Most people who know me, or have noticed my interaction with the fairer sex, would probably tell you that there’s almost nothing I wouldn’t do to please them! That being the case you’re probably wondering what’s taking me so long in answering a fair maiden’s request that was placed some seven days ago.

That fair maiden was Colleen of Kennewick Real Estate who, in the post about Speeding Up Your Blog in order to keep Google and your readers happy, asked the following;

On an unrelated note Sire, a blog entry from you about the Digiprove you are using might be a good topic. Until now, I’ve never seen it nor heard of it. Just a thought, as I haven’t seen anything written on it, or other ways to protect against content theft. Might be a good topic.

For those of you who don’t know Colleen, she and her husband Joe are in the Real Estate game and have many wonderful properties for sale, including this one at West Pasco Washington which has stunning views.

Anyway Colleen, sorry for the delay but you know what they say, better late than never and I can only hope that it was worth the wait.

It all came about last December when some moron decided to steal a whole heap of my posts which eventuated in my post about stolen content, and then a followup post on the final outcome. I would recommend that post to anyone who would like to know what to do if the same thing ever happened to them because there are some great comments there which helped me and I am sure can help others in return.

Although most people know that they own copyright to all material that they post on their blog it can sometimes be difficult to prove it and the necessity of proof can be required when chasing those fools that pilfer your posts. This lead me in a search of a plugin that would certify to everyone that I am the sole owner of material posted on this blog.

The result of that search resulted in the installation of Digiprove.  As they say on their website:

Digiprove’s online copyright proving service is well-known to creators. Now we’re making it even easier to secure the copyright of your blog posts. The “Copyright Proof” WordPress plugin automatically Digiproves the content of every published blog post (new or edited). This gives you indisputable proof of the content, and the date and time of publication.

Not only that, but for every post that you make:

• A notice and icon will be displayed at the foot of your blog post referencing the actual Digiprove certificate.
• You will receive by email the digitally-signed certificate which protects your post
• If you prefer, the certifying page will have a link-back to your blog site.

So much more effective than simply including a copyright notice.

You will notice an icon at the end of this post that signifies that this post is copyrighted. Clicking on that badge will take you to a numbered certificate that is dated showing me as the copyright owner. There is no way that anyone can argue that fact.

Something to note is that the plugin, though fully functional, is in Beta mode which is why it is currently free of charge. The website does state the following;

Once the first formal release of Copyright Proof is made, we will apply some commerce! However it is our intention to keep the service free-of-charge to personal/hobbyist users and to educational establishments and registered charities.

While it is still completely functional as a free user I no longer have access to certain sections of the website which are reserved for paying members. Cost for personal use is $8 per month or $80 per year but for now I am completely happy as a non paying user.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010