A RADOK Company 8655 E. Via De Ventura
Scottsdale, Arizona 85258 Toll Free:    800-930-5905
Telephone: 480-346-1260 [Email Us]

SourceWatch FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Does SourceWatch Really Work?

Yes!  We're so confident in our website protection services, we Guarantee it!

SourceWatch provides a strong deterrent against content theft, since few people want to take the risk of taking content from a website that provides our continuous third-party protection, monitoring and enforcement services.

Over the past 12 years, our clients have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of infringements they have had since becoming a SourceWatch member. Like most website owners, our clients are busy running their businesses, and the last thing they want to deal with is tracking down infringers, sending cease & desist letters, DMCA takedown notices, or hiring an attorney to resolve infringement cases. They would rather prevent the infringement in the first place.

Since time is money, SourceWatch lets website owners do what they do best:  Run their business.

What is the Best SourceWatch Plan For My Website?

It depends on the level of protection you require. In many cases, the Silver Plan is sufficient to protect small blogs and non-profit websites (under 1 million page views per year), while the Gold and Pro Plans provide considerably more protection and enforcement tools for higher-traffic small business, commercial, and E-commerce sites.  See: SourceWatch Plan Comparison.

The Pro Plan also provides a powerful marketing package supplied by the search engine optimization experts at Radok Corporation that is custom designed to increase website traffic utilizing its Website Promotion Guide and target marketing with more than 250,000 text ad impressions annually.

How do I Add SourceWatch to my Website?

To install the SourceWatch code and Shield on your website (for all plans), you simply copy and paste a small snippet of code to the bottom of your pages. No images to load, no code to write. We create your custom Warning Page and even handle all of the hosting.

For those familiar with Google Analytics, it is similar to adding Google Analytics code. There are no JavaScripts, encryption, or other code that can potentially damage or change the looks and usability of your website.

You will be provided a setup page with several options and Shield colors to choose from, and complete installation instructions. Just select the SourceWatch Shield you like, then copy the code from the box below it and paste to your site. If you're not familiar with making changes to your website, your website designer can easily add the code for you.

Your custom code for the Silver plan will be provided with your custom SourceWatch Warning Page, while Gold and Pro Plan members will be provided their code within their own 40-web page custom Control Panel.

Do I Need Infringement Monitoring Services?

It depends on your budget. SourceWatch provides a variety of protection and enforcement tools that are included in the Gold and Pro plans. Many clients hire us on a consulting basis to constantly monitor the Internet for any infringements they may have, but for most companies, it may be an unnecessary expense.

The SourceWatch Warning Page for all its plans state that all of your website's content may be monitored for infringement by SourceWatch. It is a better deterrent for prospective infringers not to know whether or not a particular SourceWatch client has elected to use our advanced infringement monitoring services.

Can I Make it Impossible to Steal My Content?

If your content can be publicly seen in a browser, it can be stolen.

The way the Internet works, every element that is displayed in your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc), is temporarily saved on your computer in cache. That means for those motivated to take your content, there are relatively easy ways to find and steal anything that is viewable through the browser.

If you are concerned over the theft of valuable or otherwise sensitive content displayed on the Internet, you obviously should not freely expose it on the Internet. If the content is particularly sensitive, target your desired visitors and provide them password protected directories to view such information in a more secure environment. The SourceWatch Plans offer a variety of methods to minimize the possibility of infringement, but unsecured viewing of your content always carries a risk.

Right-click disabling scripts, for example, can prevent copying of text, images, and photographs, but they are little more than a nuisance to both daily visitors - and those determined to take your content. Your regular visitors will not appreciate having their browser manipulated (can't use 'save favorites' or other standard functionality) and for those with dubious intentions, it's a simple matter of turning off JavaScripts in the browser (or disable "Active Scripting") to enable right-click functionality again. Of course they can also simply file/save in their browser and grab whatever they want offline.

Beyond the fact that there are many ways to work around them, the worst part of JavaScript, encryption, and many other website protection programs is that they often have browser compatibility and usability issues that make it difficult and unreliable for your regular visitors.

Many of these security features are also easily overcome using "Print Screen" or the myriad screen capture programs currently available. They can grab an image or photograph as fast as you can hit a hot key. PDFs and text images are not a problem either, with many programs having regional screen grab and built-in text recognition capabilities.

The most you can expect from all of these methods is to slow down some of the content theft, but often at the expense of your targeted visitors.

SourceWatch, on the other hand, provides a strong, yet safe deterrent that for more than 12 years has proven effective in minimizing - if not eliminating - online content theft, and all without an effect on visitor usability.

Somebody Stole My Content, What Should I do?

If the infringement is relatively minor, it may not be worth pursuing. It is often taken by a small blog that has an audience of a few friends and family members. If the infringement is more serious, SourceWatch premium Gold and Pro services provide several options to quickly remove the infringing material.

Your plan of action should be dependant on the type of infringement. This can range from minor infringements with attribution, minor infringements without attribution, to more serious infringements such as the theft of a web page or your entire website. The SourceWatch Control Panel provides a turn-key process that helps you document the infringement, determine the level of the infringement, research and track down the infringer, and the tools necessary to quickly remove it.

Prevention is Better Than the Cure

Using the practical solutions offered by SourceWatch lets your visitors know that you take copyright infringement issues seriously. By taking a few preventive steps now often reduce the potential for costly litigation in the future.