pharaoh ants
An actual email exchange, just now. The first bit is a standard DMCA form notice I send non-commercial copyright infringers:
This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The infringing material appears on the Service for which you are the designated agent.
The disputed images are here: http://leeanntorrans.com/one-fifth-texas-hospitals-infected-with-ants-that-feast-on-wounds-and-potentially-carry-disease/
My original, copyright-protected photographs are here: http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Monomorium/9272009_Kzb89t#!i=619427766&k=WqGSp
Please remove these files from your servers at your earliest convenience.
I have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by myself, the copyright owner. I hereby state, under penalty of perjury, that the above information in this email is accurate and that I am the copyright owner.
Thanks for your time,
Alexander Wild
www.alexanderwild.com
Lee Ann Torrans responds:
Hey, buddy.
It’s down.
But if you look at the website you will see I sell nothing. I only serve the public by drawaing attention to a significant problem in this country.
Just wondering, do you do any thing beneficial to society in a major way?
I get emails all the time, thanking me for providing an important service. Maybe 7,000 to date.
This is the first complaint.
Good look with your copyright infringement crusade.
I have thousand of images on the web, my own. People use them all the time and I am glad to permit that.
Lee Ann Torrans
Ah, the glamorous life of the nature photographer.
update: thread is closed.
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
When will people learn that being an asshat about stuff like this just makes them look…like asshats.
If I screw up, I take the photo down and apologize. Done.
It’s not hard, people.
asshat is not who you think
WOW.
My hackles raised at the “Hey buddy”, and I just about had a brain implosion by the time she asked “Just wondering, do you do any thing beneficial to society in a major way?”
Sorry you have to deal with this sort of behavior. Imagine I’m sending you a big piece of yummy chocolate and a 6-pack of beer…
Funny how she posts your letter at the site, calling it a “cheezy photo” (if it was so cheezy why did she choose it to begin with?) and including your full address/phone number as further insult, but doesn’t include her own cheezy response back to you.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people would rather make themselves look like a complete idiot than simply apologize for something – as if it’s the highest humiliation to not be perfect.
Comments duly noted. Defamation in headline duly noted. Lawsuit initiated. Nice website. Few copyright violations on your part through out that I am sure you are willing to address yourself!
You do own all the equipment used in these photographs right? You did not use university or public property, right? You do have copyright allowances for all images, correct?
You are NOT claiming “Education Fair Use” exemptions? Right?
Don’t show your ignorance.
You used intellectual property without permission. Next time, take it down quietly or permission to use it.
Univ. of Illinois, joined as defendant in slander and defamation.
If you’re suing for slander, you’ll lose.
I’d suggest talking to a lawyer before starting proceedings – you’ll save yourself a lot of embarrassment.
And money.
The word you’re looking for is “libel.” I am providing this legal service free-of-charge for the benefit of society in a major way. Can I take some of your stuff without asking now?
Lee Ann Torrans, your behavior is self-righteous and impudent. What’s wrong with you? I read your comments with disbelief.
The craziest thing is that Mr. Wild allows educational and non-profit use free of licensing fees, according to his own bio here. So it seems like Torrans could have avoided all this negative press for… whatever service it is they provide?… if they had just cleared the photo use first, rather than stealing it under the laughably erroneous assumption that photos on the internet are free game for everyone.
Please review this site.
http://myrmecos.net/2012/01/07/lee-ann-torrans-sends-hate-mail/comment-page-1/#comment-21167
Please be advised that I have reviewed this website and find that your staff has slandered and defamed me a heading post. This appears to be a spiteful retaliation.
It also appears this website includes significant violations of the law of copyright with unauthorized images. If this is an education arm of the teaching program of Mr. Wild that is acceptable. If it is not, that is not and they should be removed.
It is my intention on Monday, January 9, 2011, to seek the protection of the Courts of the State of Texas with a Temporary Restraining Order to have this heading removed. Additionally, I will be seeking damages and attorneys fees. I charge $300.00 per hour.
Should the Court be inclined to grant my Temporary Restraining Order I will move to request a permanent injunction.
I will be watching Google for this headline to be picked up. If it is, my requested damages will be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Currently, damages are minimal, and your liability will be limited to attorney’s fees should our State of Texas Court so award them, and in my experience that is pretty standard.
