From their about page:
Tracer inserts a java script tag into the html code of your website to non-invasively track users interactions with your website content. The only change the user sees is when copied content is pasted into an email, blog or website, we automatically add a link back to the originating site at the end of the content.
What happens if the user just deletes the link, as I have with the above quote?
I'm pretty sure this service is not meant for the technically inclined. If someone who is technically inclined was worried about this, they would understand that they could use Google and/or a custom web crawler that searched over a subset of sites you cared about[1].
[1]After all, if someone copies your work and no once sees it, who really cares? The scope of your web crawler must be limited somehow. You could simply have it check up on your competition and/or popular links on news aggregating sites for categories related to your business. For example, if I was starting a technology blog, I could write up a Python crawler in about 30 minutes that parsed through blog articles on other popular tech blogs with related tags.
I think that there is a difference between services not meant for technically inclined people and those built by non-technically inclined people. In its current incarnation, I do not see how this service is useful, even if you are not technically inclined.
I think there is a need for a service like this (that watches the web for people republishing your content), but Tracer is not it. Tracer is just a silly JavaScript hack.
Would it be a good idea to combine link placement, reporting back to the server on every highlight and searching for the content later be a good combination?
What happens if the user just deletes the link, as I have with the above quote?