One of my clients is both a university professor and private consultant. He lectures about the “Social Data Revolution.” The Industrial Revolution changed the entire fabric of our lives, and so the Social Data Revolution is bringing about massive change which is both exciting and a bit worrisome.
Professor Andreas Weigend speaks about explicit data and implicit data. When we willingly and knowingly share information about ourselves, we are sharing explicit data, like when we fill out our profile on Facebook. Implicit data is information that may be gleaned by our “digital exhaust” as he puts it, the trail we leave behind, ad this may be without our knowledge.
Before the recent explosion of virtual freelancers, “offline” job seekers carefully prepared their professional resumes or CVs to present them to prospective employers. Those resumes were protected within HR departments. We wanted it that way because they contained our educational and professional achievements and we fiercely guarded them.
Today those same job seekers, in the virtual job hunting environment proudly and explicitly broadcast their professional wares across various platforms, such as oDesk, Elance, and others, with the intent of landing that great job. In this current economic climate it is even more evident. In the past few months, the number of new freelancers who have signed up with oDesk has greatly increased. This is the platform I have been working with for almost two years. I am sure the other ones have seen the same growth.
I was one of those naive and blissfully ignorant souls guilty of indiscriminately displaying everything about my professional achievements on the Internet. I would have remained ignorant to the folly of that had I not experienced first hand the violation of having my resume and portfolio plagiarized by others; note that – it was plural. It’s just too darn easy to copy/paste at will.
I not only had my education, employment history, and portfolio items completely plagiarized, I suffered the additional insult of having my company name commandeered as being owned by the guilty party, although my photo appears on my website, as well as everywhere else my profile shows up on the Internet. I honestly didn’t know what to think.
We are now venturing out into new territory and as such we must be ready for the changes. I would like to make a suggestion for my fellow virtual compatriots; be proactive in guarding your professional credentials. At the minimum, from time to time, Google phrases, URLs, or descriptions from your resume, verbatim, with quotations around it. As I did, you will see if there is anyone else purporting to be “you”. At present, I have thankfully only found the two incidents, and have taken steps against them, but you can be assured I am putting one more thing on my Google Calendar to do on a regular basis.
We all work too hard to build up our professional credibility and reputation to have anyone snatch that away from us, and to receive jobs based on our credentials. There are so many honest, hardworking freelancers in this new marketplace. It is time for us to wake up, and be on guard. I have drawn my battle line. I will not stand down.
Hi Tamara,
Wow, I’m floored! I guess I will chalk my shock up to, as you said, being “ignorant to the folly.” I never really thought much about having my resume or portfolio plagiarized. As I pointed out in one of my previous posts, I had a piece of literary work stolen and published by somebody else several years ago. I guess though, I though of it more as an isolated incident, the exception to the rule, though one which forced me to learn a very valuable lesson. It was not really until you mentioned it right now that I really realized how vulnerable work such as a resume and portfolio is when displayed in such a public manner. I guess up until this point it has been pride and a sense of accomplishment which has been the driving factor in me including works on my unprotected website. I guess as you say, nothing would really stop some unscrupulous person from copying somebody elses work and attaching their name to it. With my literary works I typically file for intellectual property rights through the Writers Guild of America, but to do the same with a portfolio would probably not be feasible; the fact is the work is not even mine-it was produced for clients who have granted me permission to display it. Even a name which is trademarked such as that of a business (I have trademarked mine) could be easy pickings from what I understand. The trademark is largely a symbolic gesture in that it proves that you have the rights to what is trademarked. Enforcement of those rights if your material is stolen is nearly impossible. You have brought up a really good point. Displaying our credentials and work is necessary to draw customers to us. Not displaying these things can hamper our efforts to attract clients. It is a classic “catch-22”. What should we do?? The Professor hit the nail on the head, the Data Revolution is turning out to be both a blessing and a curse!