Typically, a TRO cost runs roughly $4,000.00 in attorney’s fees, which I will ask to be reduced to judgment. Then I shall have the judgment domesticated in your State and proceed to register it and collect.
I have requested the heading be removed. It has not been so removed.
If this is NOT a university website, it appears Mr. Wild is employing the use of university equipment for his pesonal use and gain.
As a land grant institution I understand your purpose is the dissemination of knowledge and you have a concern regarding matters that threatens access to, or the free flow of, research and ideas is a threat to the health of the entire system.
This image was the product of his public employment. It is used in a site that does not even have Google Ads informing the public on the dangers of MRSA.
As this is an employee of your Land Grant University, employed in the field of biology, who has slandered me in his Heading, the University of Illinois is hereby placed on notice I will, on Monday, seek a TRO agains Mr. Wild and the University of Illinois, requesting my attorney’s fees, which typically run $4,000.00 for a TRO.
Dear Ms. Torrans -
I think you are a moron, and you are what’s wrong with the world. I mean this in a slanderous way. Please add me as a defendant to your pretend lawsuit.
Um, accusing Mr Wild of using university property for his own gain… wouldn’t that fall under making false, vindictive statements about Mr Wild?
I’m with Brian. I’d also like to add that I think you have a mental disorder and suggest that you seek treatment. When you add me to the pretend lawsuit, please include my middle initial. Thanks!
Ms. Torrans,
I give you permission to use as many photos, from my blog, as you wish. In exchange for this permission, the only stipulation is that you stfu, get a grip and, if at all possible, move somewhere without telecommunications of any kind.
oh yeah, add me too. i think your parents either beat you too hard, or not hard enough. either way, they didn’t beat you exactly the right amount.
Cool, can I borrow your time machine?
For spectators out in Myrmecos-land , I have sent Ms. Torrans a private email regarding this matter, rather than hash this out in the comments section of the blog.
Parts of this post and comments may vanish at some indeterminate point in the future, unfortunately.
Lee Ann Torrans, the new Joseph Rakofsky? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rakofsky+effect
As a free speech blogger and anti-SLAPP blogger, I found that fascinating. Lee Ann Torrans, meet the Streisand Effect.
Lee Ann, I’m not sure how much time out of your busy life you took to post a lengthy response on a blog post that would have been more appropriate for an email, but I’m not currently busy so I’ll post one of my own.
Myrmecos isn’t a university site, but (as far as I know) a personal blog that happens to be pretty widely read. All the pictures that Alex uses are his own, taken on his own time with his own equipment which he bought with his own money, so it should be right that he claims copyright on his work if he wants. Hey, you could even claim copyright on your own images if you wanted to fill out the necessary paperwork and follow the right procedures, but whether another person deserves copyright is not your decision.
If Alex uses another person’s photographs he credits them for their work when he posts them, and just the same other people credit him when they need to use his photographs, whether for personal blog posts, textbooks, or journal articles. He was only notifying you that you’d infringed on his copyright when you posted the disputed images without crediting him, which is pretty routine for someone who takes fabulous pictures of ants and puts some of them on the internet for people to see.
In response you send him a patronizing email in which you question the services he provides to society. His photographs have been used for the covers of prestigious scientific journals, profiled in the media, and exhibited in museums, and he’s also an author of some technical publications of his own. You also seem to provide a valuable service by hosting your own blog on which you write about issues in public health and iatrogenic diseases, but that is no reason for you to criticize another person’s societal contributions. I can understand if you feel frustrated enough at someone to send a sarcastic email and make snarky comments on their personal blog, and I’ll agree if calling your responses ‘hate mail’ is a little over the top. But a little altercation like this, which you started yourself by getting upset over an image you weren’t authorized to use, doesn’t deserve a lawsuit, if that is what you are really threatening.
Fill out the necessary paperwork? If you create a work, you own the copyright. Unlike trademarks or patents, there’s no paperwork that needs to be filled out.
