And now to a man who's an expert at picking up other people's stories.

Meet David Richards, a journalist who's done great work in the past.

Australia's Most Dangerous Criminal Tells All David Richards — The Bulletin, 11th March, 1980

How the Government condones waterfront graft David Richards — The Bulletin, 18th March, 1980

That series by Richards in The Bulletin, back in the 1980's, led to the Painters and Dockers Royal Commission.

These days Mr Richards runs his own company, 4Square Media. It owns websites like Smarthouse, Smarthouse News and Smart Office with all the latest news on electronic gadgetry and the companies that produce it.

David Richards, by his own account, has made a lot of money in PR and IT. But, as he put it in a blog a couple of years ago...

Throughout all of these commercial adventures...I remained above all a journalist. I have made millions making the right decisions not the wrong ones and that means today writing the stories that attract eyeballs. — Post on "Squash" blog

Stories like this one, for example, written three weeks ago.

New Google Phones to be Launched This Week By David Richards Several major hone vendors are set to role out a new generation mobile phone running Google software. — Smarthouse website, New Google Phones to be Launched This Week, 10th February, 2008

Two spelling mistakes, you'll have noticed, in one sentence. It's tricky, writing your own copy. But in the bulk of the article, there are no such problems.

Because someone else had already written it. Two days earlier. On the website of Britain's Telegraph newspaper.

Google set to launch Android for phones By Claudine Beaumont, Digital Channel Editor — Telegraph.co.uk, Google set to launch Android for phones, 8th February, 2008

The sophisticated handsets will make it easier to browse the web and bring some of the programs and features usually found on home computers to mobiles. Some of the world's leading phone manufacturers are expected to reveal prototypes of devices... — Telegraph.co.uk, Google set to launch Android for phones, 8th February, 2008 The sophisticated handsets will make it easier to browse the web and bring some of the programs and features usually found on home computers to mobiles. Some of the world's leading phone manufacturers are expected to reveal prototypes of devices... — Smarthouse website, New Google Phones to be Launched This Week, 10th February, 2008

And so on, and so on, for five hundred and fifty three identical words.

When we brought the Smarthouse article to Claudine Beaumont's attention at The Telegraph, she didn't mince her words.

I would say that David Richards' article appears to be an almost word-for-word rip-off of my piece... — Email from Claudine Beaumont to Media Watch

Two weeks ago, the American website TWICE - that's This Week In Consumer Electronics - had an interesting story.

Universal to Produce Blu-Ray Discs By Greg Tarr — TWICE website, Universal to Produce Blu-Ray Discs, 19th February, 2008

Well, it's interesting if you're into that sort of thing. And David Richards' readers are.

Terminator Now on Blu-Ray As Universal Concedes By David Richards — Smarthouse website, Terminator Now on Blu-Ray As Universal Concedes, 19th February, 2008

Universal Studios Home Entertainment, one of Toshiba's strongest partners in the launch of HD DVD format, wasted little time in announcing plans to begin producing movies in the rival Blu-Ray Disc format. — TWICE website, Universal to Produce Blu-Ray Discs, 19th February, 2008 Universal Studios Home Entertainment, one of Toshiba's strongest partners in the launch of HD DVD format, wasted little time in announcing plans to begin producing movies in the rival Blu-Ray Disc format. — Smarthouse website, Terminator Now on Blu-Ray As Universal Concedes, 19th February, 2008

And so on, for the rest of the story.

TWICE's web editor, Doug Olenick, tells us this has been going on for nearly a year.

Smarthouse continuously takes our stories and either reprints them verbatim or does a very slight re-write to give the story an Australian angle. What Smarthouse does not do is give TWICE any credit for the original reporting. I've emailed its editor several times asking them to stop this practice — Email from Doug Olenick (Web Editor, TWICE) to Media Watch

TWICE is not alone. Back in October last year, another US website, CE Pro, was given the Richards treatment on Smarthouse News.

The study found that 17 percent of consumers are interested in accessing PC content from their home entertainment system (25 percent for consumers with a home network). — CE Pro website, Home Theaters Increasingly Need Broadband Access, NPD Report Finds, 16th October, 2007 The study found that 17 percent of consumers are interested in accessing PC content from their home entertainment system (25 percent for consumers with a home network). — Smarthouse website, Consumers Want PC Connectivity With their Home Theatre, 16th October, 2007

And so on, and so on.

We've identified ten articles on other websites, going back two years, which have been reprinted almost verbatim under Richards's sole by-line on a Smarthouse website.

David Richards first told Media Watch that in most cases he has licensing agreements that allow him to use other people's material. Well, maybe he has. He even faxed us three of them.

But of those, two don't seem to cover the websites he's copied from. And the other one doesn't stack up.

That relates to the website CE Pro.

It's owned by EH Publishing, of Framingham, Massachusetts.

David Richards faxed us a two page, undated Business Agreement between EH Publishing and 4Square Media's Smarthome Magazine.

But EH Publishing's President, Kenneth Moyes, has told Media Watch that David Richards didn't pay consistently...

so we terminated that agreement... Bottom line - he has no current authorization from us to use any of our materials and has not had any for several years. — Email from Kenneth Moyes (President, EH Publishing) to Media Watch

Ah, David Richards explained to Media Watch, but there's another explanation.

Someone's been hacking into his websites. He says he was alerted to the problem by his web techs on February the 14th this year:

We believe that a former employee who had access to our content engine has changed bylines, dates on stories and posted stories without our knowledge in an effort to discredit us. — Email from David Richards to Media Watch

Read David Richards's response to Media Watch's questions.

Well, I guess the mystery hacker might have planted the most recent articles - but how long has he or she been at it?

Since at least March the tenth, 2006, apparently, when this article was posted on the PC World website - and appeared, substantially unaltered, on SmartHouse the following day.

The drive packs 32GB of flash memory into a case the same size as a 1.8-inch hard drive. — PC World website, CeBIT: Samsung Shows Flash-Disk-Based Laptop, 10th March, 2006 The drive packs 32GB of flash memory into a case the same size as a 1.8-inch hard drive. — Smarthouse website, 32GB Flash Drive In A Notebook, 11th March, 2006

The publisher of PC World, IDG of Boston, has told Media Watch...

IDG entered into a license agreement with David Richards in 1994...That license agreement was terminated by IDG in 1996 for multiple violations by David Richards. Since 1996 David Richards has had no permission to use IDG content. — Email from David Hill (President & CEO, IDG International Publishing Services) to Media Watch

David Richards has now confirmed that that story - and most of the others we've mentioned - were the work of the mystery hacker.

Since being alerted by you we have changed our entire password/security structure. We are also implementing a count structure...This will allow us to identify whether any non-approved stories are being posted. — Email from David Richards to Media Watch

Well, that should fix it. Long time Media Watchers may remember the Campbell Reid Trophy for plagiarism - motto, Carpe Verbatim - created by my predecessor David Marr.

Well, this year we're getting up to date, with a new award.

We're creating the Phantom of the Internet Trophy, to be awarded for the most original explanation for apparent plagiarism.