Hey FineGael.org, the BBC called, they want their design back.

CuLT

http://www.finegael.org/ (finegael.ie is a frame that opens finegael.org)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Interesting discussion. (with comments from FG and a BBC developer)

I do prefer the finegael breaking news image though.

dlofnep

Blatant rip off for sure.. at first I thought it was a pre-made CMS - But the BBC site designer has confirmed it's a rip off.

As much as I hate Fine Gael, I'd say this is probably down to the web-site designer taking short-cuts.

NickNolte

Not only is it a rip-off, the code is actually stolen. You won't believe this.

lostprophetsie

That's actually crazy the only obvious difference is the terrible font FG is using!

Seth Brundle

Click the 'Edit' button on the main menu on the FG site and click the 'Add more to this page' button on the BBC page.

zAbbo

http://www.getafreelancer.com/projects/PHP-XML/Web-portal-Ajax-PHP-mySql.html

http://www.getafreelancer.com/users/880197.html

Pixelcraft

can't beleive they havn't taken it down already. How long till it makes the news?

Sully

BBC did a better job anyway. The new Fine Gael website is ****e. Its plain, terrible choice of colours, looks very basic etc. I was told before it was launched that it was supposedly "excellent".

The Finna Fail website is much much better and was at least done by a professional design company. Hell, as much as it pains me to say it, Sinn Feins website is better.

I cant see this making the news either. Its hardly ground breaking news story! Half of the people would be clueless if it went out.

CuLT

Hah, I love it, they've removed the edit buttons and the reasonably nifty functionality of the BBC site; it's slowly becoming about as creative and functional as a dreamweaver template.

Sully

CuLT wrote: »

Hah, I love it, they've removed the edit buttons and the reasonably nifty functionality of the BBC site; it's slowly becoming about as creative and functional as a dreamweaver template.

Is it just me or is the design and layout poor in addition to the "lets run with a BBC type site, with their code!"

NickNolte

Sully wrote: »

Its hardly ground breaking news story! Half of the people would be clueless if it went out.

One of the largest political parties in Ireland stealing intellectual property from the largest broadcasting company in the UK? I'd say that was fairly newsworthy alright! People don't need to understand the minutiae to know that theft it theft and on this scale, it's a scandal.

kevteljeur

What I'd like to know is if the BBC will take any action over this. It's actually a nightmare for web developers (I do this for a living) to find that your code has been ripped off. And badly!

I hope they get spanked. There's no excuse for that what so ever.

On a slightly related note, I was disgusted at Fianna Fail moving their site and hosting to the US. It's normal to get as competitive a rate as you can, but if you're the current political power telling everyone else to 'Buy Irish'...


Edit: I can tell you who would enjoy running a story on this: Our very own RTE! In all seriousness, it's the sort of media and political distraction that gives everyone something else to think about for a day. Anyone here from our own media powerhouse?

Pixelcraft

the job was posted on getafreelancer.com apparently so, they can play dumb somewhat. Where's Aaarrrgghh defending outsourcing now!

fintan

Outsourced for $1,000 on get a freelancer, complete rip-off of the BBC, it doesn't even render properly on my screen, my goodness, what a bunch of numpties.

I'll volunteer my services to FG for free, as they are obviously in desperate need of some help.

PM me

Cheers

Fintan

NickNolte

fintan wrote: »

I'll volunteer my services to FG for free

That cheapens this industry more than ripping off people's designs/code ever could.

AARRRGH

Pixelcraft wrote: »

Where's Aaarrrgghh defending outsourcing now!

You really think ripping off people's design is restricted to outsourcing?

This story is hilarious. Fine Gael are so incompetent.

Sully

AARRRGH wrote: »

Fine Gael are so incompetent.

More so whoever was in charge of this, was incompetent. I wouldn't lay blame with the whole party. Just yet.

henbane

FG passing someone else's sh→t off as their own shocker! Who'da thunk it?

Pixelcraft

AARRRGH wrote: »

You really think ripping off people's design is restricted to outsourcing? .

True, it's not, but it is the second case of this in 2 weeks resulting from an outsource or bidding website

fintan

NickNolte wrote: »

That cheapens this industry more than ripping off people's designs/code ever could.

Easy tiger, I had no intention of building a website for free, however, they obviously need some advice as to how handle online marketing projects, which is what I was offering.

Anyway, lots of people donate free time / work to political parties and charities all the time, so I don't see how it cheapens anything.

Sully

henbane wrote: »

FG passing someone else's sh→t off as their own shocker! Who'da thunk it?

Id have said that about FF, not FG tbh.

Anyway, this was covered in the Sunday Times today. Basically, FG denied it.

mneylon

Sully wrote: »

Id have said that about FF, not FG tbh.

Anyway, this was covered in the Sunday Times today. Basically, FG denied it.

Do you have a link to the article?

Eoin

That BBC design is about as bland and template-like as I've seen. No wonder someone thought it would be safe to rip it off.

How on earth someone can blame FG at this stage is beyond me.

NickNolte

eoin wrote: »

That BBC design is about as bland and template-like as I've seen. No wonder someone thought it would be safe to rip it off.

It does what it does very well though. Not every site has to be a creative masterpiece, provided it does a good job of delivering information well.

NickNolte

Sully wrote: »

Anyway, this was covered in the Sunday Times today. Basically, FG denied it.

They can deny it all they want, the proof is there. It's not like it's a subjective matter where the site 'kind of looks the same'. They actually stole the code from the BBC site!

There's not much else that can be said.

Sully

blacknight wrote: »

Do you have a link to the article?