Actually, if you want maximum protection of your images under copyright law, it IS best if you register them (it is the best way to create a verifiable 3rd party provenace of your work). It’s not absolutely necessary but it does make a big difference in terms of the amount of damages you can claim and getting things done in a timely manner in the case of infringement. To that end it does require a little bit of (virtual) paperwork. And if you have models or actors posing in the pictures you should have model releases (more paperwork) in order to cover yourself further. It gets more complicated from there, but it’s well worth the *VERY* minor investment in time and money.
As for Lee Ann, if her site is down; if it is because of all the traffic that has been sent there because of this issue, she had better be able to prove it. If she can’t, or worse, if she has taken it down as an attempt to cover her tracks, she is in a LOT of trouble.
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://thecopyrightzone.com/
And if anyone ever tells you, “Dude! Don’t make a Federal case out of it!” tell them, “Copyright infringement IS a Federal issue – it cannot be tried in a lesser court!”
This was a non=profit public service site, guys. FYI.
Lawsuits are like eating potato chips.
No, he does not always credit other people’s work.
BTW. you do not have to fill out paper work to claim copyright for images.
That’s a POST header. It will show up on Google. It will inhibit my ability to retain clients.
So, yeah, lawsuit. Do them all the time.
It was so easy to take it down.
He refused.
Moving on here.
Lee Ann, your behaviour, not Mr. Wild’s, is influencing in a most negative way.
I would expect a judge to agree and toss your whiny TRO out where it belongs.
Grow up.
Your casual disregard for other people’s intellectual property rights might also inhibit your ability to retain clients.
As might the face of yourself you are showing the internets right now.
You really are batshit McGee aren’t you.
Oh well, I suspect either you’re nuts…in which case I’ll leave you alone, I don’t torment the tormented…or…you’re an attention whore hoping to create visits to your site with your asshattery.
Either that or you’re a five year old spoiled brat, but they usually don’t spell as well as you do. They also behave slightly better.
Wow. If she’s just put the shovel down for a minute, she might realize that her comments on this thread are vastly more likely to inhibit her ability to retain clients.
Ill copyright blogging society. Thank you for making me laugh. I am sorry, but what you both do is ridiculously stupid. Especially claims about publishing = “doing of something beneficial for society”. Be ashamed.
Lee Ann,
Here’s the issue with what you’re doing. You’re stirring up passions in hundreds of people by acting a jerk, by making claims that it’s somehow okay to abuse copyright of images that aren’t yours simply because you’re providing a free service.
I, too, write a free blog and I wouldn’t dare abuse your copyright, however like tens of people (now growing to hundreds) I’ve written a post about how you fall back on the wankery of a legal solution instead of apologizing for your wrong. This will spread nd the power is in the hands of the many, for right or wrong.
And if you sue Alex, or a dozen other people, and quieten a blog or three or more with legal means it inflames the nest of the Internet even more. People don’t like jerks on the Internet – google the Streisand effect, or Laura k Pahl, or any other number of people who have acted up and refused to take responsibility for their actions.
This isn’t you against Alex; by not apologizing, this is you against ten thousand indignant artist, Internet entrepreneurs, photographers and anyone else who has had people thieve their work, and have the thief dismiss their claims on spurious grounds.
At least you took his image down, that’s one thing in your favor.
Well said.
I am so sorry you have to deal with this person, who is providing a textbook example of how not to respond when you’ve been called out (politely and professionally) for doing something wrong. If Torrans chooses not to post a Creative Commons license but has no problems with copyright infringement, that’s one thing, but her policy doesn’t dictate what others do. Most Creative Commons licenses I’ve seen don’t allow for for-profit use but still require attribution, so non-profit status (or “societal value”) aren’t legitimate defenses. If this is Torrans’ attitude and you’re the first complaint, I suspect most people either don’t know their rights, or don’t realize that their images have been used inappropriately.
This is a reminder that all of us to know our own rights, and also the rights of others when it comes to the use of media.
Thank you for using CC license on your blog.
http://contemplativemammoth.wordpress.com/
You site is filled with stolen images. FILLED>
I’ve figured it out! You have no idea what you’re talking about!
These images aren’t “stolen.” Every single image on my blog is either a) my own, b) in the public domain, or b) someone else’s that has been attributed to them, and is used via a fair use Creative Commons license or some other explicit permission granted. ALL are appropriately attributed. I challenge you to find one that isn’t.