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I just took your advice and googled some key phrases from my resume and portions of my portfolio. I’m pleassed to say there are no impersonators out there. I will follow your advice and do this periodically. I will do it with blogs too; I have just read an article explaining that blogs are one of the most plagiarized medium out there. On a similar note, one of the things I have discovered recently about my literary work is that once a piece is published, it becomes fair-game for non-authorized reprints, although this is supposed to be illegal. Whether published in newspapers or magazines, I constantly find my works reprinted in venues I have never granted permission to. High Beam and Encyclopedia.com are among the worst offenders. Recently, I offered a prospective client one of my early Jerusalem Post features. It had already been taken down from the site, however, I saw that it had been reprinted on Encyclopedia.com without my permisssion. I was told, despite being the author, that I would need to pay $9.95 for a copy of my own work. Yes, Professor Weigend, my implicit data was gleaned!
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I was aware that blogs are one of the most commonly plagiarized works, but I have also learned that websites are fair game too. It is a constant battle to stay on top of it, having to find what domain they have moved to and shut them down.
I am appalled that you actually have to “pay” http://www.encyclopedia.com for a copy of your own work that they printed without your permission!
It’s not just credit card fraud and the “dumpster divers” that search for their booty, we now have “virtual pirates” who steal our valuables and demand a ransom. It’s unconscionable.
Thank you for your comments Yonatan and I will keep you abreast of what I learn on this new mission I’ve decided to take on.
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You can use http://www.copyscape.com/ to check the Web for copies of individual pages of your website.
Note that you have to check each webpage separately, but it works well enough. The site also offers free banners that you can put on your pages to warn against plagiarism.
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Thank you SO MUCH Victoria for that tip. I am gathering my “ammo.” 🙂
I appreciate any further suggestions from readers on this issue.
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As a voice talent, I only wish there was a way I could check whether someone has been plagiarizing my MP3 demo files. It took me a while to write original scripts, choose suitable music, record the voice over, and then mix it all.
If anyone knows how I can check whether my work has been plagiarized, or how I can prevent it from being plagiarized, I’d really appreciate the information.
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You are right Sarah, but if you think back, there were always people like that, even back in school – the ones who took shortcuts and copied answers. Now, with the “cloud” there are so many more opportunities to do that. I will keep ya’ll (I’m a Texan) posted as I get more info. Thanks!
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Hi Tamara, Tamara’s husband, Victoria, and Sarah,
From a realistic standpoint: we live in a world where people’s entire identities are stolen, millions of songs are downloaded every day illegally without royalties given to the artists, CDs, sneakers and aparrel are counterfeited…it just seems like stealing other people’s intellectual property whether it be resumes, portfolios or business logos is the natural progression. If the downloading of songs is any indication, only a handful of people have ever been prosecuted. It is up to the owner of the property to investigate. The problem is once you find out someone has stolen your goods, what’s next? If they cease and desist, that’s great. If not, the only option left is court, and who really has years and thousands of dollars to invest. It is the curse of the information age!
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Hi Tamara,
Sorry if my last response sounded a bit bleak. It actually came only a few minutes after I had completed a full google search of my lterary profile where I found, much to my consternation, that three of my additional past published works have been reprinted without my permission or knowledge. Two of them have been done so without my name attached so I don’t even get credit for authorship. All which you have brought up about Professor Weigend, the hijacking of data, CVs, profiles, etc. are really important issues. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention so that we can act appropriately and take necessary precautions and safeguards!
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No need to apologize, Yonatan. We differ in that what I have in my portfolio are samples of my transcription but they are not original “works” – they are the property of my clients. It still stings to have someone else take credit for that.
I completely understand your feelings in that you are having your own work stolen!
I had a client comment on my tbentzur.wordpress.com blog about this; we gain new clients from our testimonials and client feedback, and perhaps not so much from our resumes. But that doesn’t make the copying of our resumes/CVs any less of an affront.
Just for clarification for those just joining this conversation, I’m talking about two different things here, the plagiarizing of our resumes/CVs/employment history AND the stealing of our intellectual property, or our portfolio items that many of us upload on the Internet.
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Even though the material is technically the property of your client, it is your efforts, time, and energy which has gone into the transcriptions. In my book, that makes them yours and it is horrible that somebody would take credit for your work.
In any case, great blog! It evoked a lot of passion and feedback. You bring new meaning to the saying, “Don’t mess with Texas!”
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🙂 Thanks!
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For those of you who commented on this blog, I have posted a follow up to this:
http://jobshuk.com/tbentzur/blog/2009/07/22/question-what-constitutes-professional-identity-fraud/
Would love any comments or feedback.
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