up vote 17 down vote favorite
2

ubunt2.com is copying our content without proper attribution.

Example:

I don't see backlinks anywhere on the page nor an indication that the content is even from Ask Ubuntu.

Perhaps one of the moderators can send them a polite email indicating that the content requires attribution. If that doesn't work, we could try going after their hosting provider (which is apparently Rackspace Hosting).

share
I'd just like to point out that the registrant did not avail themselves of any privacy options when registering, and their full name, email address, telephone number, and postal address are publicly viewable to a whois search. Well spotted, George! – Tom Brossman Dec 10 '12 at 8:07
1  
Question has been asked - will let you know with any results... watch this space! – fossfreedom♦ Dec 10 '12 at 8:28
5  
In the Example provided, though the question is similar (not same - some edits are missing in the ubun2 page) the answers seem very different in the two sites. The times at which the question was asked in the two sites is also very close. Possibly, the one who asked the question, asked it on both sites - copy-pasting from one site to the other. Of course, there may be other instances which better justify the accusations made here - I doubt it though. – S Prasanth Dec 10 '12 at 11:38
ROFL. He (they) posted to to mail list of ubuntu-users a while back. Fun discussion tho it derails from ubun2.com to askubuntu.com rather quickly. – Sukminder Dec 18 '12 at 6:11

1 Answer

up vote 13 down vote accepted

There may be copyright issues but it's not clear, certainly not blatant. The post may have been cross-posted and the site might actually get the thousands of users it claims to get. Who knows. My point is that is a gloomy and unknown path.

The good news — if you consider the site a stain on the internet — is that it's clealy in breach of several things (assuming lack of permissiokn) that mean it could be blown up:

  • Use of the Ubuntu logo
  • Use of the Ubuntu name. "Ubun2" is phonetically the same, and that's good enough for trademarks.
  • Cyber-squatting on a trademark means ICANN can seize the domain and hand it over to Canonical.

But only Canonical (the trademark and domain owners) can deal with this. Make sure to let them know via their trademark violation notification form.

Edit: If you're into that sort of thing, it's comically easy to find out almost everything about the chap who owns the domain, including place of work, phone numbers, Google plus account (and public photos) and the other 131 domains that they own.

share
2  
I've reported it to Canonical - we'll see what happens now. – Nathan Osman Dec 11 '12 at 1:40

You must log in to answer this question.

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