Oh, wait. You can’t.
wow. it sounds like someone forgot to take her seroquel pills these past few weeks.
Lee Ann,
Here’s the thing. You have used someone’s work and not attributed it to them. You claim that your site has done, or is doing, a lot of good for people but how would you feel if someone took your content and published it without crediting you? Surely, you can see Alex’s position?
Believe me. This blog post isn’t hurting you in the way you think it is. This isn’t Alex’s doing but the way you have chosen to handle this. If your business suffers as a result you only have yourself to blame and no one else.
http://myrmecos.net/page/4/
No, Mr. Wild does not have the authority for all of his images.
Yes, the term “HATE MAIL” was defamatory.
Yes, I did write and publish a book on copyright.
Yes, I do understand.
Yes, my site, has thousands of MY OWN IMAGES.
Yes, I took his image down within one minute of receiving the notice.
Yes, he refused, absolutely refused to modify his headline until threatened with a lawsuit.
Unless I had been an attorney with internet copyright experience he would NOT HAVE MODIFIED HIS HEADLINE AND USED HIS HEADLINE in retaliation.
No, I do not understand that conduct.
Yes, my response was not as courteous as it could have been, but to DEFAME me because of it …
Well, not necessary.
Yes, I will most likely move forward with the legal action.
He generate a huge fire storm because he DEFAMED me and I responded.
Unless you believe my response was HATE MAIL. I do not believe that.
BTW, feel free to use ANY of my images in your websites. They are there and free for the taking.
The irony is … I offer my images to the world GLADLY.
http://leeanntorrans.com/
http://dfwart.tumblr.com/
If you are bloggers and you need images … they are yours, just as they belong to anyone on the web.
I do understand copyright law. I did immediately remove the image and had not actually known it was there or been the one to post that.
The images on the site are mine and taken by me but shared freely with the world.
“Lawsuits are like eating potato chips.”
Congratulations! Lee Ann Torrans has won the coveted Everything That Is Wrong With America award for January 7, 2012. You go, girl!
You have also won the Most Incoherent Website of the Day award! Wow! Long medical articles mixed in with stuff about copyrighting dance/performance art, and something about tutu design! It’s spectacular!
An update: I have revised the title of this post, which originally contained the phrase “hate mail”. On reflection, my wording was perhaps a little harsh, even though my expressing the opinion that the correspondence was “hate mail” is a fully protected First Amendment Right.
I have screen-captured Ms. Torrans comments and saved her emails, and have received a generous offer for legal representation in the unlikely event that I might require it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time to get back to the ants.
Yeah, you better do something good for this country in a major way, or else, Alex! (I noticed that she also uses my photos, without any attribution, but after seeing her response to your request I don’t think I want to engage this person in any way.)
Really? And she wants to drag my copyright history into this as if it will help?
I was partly hoping I might have to go to Texas to resolve this, too, as that part of the world has some really interesting ants (Leptogenys isopod predators, for example.)
Maybe you could have changed it to, “Lee Ann tells me I am a bad boy” or “Lee Ann tells me I do nothing beneficial to society” or “Lee Ann tells me she is better than me” or “Lee Ann tells me (ok, implies) she was doing me a favor” or “Lee Ann wishes me all the best on my copyright infringement crusade (Yahoo!!)”
Pitr Naskreskci, if I have used your photos in any way just point it out. It will be removed. If that is true. I have closely reviewed the site for images and do not find any.
Point that out, otherwise, you comment appears to be somewhat self serving and absolutely false.
My images, continue to be free to use for anyone.
GrrlScientist,
Are you implying that medicated Americans are in any way similar to Lee Ann Torrans? That is slander, libel, and just plain mean. On behalf of medicated Americans everywhere, of whom I may or may not be one, I demand an apology, a retraction, and an autographed photo of Wil Weaton collating papers. Honor must be satisfied!
http://www.popehat.com/
Is that not a copyrighted image on your front page?
Who the hell is Popehat? Not me.
SciWriterDave, I agree. That would have been much better. That comment would have shown humor and tolerance. Rather than retaliatory slander.
My point exactly.
And why not change it to that immediately?
Perhaps, not realizing I was an attorney and would respond as I did? Thinking he could defame me and walk away was a strong impetus.
I mean the image was done in one minute. ONE MINUTE.
