New app helps publishers track content across Web

By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor

Publishers have a new tool to figure out who is copying and potentially making money off their content, thanks to a new online tracking service from startup software developer Attributor Corp.

Reuters last September agreed to roll out Attributor’s software, which digitally “fingerprints” original content and then continually monitors billions of Web pages to track and understand how that content is distributed.

“Attributor’s technology gives us the critical business intelligence to pursue new opportunities for licensing and use of original content,” said Ric Camacho, vice president of digital syndication at Reuters following the announcement. “This agreement is part of Reuters strategy of innovation as we continue to develop next-generation digital news syndication.”

This site copied almost an entire article and Attributor showed the exact amount copied. Users can request a link back to the original site.

Attributor customers can view an online dashboard to see who is copying their content. Users can find information including contextual factors including ads, site links, the amount of content being copied and estimated site traffic.

Reuters’ agreement followed The Associated Press, which last spring said it would use Attributor’s services to track and follow up with sites using its content.

“Our agreement with Attributor will enable AP to safeguard its investment in creating and distributing news reports, while assuring licensees that unauthorized use will not diminish the value of their licenses,” said AP General Counsel Srinandan Kasi.

Need compensation

In an interview with PaidContent.com AP Chief Executive Officer Tom Curley said the news agency needs to get compensated for the content it generates.

”If you want our content, we expect to be paid for it … this nonsense that you can just take the first paragraph or use the picture small doesn’t really fly with us,” he told the Web site. “People die trying to take those pictures.”

Reuters and the AP are just two of a number of news operations working with Redwood City, Calif.-based Attributor, said Matt Robinson, the company’s vice president of business development and legal affairs.

“Web-wise visibility equates with super distribution for a lot of our customers and most of the folks we work with now view content re-use as a potentially good thing and if they can convert or acquire some of the value that the re-use brings,” said Robinson.

Billions tracked

Attributor has thus far fingerprinted more than 18 billion pages and is adding another 75 million to 100 million pages per day to its repository.

Attributor’s software identifies content and then monitors how it’s distributed. If it finds that content is being improperly used, the app can contact the offending site’s operators, asking either for a link back to the original site, a share of revenues or an immediate end to the copying.

“What you end up with on the backend are billions of fingerprint comparisons in order to find matches across the Web,” Robinson said. “We’re not inputting a watermark into any of the content but actually drawing a fingerprint from the content objects themselves and comparing the fingerprints.

“The customer defines what it is that they are looking for, which can range from acquiring links through matches, revenue sharing, identifying new licensees and sales opportunities or in some instances request the removal of their content,” he said.

Robinson declined to say how much Attributor charges for the app, saying only that customers pay based on how much volume they want tracked. For smaller publishers, Robinson said the firm offers a Remedies platform that handles the chores of attribution requests, revenue sharing and content removal.

More services on deck

For now, Attributor tracks text, but it is working on rolling out an image service that is now being tested. As with its text counterpart, the image software tracks and indicates where photos are being used on other Web sites.

Robinson said the image software can even find images that have been severely cropped and reused for other purposes, such as merchandising.

Robinson cites one instance where the app was able to find a Web site that was selling key rings with a purloined image of actress Charlize Theron.

“As soon as this image went out, within 12 hours, someone had taken this photo, put it on a key ring and began selling it on a user-generated product site,” he said. “If they alter the photo we are getting very good at finding it.”

The image service will be available early this year with a video service following, Robinson said.

Attributor’s world

When it comes to purloined data, Attributor Corp. sees the world in two distinct camps.

“We’ve broken up the world into extensive copying and any copying,” said Rich Pearson, director of marketing of the content tracking company.

“Extensive copying is where sales and legal might focus,” he said, adding that sites that take 50 percent or more of an original content provider’s information is guilty of extensive copying.

Attributor’s software can also show users if their content is now being used on a site with advertising. That feature allows users to request from third-party sites a portion of the advertising revenue they may be pocketing as a result of using the user’s original content.

Pearson said Attributor also offers a match site profile that allows users to focus on specific sites such as MySpace.

“Because any action you’re going to take, whether it’s asking for a link, asking for a revenue share or sending a take down notice, will be done at the domain level,” Pearson said. “We’ve aggregated all the matches for a particular domain to show the number of visitors.”

The take-down feature is important for media competing against spam blogs, or splogs, which are used to promote or inflate a search engine’s rankings of associated sites.

“In a search engine-driven economy, links are incredibly important in driving where you appear in rankings on sites like Google,” said Pearson. “Splogs take snippets of your content, put ads around them, determine what are the most searched-for terms and then (they become) very good at being higher in search engine ranks than you.”