How do you prove your content is original? AI scrapers are copying everything and we need documentation

The key is establishing proof BEFORE publishing, not after. Here’s the documentation stack I recommend:

Layer 1: Digital Timestamps Before publishing, use a trusted Time Stamping Authority (TSA) to create a certified timestamp. This creates a cryptographic hash of your document certified at a specific date/time.

How it works:

1. Generate a hash of your final content
2. Submit to TSA for certification
3. Receive timestamped certificate
4. Store certificate securely

Cost: $2-5 per file. Worth it for major content pieces.

Layer 2: Blockchain Verification For higher-stakes content, record the hash on a blockchain. This creates a permanent, distributed record that can’t be altered.

Services like Proof of Existence or Bernstein.io handle this automatically.

Layer 3: Version Control Keep your entire creation history:

• All drafts with dates
• Research notes
• Source documents
• Revision history

Git repositories work great for this - every change is timestamped and logged.

The combination gives you a paper trail that’s very hard to dispute.

Our pre-publishing workflow includes plagiarism detection as documentation:

Before Publishing Checklist:

1. Originality.AI scan

   • Comprehensive plagiarism check
   • AI detection (relevant for proving human authorship)
   • Save the report as PDF with date

2. Copyscape Premium

   • Web-wide duplicate check
   • Shows no existing matches
   • Screenshot with timestamp

3. Digital timestamp (for major pieces)

   • Hash the final document
   • Submit to TSA
   • Store certificate

4. Internal documentation

   • Record in our content management system
   • Author attribution
   • Research sources listed

This creates a paper trail showing:

• Content didn’t exist before we created it
• We can prove when we created it
• We have author documentation

When we’ve had to pursue content theft, this documentation has been definitive.

Content credentials using C2PA standards are the future of content provenance:

What C2PA does:

• Embeds verifiable metadata in your files
• Includes: creator, creation date, tools used, edit history
• Cryptographically signed (can’t be altered)
• Travels with the file when shared

Who supports it:

• Adobe Creative Cloud (built-in)
• Microsoft (integrating into products)
• Google (announced support)
• Major camera manufacturers

How to use it:

1. Enable content credentials in Adobe apps
2. Create your content
3. Publish with credentials attached
4. Anyone can verify authenticity

Current limitation: Most platforms strip metadata on upload. But the standard is being adopted, and it provides excellent provenance documentation even if not perfectly portable yet.

For visual content especially, this is becoming essential.

We use Git version control for all content - not just code. Here’s why it’s powerful:

What Git provides:

• Every change is timestamped
• Full revision history
• Author attribution for each change
• Cryptographic verification of history
• Can’t be retroactively altered without detection

Our workflow:

1. Create content in Markdown
2. Commit drafts to private Git repo
3. Each revision is a new commit
4. Final version is tagged and published
5. Git history serves as creation record

For legal purposes:

• Git commits have timestamps
• Can export full history as documentation
• Shows evolution of content over time
• Proves you didn’t just create it yesterday

We’ve used Git history in two content disputes. Both times, our clear version history ended the dispute quickly.

For original research specifically, here’s our protection protocol:

Before Publication:

1. Timestamp the final report (blockchain + TSA)
2. Submit to preprint archive or industry database
3. Send to legal team for registration documentation
4. Store all raw data and methodology docs

At Publication:

1. Clear copyright notice
2. Unique visualizations that can be traced
3. Embed metadata in all files
4. Register with Copyright Office (for major pieces)

After Publication:

1. Set up Google Alerts for key phrases
2. Monitor with Copyscape
3. Use Am I Cited to track AI citations
4. Document first appearance in AI answers

When theft happens:

1. Document the infringement with timestamps
2. Compare our documentation dates vs their publication
3. Send formal takedown notice
4. Escalate legally if needed

The key is having ironclad proof of priority. We’ve successfully removed copied content from 12 sites using this documentation.

For those of us without legal teams or big budgets:

Minimum viable protection:

1. Free: Email yourself

   • Email final version to yourself before publishing
   • Email timestamp is some evidence
   • Store in dedicated folder

2. Free: Wayback Machine

   • Submit your URL after publishing
   • Creates independent timestamp
   • Publicly verifiable

3. Cheap ($50/year): Copyscape

   • Run scans before and after publishing
   • Save reports
   • Evidence of originality

4. Cheap ($2-5 per piece): Timestamp

   • For important content only
   • Digital timestamp service
   • Legal-grade evidence

Not as robust as enterprise solutions but way better than nothing.

Actually used our documentation to fight content theft. Here’s what happened:

The situation:

• Published comprehensive industry guide
• Competitor copied it nearly verbatim
• They were outranking us for our own content

Our documentation:

• Digital timestamp (2 weeks before their publication)
• Git history showing 3 months of drafts
• Plagiarism scan showing 0% matches pre-publication
• Team emails discussing content creation

The process:

1. Sent cease and desist with documentation
2. They claimed coincidence
3. We showed side-by-side comparison + timestamps
4. Their legal team backed down
5. Content removed within 2 weeks

Key insight: The timestamp was definitive. They couldn’t argue with cryptographic proof of priority. Without it, this would have been he-said-she-said.

Now we timestamp everything important before publishing. Non-negotiable.

Let’s talk about the AI scraping specifically:

The uncomfortable truth:

• AI systems scrape content for training
• They don’t care about your copyright
• They create derivative content that’s hard to trace
• Traditional copyright enforcement doesn’t work well

What you CAN do:

1. Track when AI systems cite your content (Am I Cited)
2. Document first publication dates rigorously
3. Create truly unique content with original data
4. Embed identifying information in content
5. Monitor for obvious copying by humans (not AI)

What’s less effective:

• robots.txt (often ignored)
• Legal threats to AI companies (limited success)
• DRM/content protection (bypassed easily)

The strategic response: Focus on creating value through:

• Original research AI can’t replicate
• First-party data you exclusively own
• Expert perspectives that are hard to copy
• Building brand reputation so you’re cited as the source

It’s frustrating, but building documentation + creating truly unique content is the practical path forward.

Enterprise perspective on content protection:

Our standard operating procedure:

Every major content piece goes through:

1. Legal review with IP assessment
2. Digital timestamp before publication
3. Copyright registration for flagship content
4. Content credentials where supported
5. Publication in controlled channels first

Investment justification: We spent $50K on content protection infrastructure. Last year, we:

• Removed 47 instances of content theft
• Avoided 2 potential legal disputes with clear documentation
• Protected research that drives 8-figure revenue

ROI calculation: If your content drives significant revenue, protecting it is a no-brainer. A $5 timestamp could save you from a competitor benefiting from your $50K research investment.

Recommendation for mid-size companies:

• Timestamp all major content ($200-500/year)
• Use Git for version control (free)
• Run plagiarism scans (Copyscape - $50/year)
• Consider C2PA for visual content

Total cost: under $1,000/year for solid protection.

This thread gave me exactly what I needed. Here’s our new content protection protocol:

Before Publishing (new workflow):

1. Final plagiarism scan with Originality.AI
2. Digital timestamp for major pieces (TSA certified)
3. Git commit with full draft history
4. Screenshot Copyscape showing no matches

At Publishing:

1. Submit to Wayback Machine immediately
2. Enable content credentials (where possible)
3. Clear copyright notice
4. Log in our content management system

After Publishing:

1. Set up monitoring for key phrases
2. Track with Am I Cited for AI citations
3. Weekly Copyscape scans

For our stolen content situation: We’re pulling together our timestamps and Git history. We have documentation showing our drafts from September, their publication is December. Should be open-and-shut.

Thank you all - this is exactly the protection framework we needed.