If you look at the site, you will see it is filled with MY OWN IMAGES that I offer to the public.
But your friend deliberately and with calculation decided not publish a defamatory headline.
You may question the way I handled and will move forward here but understand, I took the image DOWN IMMEDIATELY.
There are no images of Mr. Naskreskici I can find. I have looked. If so, please point them out.
THOSE IMAGES ARE ALL MINE.
That was on a post that was over two years old. No excuse. I get that, not even my post but a guest post, because my posts have MY IMAGES.
To use a defamatory headline, to refuse to remove it until notice of lawsuit for defamation was posted, reflects a retaliatory conduct and a personality defect halted only by legal demand.
Digging yourself deeper, lee ann. Google searches of your name now only lead to your bullying behavior.
They lead to these posts by you written in your name.
Leads the world to see your personality defect. Claim first, and only back down after you’ve tried to misdirect the responsibility. Two years of copyright infringement and you’re the one acting slighted?
Dig deeper, dig deeper. No honor etc.
Lee Ann,
My post wasn’t meant as support for you but I have been told I have a somewhat dry sense of humor.
I sincerely hope Alex’s photos are the only photos you have stolen. We really don’t want a repeat of the Cooks Source debacle, do we? Mistakes like these are like paper cuts. They aren’t likely to hurt you but a bunch of them will.
No, this points to personality defect:
“But if you look at the website you will see I sell nothing. I only serve the public by drawaing attention to a significant problem in this country.
Just wondering, do you do any thing beneficial to society in a major way?
I get emails all the time, thanking me for providing an important service. Maybe 7,000 to date.”
wth, you attorneys are so funny.
LOL Dave, I was thinking Cooks Source, too. Great minds, great minds…
Leen Anng, here is an example of a page that has my image. I have not looked thoroughly, and don’t particularly want to.
http://leeanntorrans.com/bedbugs-in-hospital-found-carrying-mrsa/
Funniest thing on the internets I’ve read today.
This is why bloggers are so unintentionally punny.
Could we all make an effort, please, to remain reasonably polite and not hurl naked insults?
Thanks.
A: why everyone hates lawyers.
Whoops, sorry antman, didn’t see that last one. Delete the lawyer crack if you like….
Interesting that the article at leeanntorrans.com is exactly the same as a 30-YEAR-OLD New York Times article, despite the LAT version claiming it to be ‘by LAT’ and giving a date of June 11 and June 12, 2010
NYT Version: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/12/us/survey-warns-of-ant-invasion-in-texas-hospitals.html
LAT Version: http://leeanntorrans.com/one-fifth-texas-hospitals-infected-with-ants-that-feast-on-wounds-and-potentially-carry-disease/ [backup screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/0RZft ]
Word for word! You were wise to make a screenshot.
I’d say something, but “can’t sue just one” Lee Ann would probably come after me.
Doesn’t she realize that acting like a total… witch… online guarantees you look like a… witch… online?
After seeing myrmecos’ last plea…
NOT a naked witch. Absolutely not.
That would be bad. I hear if you look at a naked witch your eyes will melt.
If that is your image it has been removed.
Ms. Torrans,
I’m a professional writer who freelances content for the net. If you’d like someone to fix some of the prose on your site, I’m cheap at $50 an hour. I also provide royalty free images or attribute under creative commons.
Interested?
You can find me under writeall at Elance.com.
Thanks,
Bill
PS – Got here because lots of other writers were pointing out this blog as an example of justified comeuppance.
I was going to offer, but what if someone found out I worked on her site? I’d feel really bad to be associated with it at this point. (…and wow, you are cheap *wink*)
Bill
I won’t wish her on my worst enemy.
No, but you are free to use my images.
Where are your images. Maybe I could use them?
Conversely, you can just credit the sources for the images you use and you’ll rarely run into any issues, since your site is non-profit.
Not entirely true. I require permission first. Non-profit status has little to do with it.
But which images are yours? We already have two photographers who have claimed you used their images. As great as that offer is, if someone takes and uses an image on your site, they could be getting themselves in the same trouble you’re in in the future.
“Learn not sneer.” Anagrams are fun!
A perfect example of why “ninety nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name”.
