This is a nice, pretty leech:
This is a not-so-nice-and-pretty, content-stealing leech:
And, of course, when you find one leech, there's probably more lurking around. Sure enough, there are others trying to suck off of the content you see on this page. (You know who you are, COLORADOHOMECLUBINFO and isadamlari.org!) If you are reading this on someone else's blog, and it doesn't say it is "by Karmen", and it isn't making any sort of unique comment on the content, then you are reading stolen words. Please do not patronize these sites; they steal content, often without giving any credit to the author, in order to support their ads.
Pretty leech photo by spamangr, via Flickr.
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I'll go on record for making the unilateral moral judgement that the pretty leech has a right to exist. (I'll let you fill in the rest.)
I have to disagree with The Science Pundit, these leeches do not have a right to exist and can be easily squashed. If you want, I'll make the same offer that I did with Coturnix and let you email me if you want my help in shutting them down.
There are ways to get their funding and their hosting cut, all we need to do is apply the law as it sits.
Jonathan, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Science Pundit was only defending the pretty Sumatran leech, not the web-based variety.
That said, I realized I should probably explain my opinion on this issue a little more seriously, and then I'll be able to give you a better answer. Look for a post sometime tomorrow.
FYI - the nyarticles.com site is now serving up popups from a .tr domain, so I would highly advise against visiting that site without adequate popup and virus protection. I've emailed the scienceblogs.com webmaster to see if he can block their domain and IPs.