stolen script

[acidglitter]

someone has stolen all of the php (maybe mysql too) scripts for one of my sites. they've also stolen images and actual content made by me.... what kind of legal action can i take against them?

[Psycho]

There is no clear cut answer.

 

First off, 'how' did they ghet your content? hey would have had to have direct server access, so did they get that legally? Also, where you live, where the other person lives and where the server is located will have a lot to do with the legality and where you would have to file suit.

 

Do you know who stole it? If you only have an IP address youwould have to find out the person's IP address and suppeona their ISP. That might be difficult unless you can prove someone stole the code to begin with.

[acidglitter]

there is no way anyone could legally have direct server access. i actually just found someone posting in a message board saying they've cloned my sites look but re-wrote the php code and will sell you the cloned script. so its possible the site i found is just using that other persons script and not my own. but the rest of the content, all they had to do was copy and paste my html code. like the help page is almost EXACTLY the same as the one i wrote for my site. its also looking like my css code was stolen.... ooooh i'm really mad 

 

i'm living in the united states (utah if that matters) and i don't know where this other person is living. there could be more than one site out there using my codes as well....

[MasterACE14]

This is classed as 'PHP Help?'

[ignace]

can you post both websites?

[waynew]

POST POST POST ! 

[secoxxx]

I can understand you being upset, but really there is nothing you can do but complain and feel happy someone likes your work so much they would steal it because they are untelented sob's.

[acidglitter]

I can understand you being upset, but really there is nothing you can do but complain and feel happy someone likes your work so much they would steal it because they are untelented sob's.

 

 

i'm pretty sure its against some kind of copyright though to steal someones images and content..

[secoxxx]

whats the website's

[Psycho]

I can understand you being upset, but really there is nothing you can do but complain and feel happy someone likes your work so much they would steal it because they are untelented sob's.

 

 

i'm pretty sure its against some kind of copyright though to steal someones images and content..

 

Of course you are assuming this person resides in a country that abide's by your country's copyright laws. You don't know who this person is or where they live. You could spend a lot of money trying to determine those things and still not be able to file suit.

 

As for your statement that the person would not have access to the server: if that was the case they would not be able to steal your PHP code as you stated in your initial post. Anyone can copy the HTML code generated on a page, but accessing the PHP code is a different thing entirely.

[ardyandkari]

As for your statement that the person would not have access to the server: if that was the case they would not be able to steal your PHP code as you stated in your initial post. Anyone can copy the HTML code generated on a page, but accessing the PHP code is a different thing entirely.

 

not necessarily true.  there are search engine hacks where you can actually download the source file.  this should be illegal, but copyright laws aren't the same everywhere or even recognized everywhere.  i worked with a guy who came from jordan (arab).  they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.  not legal here, but not not legal everywhere.

[Daniel0]

As for your statement that the person would not have access to the server: if that was the case they would not be able to steal your PHP code as you stated in your initial post. Anyone can copy the HTML code generated on a page, but accessing the PHP code is a different thing entirely.

 

not necessarily true.  there are search engine hacks where you can actually download the source file.  this should be illegal, but copyright laws aren't the same everywhere or even recognized everywhere.  i worked with a guy who came from jordan (arab).  they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.  not legal here, but not not legal everywhere.

 

The only way you can view the source is if you have direct access to the server or if the server is misconfigured. Even then you can protect yourself by minimizing the amount of information that would be disclosed (see: http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorial/php-security/page5).

 

There is no search engine that can crawl the data on the server if it is not already available. Belief in a such thing just shows ignorance regarding how webservers and PHP work.

 

If we say you use Apache and mod_php then you will first load mod_php in a way similar to this:

LoadModule php5_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/libphp5.so

Then you will choose that files ending with .php should have the mime-type application/x-httpd-php:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Now whenever Apache is asked to serve a file with the extension .php it will forward the file to PHP first. PHP will then parse everything within the PHP tags and send it back to Apache which will finally send it to the client.

 

As you see, the source will only be sent to the client if the server is accidentally misconfigured. No "search engine hack" (whatever that's supposed to mean) can bypass the parsing step and retrieve the raw PHP source code from the webserver.

