56

The following site is doing far more than just copying user content. It's copying the entire content of Stack Overflow's pages, including non-user content. In other words, it's copying substantial content where the copyright is owned by Stack Overflow, the company.

This is the link: https://www.millioncopysuccess.com/?_=%2Fquestions%23%2FqxBzQ%2FoV%2B7sVJE7Dmgg5B8mFklUIMPXmQ%3D%3D

I don't know if this is new or not but I wonder whether this is even legal?

The site looks like this:

Screenshot of impersonator website

All links on the page seem to be working, including the login. The signup page shows an invalid recaptcha though.

ERROR for site owner: Invalid domain for site key

What should be done about it?

10
  • 20
    This isn't just about user content being copied. This includes content where the copyright is owned by Stack Overflow, so there is action the company can/should take.
    – Makyen Mod
    Commented Feb 23, 2023 at 17:27
  • 15
    It's also likely some kind of phishing scam, what with the cloned login UI.
    – Adrian Mole
    Commented Feb 23, 2023 at 17:28
  • 19
    @AbdulAzizBarkat This question has already been closed as a duplicate of the one you just linked ... and reopened. Because it's about far more than just scraping.
    – Adrian Mole
    Commented Feb 23, 2023 at 18:30
  • 2
    @Makyen the duplicate target did contain a link to guidance on what to do in such cases (It didn't really expand much on that though), hopefully I have edited it so that it is more clear. Voting to close this again.
    – Abdul Aziz Barkat
    Commented Feb 23, 2023 at 18:30
  • 18
    This question, IMHO, should remain open (for now, at least). The issue it raises is serious and needs to be dealt with; a high-profile post on a site Meta will (hopefully) get the required staff attention.
    – Adrian Mole
    Commented Feb 23, 2023 at 18:32
  • 1
    Right now this demonstrates a flaw that Stack Overflow has IMO. There is no stopping this from getting closed again. It doesn't matter how many times it will be posted in the comments, you have no power to say "no this should stay open". People not looking and just repeating the existing proposed close reason have total control here. It's just a matter of time.
    – Gimby
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 8:29
  • 8
    @Gimby I for one plan to handle this issue by setting following this question. If it gets closed, I will be notified and will vote to reopen. If enough users do the same this would help to address incorrect closing
    – gnat
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 9:22
  • 2
    This "millioncopysuccess.com" domain/site seems to be doing the same thing with other, popular sites. I found some similar links to clones of Wikipedia and Fox (News).
    – Adrian Mole
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 9:28
  • Where is that site based (I mean, which country)?
    – Dominique
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 13:42
  • The resolved IP address (135.181.244.208) reports Hetzner Online GmbH, Tuusula, Uusimaa, Finland.
    – MrUpsidown
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 15:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
28

This looks like a website is proxying ours; it's also naturally a copyright and trademark violation.

In cases like this, where a website is copying (or proxying) the entirety of what Stack Overflow looks like, the correct path is to report it through the contact us form. We will then loop-in our legal team so that they can take appropriate measures.

2
  • I recently found another proxy site which I reported through the form. I got the same boilerplate response about Stack Overflow having no standing to ask other sites to take content down. Why do we not have a separate option in the form for reporting proxies if Stack Overflow isn't even interested in reading the report properly in case of content being reproduced without attribution? Should we just report as other?
    – Abdul Aziz Barkat
    Commented Mar 28, 2023 at 17:38
  • @AbdulAzizBarkat I'm going to talk to the team, thanks for letting me know.
    – Cesar M StaffMod
    Commented Mar 28, 2023 at 19:13
14

In the meantime, I have reported the website because I thought it didn't follow the attribution requirements, as explained here.

Here is the answer I received:

Hello,

All content on Stack Exchange is licensed under either CC-BY-SA 3.0 or CC-BY-SA-4.0. The Creative Commons licenses permit other sites to reproduce content that appears on the Stack Exchange network, so long as they follow the Creative Commons attribution requirements.

Because we have no standing to ask another site to take down content they have reproduced from our site, there is unfortunately very little we can do to address scrapers, and we are no longer pursuing these avenues as a company.

Thank you for your diligence. The attention paid by users like you keeps Stack Exchange a functional and durable community resource.

Thanks, Vanessa & Community Support Team

11
  • 25
    It looks like that's a complete misinterpretation of what's happening, and a template response... I'd suggest you reply and explain that they're not "scraping", they literally copied the entire site in detail.
    – Cerbrus
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 10:29
  • @Cerbrus I am not sure I should reply, at least for now as it is still unclear whether 1) my question is legitimate or a dupe and/or 2) the answer I received is appropriate.
    – MrUpsidown
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 15:17
  • 2
    I reported some time after your answer, got a reply that they have escalated to Trust & Safety team.
    – Abdul Aziz Barkat
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 15:22
  • 11
    You should reply. This isn't simple "scraping". This is phishing, impersonation, direct theft of intellectual property... The boilerplate reply you got only applies to websites that steal questions and answers, not to websites that literally clone the entire site.
    – Cerbrus
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 18:29
  • 1
    I just replied to the email and got an automatic reply: The ticket you just responded to, ID 94546 is closed and is therefore no longer monitored. If you still need help, please feel free to create a new ticket. - It sounds like SO doesn't care much.
    – MrUpsidown
    Commented Feb 28, 2023 at 8:08
  • 2
    I'd still advice opening a new ticket, making it very clear that this isn't just some scraping.
    – Cerbrus
    Commented Mar 1, 2023 at 8:17
  • The Trust & Safety Team has replied that they have forwarded it to their legal team who will try to get it taken down.
    – Abdul Aziz Barkat
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 12:58
  • 9
    @MrUpsidown Cerbrus is right, it seems like that was a misinterpretation of what you were reporting. In this case, this was already forwarded to our legal team, and the appropriate thing to do is report it in the contact us section
    – Cesar M StaffMod
    Commented Mar 10, 2023 at 20:48
  • I'm not a lawyer, but to me this does not seem to violate the attribution requirements since it also copies the user names. It violates other rules though, including the Stack Overflow company's copyright on the website itself.
    – Donald Duck
    Commented Mar 11, 2023 at 1:25
  • Today the website returns ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED so it looks like something has happened unless this is a temporary problem with their servers.
    – MrUpsidown
    Commented Mar 11, 2023 at 10:40
  • @MrUpsidown I can connect; the domain has been parked
    – Zoe - Save the data dump Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2023 at 10:46

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .