We developed the Ezula killer script a few months back but it didn't do much to curb this type of internet theft. Scumware is growing every day. There are also problems that make it a not so perfect solution. The primary problem is that in order for it to be easy enough for anyone to use, (a one line copy and paste code), it has to be hosted on our servers which costs money, even though we offered it for free. Another problem was that we also offered a perl version which could go on their server but now the tech skills needed to install and maintain it goes way up and most people didn't know how to do it without support, which of course you can't afford to give away on a free script.

With these two problems alone, it is extremely obvious that the companies who use this type of scumware aren't threatened in the least by us offering this script. Making my original intentions basically defeated. Furthermore, I don't think there is any way that anybody is going to develop any kind of free script that would discourage any scumware company.

Another big problem that we, or anyone else for that matter, face is that Ezula and companies like them, get paid to develop scripts that steal traffic, no one seems to be willing to pay for scripts that would stop them.

I don't like people stealing the visitors that I have to work so hard to get! I don't like it to the point that I continued trying to develop something more effective even though I couldn't see any way of ever re-couping my investment. Until now.

I now have a way of indentifying scumware when it hits the site and delivering content that can NOT be stolen. I can guarantee this on all browsers except Opera, (which we can't seem to quite figure out yet). This has to run thru my servers or I have to be willing to set it up for people or at least provide specialized help files which of course all cost more money. My thinking is that the best way for me to fight page theft without going broke would be to offer some type of guaranteed scumware proof hosting. Maybe call it scumware insurance.

Anyway, my question is, is there a suitable market for this type of thing and do you think I should set it up as some kind of a reseller program?

I don't think we would ever be able to get enough hosted customers to make a scumware company decide not to do it anymore or even to try to develop a work around, but for a hosted solution, that may not be a bad thing. Even if we had hundreds of thousands of customers, it still would not represent enough of a percentage of the web to justify the expense of developing a work around for our script. That could be good for me and the hosted customers delivering un-stolen content.

I would like some opinions if possible on whether this is feasible, viable or even worth the trouble.

Thanks
Bobking