[GingerRobot]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

[Daniel0]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

 

In some countries foreign copyrights are not valid because they haven't signed treaties requiring them to.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties

[GingerRobot]

Yeah, i was aware of that. According to that article, Jordan has signed the relative treaties in any case.

 

I was more commenting on the fact that copyright infringement happens all over the place.

[Daniel0]

Yeah, sure. Anyone who think they can eliminate that are ignorant, naive fools.

[ardyandkari]

Yeah, i was aware of that. According to that article, Jordan has signed the relative treaties in any case.

 

I was more commenting on the fact that copyright infringement happens all over the place.

he was born in jordan...lived in that area, all that i remember is that he was muslim and had lived in jordan...sorry.

 

also, the point that i was making there was that it is not illegal everywhere.

 

The only way you can view the source is if you have direct access to the server or if the server is misconfigured. Even then you can protect yourself by minimizing the amount of information that would be disclosed (see: http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorial/php-security/page5).

 

There is no search engine that can crawl the data on the server if it is not already available. Belief in a such thing just shows ignorance regarding how webservers and PHP work.

 

If we say you use Apache and mod_php then you will first load mod_php in a way similar to this:

 

i used the intitle google hack.  i do believe that you can right click on the php pages shown and download the page at will...if i am wrong i am wrong...

[Daniel0]

You can only download (and index and search) the HTML, not the PHP code.

[TheFilmGod]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

 

In some countries foreign copyrights are not valid because they haven't signed treaties requiring them to.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties

 

That is why international copyright laws exist. Even if countries aren't responsible enough some papers, doesn't make it legal or ethcial for someone to fly to another country and copy your work.

[Psycho]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

 

In some countries foreign copyrights are not valid because they haven't signed treaties requiring them to.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties

 

That is why international copyright laws exist. Even if countries aren't responsible enough some papers, doesn't make it legal or ethcial for someone to fly to another country and copy your work.

 

Who ever said someone flew to another country to steal this person's scripts? If someone makes their content available in another country then they must be willing to abide by the laws in that country. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, it's difficult to filter who can view your content based upon the country they live in (Yes you can try and filter IPs and such, but they can just use a proxy).

 

From the US Copyright Office (emphasis added):

There is no such thing as an “international copyright” that will automatically protect an author’s writings throughout the world. Protection against unauthorized use in a particular country basically depends on the national laws of that country. However, most countries offer protection to foreign works under certain conditions that have been greatly simplified by international copyright treaties and conventions.

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl100.html

 

As you can see it says "most" and not "all".

[ardyandkari]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

 

In some countries foreign copyrights are not valid because they haven't signed treaties requiring them to.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties

 

That is why international copyright laws exist. Even if countries aren't responsible enough some papers, doesn't make it legal or ethcial for someone to fly to another country and copy your work.

 

 

the word ethics doesn't quite apply here...dont worry, i didnt know this until i did a search myself.

Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply not satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct[citation needed].

 

we are not discussing morals here, just the legalities of possible copyright infringement.  of course stealing isn't right...but people do it, some outright like joe 7-11 blow who goes around robbing gas stations, or jimmy dean who stops of in lala land to buy a pirated cd/dvd/software/etc.  one is in more of a gray area legally, but it is still wrong...to us.

 

what i mean by that is that to us, eating a dog is disgusting and wrong...in other countries it may be common practice.

[Daniel0]

they sell "copyrighted" data (video, software, etc) over there like hot cakes.

 

What, you mean like every other country on the planet?

 

In some countries foreign copyrights are not valid because they haven't signed treaties requiring them to.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_treaties

 

That is why international copyright laws exist. Even if countries aren't responsible enough some papers, doesn't make it legal or ethcial for someone to fly to another country and copy your work.

 

A country is only bound to an international law which the country itself has signed. As an example, in Iran it would be perfectly legal to "pirate" (which it then obviously isn't) Windows because it comes from another country and therefore is not covered by their laws concerning intellectual property.