Afraid not, doesnt seem to be on the website. I read the printed edition which is no longer in my posession. Ill see if I can get a copy and scan it.

eoin wrote: »

That BBC design is about as bland and template-like as I've seen. No wonder someone thought it would be safe to rip it off.

How on earth someone can blame FG at this stage is beyond me.

I wouldnt say they "look" the same (bar the movable sections and two other minor things) but code wise if you compare they are identical. Plus if you look at the Freelancer link, they asked for it to be based on BBC and your average player on that site will probably do a direct copy. Especially at that price.

Personally, I think the design is simply awful. There is no colour in it at all. Very plain, grey and "boring" if I may say. But ripping code word for word is a different ball game.

NickNolte wrote: »

They can deny it all they want, the proof is there. It's not like it's a subjective matter where the site 'kind of looks the same'. They actually stole the code from the BBC site!

There's not much else that can be said.

Oh I know, I agree with you and the article. I cant defend FG for this at all.

Grudaire

I might add that the FG site is a really bad rip off of the BBC site - they took the code, got rid of the good stuff, changed colors and font and put it back up.

Look at how articles are displayed in the FG website - it's a really bad way to display an article.

Plus the content on the site is poor, and there's no 'as Gaeilge' option...

Pub07

This incident really makes Fine Gael look like a half arsed organisation. How they thought they'd get away with this I don't know.

Seth Brundle

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/apr/19/fine-gael-denies-allegation-of-plagiarising-bbc-ne/

dingbat

eoin wrote: »

How on earth someone can blame FG at this stage is beyond me.

If, in college or as part of your job, you copied somebody else's work/product, made a few half-assed changes and submitted the "finished" product as your own work, you'd be done for plagiarism/copyright infringement.

It's that simple.

Eoin

dingbat wrote: »

If, in college or as part of your job, you copied somebody else's work/product, made a few half-assed changes and submitted the "finished" product as your own work, you'd be done for plagiarism/copyright infringement.

It's that simple.

I wasn't sure at that stage if they had just commissioned the site, and it was the design company's fault.

NickNolte

eoin wrote: »

I wasn't sure at that stage if they had just commissioned the site, and it was the design company's fault.

All FG need to do is to remove the site and get it re-designed and re-developed - hopefully by a professional this time around. They'll probably just receive a DCMA takedown notice from the BBC without threat of any legal action. If they're the site administrators and they leave it up there though, it's their fault and they'll probably get sued.

The only options open to FG at this point are 1) to take the site down and 2) to sue the original developer. Considering he's probably on the other side of the world and he did the site for $1000 though, that's probably not going to happen.

p

NickNolte wrote: »

They'll probably just receive a DCMA takedown notice from the BBC without threat of any legal action.

The DMCA is US law, doesn't really apply here.

Sully

I spoke today with someone in FG about this. Apparently the website was done "in house" and only part of it was "outsourced". They were given a brief before the website went live discussing it. The FineGael.org was apparently only temporary while the .ie was being used.

Seth Brundle

Thats the same spin that was in Enda Kenny's speech a week ago.
Personally, I don't believe it!

NickNolte

Sully wrote: »

I spoke today with someone in FG about this. Apparently the website was done "in house" and only part of it was "outsourced". They were given a brief before the website went live discussing it. The FineGael.org was apparently only temporary while the .ie was being used.

It doesn't matter. Fine Gael still stole.

di11on

Holy TimesNewRoman Batman!

Grudaire

Sorry to drag this back from Pg3 (still no good pics though)

Just wondering if FG have released a statement on the site or anything?


This is the answer I got on P.ie!:
"Here kid dont call me petty, your the one pulling a hissy fit over a non issue. All the sites from the parties look like something else. They are political parties, not marketing companies. Why would they be arsed making a statement over this? Anyone who complains, would be the kind of idiot that wouldnt vote for them anyway."

NickNolte

Cliste wrote: »

Sorry to drag this back from Pg3 (still no good pics though)

Just wondering if FG have released a statement on the site or anything?


This is the answer I got on P.ie!:
"Here kid dont call me petty, your the one pulling a hissy fit over a non issue. All the sites from the parties look like something else. They are political parties, not marketing companies. Why would they be arsed making a statement over this? Anyone who complains, would be the kind of idiot that wouldnt vote for them anyway."

It wasn't just the visual design. The source code was directly stolen and used as well so Fine Gael are, without a doubt, guilty of Intellectual Property theft. A fairly serious crime it has to be said. I know that since this all came to light, they changed their CSS class names and the format of the code in order to make it look different and, probably, avoid a legal battle with the BBC.

Fine Gael have broken a law which is an affront to any person working in Web design and development. I'll never vote for them. I hardly think that makes me an idiot though. I just don't want ignorant criminals running this country. Anyway, I hope that the vitriolic online defence campaign by junior Fine Gael ministers works out for them and they endear themselves to even more Irish people. Because as we all know, everyone loves Fine Gael. Pity they can't just make a public statement about the circumstances that led to their theft.

What next? The Labour Party downloading albums from Soulseek?

Grudaire

So is that it? One short srticle in the Times, and nothing else? Seems like they got off easy I'll be waiting for FG when they come a knocking!

And don't worry you're not an idiot!

NickNolte

Cliste wrote: »

So is that it? One short srticle in the Times, and nothing else? Seems like they got off easy I'll be waiting for FG when they come a knocking!

Yeah. They got away very lightly. Amazed the media (or the BBC) didn't make more of a fuss about it to be honest.

Cliste wrote: »

And don't worry you're not an idiot!

Aw jeez, thanks.