Much thanks to the Skeptoid, Brian Dunning, for pointing this post out. We can only hope this goes viral. It is unfortunate that Ms. Torrans allowed her ego to get the better of her. While I’m sure she is trying to provide a valuable service, for me, at least, her little tantrum has tarnished the credibility of her site. She appears to be suffering from the growing Entitlement Disorder epidemic. Luckily for her, she won’t need to visit a hospital to have it treated. Unfortunately for us, she may very well suffer from it for life.
Dear Ms. Torrans,
You are an idiot. I don’t mean this as an insult, I mean it literally. You are also a nasty bully, and I really hate bullies, but luckily you are not very good at it. People threaten to sue me because of what I say my blog, but they never do. It is my guess that you are just the same.
Grow up. None of us are eight years old any more.
Jon.
Just another stunning example of Brilliance on Demand?
Guess, you better change that motto: refuse to provide service to anyone
I mean talk about CHEEZY??????????????
“That’s what you pay me for,” Grace replied. “Brilliance on demand.” After that the client would always email asking for her “brilliance on demand” whenever he had one of his late night rush jobs. After Amanda and Grace teamed up, Grace Alexander Freelance Services officially became Brilliance On Demand.
Our company philosophy is simple. You pay us, we work. Your goals are our goals. If you succeed, we succeed. We are motivated to do a brilliant job for each client, because the very nature of the internet is that it is always evolving. When we deliver brilliance on demand, clients retain us for another month, then another, and then they refer us to their colleagues. In our book, THAT is success!
Thanks for the publicity, Lee Ann! (I am proud to say I have stolen no photos to use on my site in progress.)
This thread has hit Reddit, LOL. And I hit a nerve – when they stoop to the level Lee Ann just did you know they’re drowning… or melting…
Great site, Grace. Thanks for pointing it out, Lee Ann.
Thanks TJ! Got a ways to go, but it’s coming along
Hey Alex, what do you figure your swiped photos were worth?
http://blog.webcopyplus.com/2011/02/14/legal-lesson-learned-copywriter-pays-4000-for-10-photo/
Lee Ann Torrans may want to read up on copyright law before embarrassing herself any further. I guess her MRSA rant here has gone viral …
No, seriously, where are your images?
As I link to so many of these sites I find copyrighted images. Not going to name names, but I guess I could.
Each of you with a blog should go back and see if you have copyrighted images, because I am finding them everywhere, even on Alex’s blog.
If you look at my blog you see I have tried to only use my very own images.
I took his down immediately. He refused to take his headline down until threatened with a law suit.
I mean, really, I just don’t get it.
Alex has “swiped photos’ on his site.
Go for the damages. Let’s see the damages.
I have copyrighted images on my blog.
It is entirely legal. I do not charge for them.
You’re right that don’t get it. You accused me of having stolen images on my blog, and yet every image is properly attributed with a Creative Commons license or other permission, or is my own. Every. One. I recommend that you do some serious self-educating on this issue.
Wow, in your shoes, I would have posted that first bizarre reply as well (because her reaction was weird, arrogant, and utterly out of line) but now, she has revealed herself as some kind of nut who seems to thrive on the attention. It might be better to ignore her. It might even be best to delete the thread — not out of fear of any lawsuit, which is laughable — but to avoid “encouraging” a strange and unhappy person who seems to crave attention.
I would like to point out that this post by Lee Ann Torres:
http://leeanntorrans.com/bedbugs-in-hospital-found-carrying-mrsa/
appears to reproduce the entire text of this Associated Press story:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/alarming_combo_bedbugs_discove.html
Associated Press does not provide its copy for free; newspapers (such as the one linked above) pay a license to reproduce it. If Torres has not paid the fee, she is infringing AP’s copyright.
This has gone wild on Twitter.
Everyone that has a website, who is so incredibly critical of me, please post a link. Let’s review it for stolen images. Of all the websites linked her I find only TWO that do not flagrantly fill themselves with stolen images.
Kudos to Bug Girl. Great site with what appear to be her OWN images.
My site is filled with what I have tried to make exclusively my OWN images.
Some of you do not even TRY to do that.
Those of you that post attribution … that’s not enough. You know that and I know that.
