories in the past without permission. Obviously with web content stories are shared on a daily basis and I was hoping to get some feedback from you in regards to our sites. We have removed this story, but we would like to be able to push our readers to your content when necessary. Is this a possibility and if so what are your guidelines for ensuring CE Pro are given the correct reference.
Thanks Jason – appreciate your help.
Regards,
Nicole
The number of comments and emails I've received from people who have worked for David Richards is constantly growing, and they all have one theme: how horrible it was.
At this point, it's pretty obvious he is not going to change (even if he is exposed all over Australian TV).
For anything to happen, his advertisers need to stop supporting him. But from rumblings I've heard, he doesn't make it easy for them to do that.
Honestly, I'm sick and tired of dealing with this guy.
(BTW - this admission started after SmartHouse copied an article from CE Pro with no permission to do so, despite giving "CE Pro" the byline. I emailed them, and Bence's response followed.)
I'm glad to hear that this matter was resolved though it does sound like an odd case of this indeed.
Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on getting this handled and keeping a cool head. If there's anything I can do to help with future cases, definitely let me know!
It's my understanding that Nicole Bence is David Richard's daughter in law. The plot thickens.
Nicole Bence is David's step-daughter. She defends all his actions and lies to cover his tracks so in my opinion is almost as bad as him.
Good news, SmartHouse fans!
Google is interested in hearing more evidence of Richards' content theft because they are considering removing his sites from their news listings. But they need more evidence before making a decision.
Google News is a major source of traffic to sites like SmartHouse. It's not unusual for these sites to get hundreds of thousands of hits a month from clicks on Google News links. All those viewers produce advertising revenue for SmartHouse, and the attention makes it much more likely that their stories will be linked by blogs and get additional massive traffic flows from social bookmark sites like Digg and Reddit.
Copyright holders, PLEASE contact Google News, providing details of your own articles that were plagiarized by David Richards in the past. Give Google this reference number [#263573668] so they can refer to the complaint I've already made.
Please forward this message to other copyright holders who have had their work stolen by David Richards. Feel free to repost any part of it on blogs or forums.
Here's a recent email exchange I had with Google about SmartHouse and David Richards
Re: [#263573668] Plagirism by Smarthouse.com.au and associated websites
From: help@google.com
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for our delayed response. We will investigate this news source per our policy. Please have the copyright holder of the allegedly plagiarized material contact us directly so that we can resolve that issue immediately.
Regards,
The Google Team
Original Message Follows:
————————
Subject: Plagirism by Smarthouse.com.au and associated websites
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008 (…)
Hello,
I'd like to suggest Google News considers removing Smarthouse.com.au and associated websites from its index.
A substantial number of the Smarthouse news stories linked by Google News in the past were plagiarized from other sites.
The site's owner and lead reporter, David Richards, was recently exposed as a liar and plagiarist by the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Numerous online sources, including established journalists who give their names, have accused David Richards of being a liar and a plagiarist.
Here's a link to the ABC's program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdtvJAKEHeU
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2178689.htm
Here's a list of some of the many cases of plagiarism:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=439341&r=14759543#r14759543
David Richards claims that he has just discovered that his website was hacked by enemies who inserted the many plagiarized articles over a period of two years. This is a frankly unbelievable claim, given the number of different people who report online that they have complained repeatedly to Smarthouse about this during the past few years.
Here are a few links with more information and allegations:
http://www.jasonunger.com/2007/12/19/david-richards-technology-journalisms-biggest-plagiarist/
http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/smart-house-plagiarism-868.shtml
And this case, where Smarthouse apparently plagiarized a four-year-old story and then fed it to Google News as current news, seems particularly telling. If this is true, then even ignoring the plagiarism issue, does Google News really want to link to such an unreliable source?
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/12/anatomy_of_a_goof_xbox_360_sal.php
It's my understanding that Smarthouse may have been banned from Google Adsense following complaints of plagiarism. Some claim online that the company has been dropped by at least one hosting company for the same reasons.
FYI, other sites in the Smarthouse family, published by David Richard's 4SquareMedia, include
http://www.smartofficenews.com.au/
http://www.digitalhome.com.au/
Best,
Matthew (full name removed)
You better believe I'll be joining the party. We need to contact other content owners whose content has been stolen to file complaints against both his hosting company and Google News.
Trackbacks/Pings