I do not crave attention. I asked on multiple occasions for this to be removed but I WILL DEFEND myself and point the finger at hypocrisy.
Brilliance on Demand … for some reason right now, she seems just particularly UNBRILLIANT. Does she want my analysis of her site?
You really don’t get it, do you? I’ve done a little research, and what surprised me is that you actually are an attorney specializing in Library Science. I would hope that with your background you would be intimately aware of the laws surrounding copyright issues. Maybe you are. If so, you certainly hold no respect for them. When you received the DMCA letter, you chose to react in the way you did. You could have admitted that you were in the wrong, apologized and moved on. You chose to act in an unprofessional manner. This whole incidence calls into question your maturity and integrity. You are responsible for what followed. Do not blame anyone else. You! You are at fault for your actions. You are the owner of your words. You. No one else.
Going forward, when someone searches for your name, they will see this as a record of your behavior. This is now part of your professional profile.
Congratulations. I hope you learn from this.
No, attribution isn’t enough, but if someone has a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/) requiring non-profit use and attribution, then it is enough. Photos on Wikipedia are a great example of this.
If I had made a mistake, and someone asked me to take down their image, I would have done so and apologized profusely. I would not ever, EVER, react the way you have. You’re clearly in the wrong. End of story.
And ALEX WILD has stolen images as well.
If that is true, if Alex has “stolen images” as well then it is justification for your actions?
In a quick 5-minute check I found 3 more stolen images on Lee Ann Torrans’ site.
http://tineye.com
Oh noes! I must have offended Lee Ann when I didn’t refer to her as “Hospital Acquired Infections”! Everyone take note – we are apparently supposed to use everyone’s website name instead of their person name.
Twitter AND Reddit, and now the plot thickens with stolen articles, too? Since she can’t accuse me of stealing pictures (or text) like she did, I guess it’s any port in a storm, poor thing.
You go, Grace. A little added SEO on MRSA and Lee Ann Torrans can’t hurt.
Funny she thinks her “non-profit” justifies copyright infringement. Even a probate lawyer would know better than that.
I can’t stop laughing with every new link posted – it IS another Cooks Source!
Just stumbled across this via the Brian Dunning website.
Lee Ann; you are an idiot.
Someone has now hacked my sites.
One has been totally brought down.
The other has had information posted on it and am having trouble getting it back up.
Wow. I guess I am an idiot.
Way to go.
Given the deception here by you and your changing story, and the revelations of more and more copyright abuse on your site (Alex and Piotr’s photographs, three others found by Montana and another two I found which may or may not line up with Montana’s) I’m not surprised you took it down.
Claiming it’s been hacked is a transparent ruse, though. Still, if it helps you find breathing space while you clean up your own house, kudos to you. Whatever works.
Reminds me of my ex, but. He apologised profusely after I caught him in several lies, but only after every avenue of deception had been tried and then closed to him.
Like him, your implicit admission isn’t one of being sorry for what you did, it’s being sorry that you were caught out.
And to add to the copyright theft, at least two articles lifted word for word (see previous comments for links)
Hacked? Of courrrsssse it was. NOT.
If you had just kept your mouth shut in the beginning. You have crossed your Rubicon.
You got that right, Dave.
MONTANA … what are the images.
*Like* this on FB
I took the site down after the HACK.
Who did that?
Hacked and POSTED?
Please review this site. http://myrmecos.net/………….
Having contacted Service Provider.
Wow, just don’t know what to say about that one.
Maybe you can provide the words, Grace.
For someone who has apparently had an expensive education, your posts can be remarkably difficult to understand. What does a bad link to another part of this website have to do with yours going down?
I think George Takei summarizes this best. http://www.myxer.com/get/item/15455302/
That is so funny!
And you may notice that George’s work actually does support a good cause.
Well, not only have you found a copyright infringer, but you’ve also found a major asshole in the Internet community. I hope she gets everything she deserves.
You keep protecting your copyrights, Alex. Content CREATORS are what make the Internet a great resource. Content THIEVES steal because they lack the skill to create. They deserve all the grief they get.
No, I took the Depuy down after the HACK:
Please review this site. http://myrmecos.net/2…………….
Who did that?
Obviously, you are hacking my sites.
This is incredible. Just incredible.
We will try to figure out how to avoid the HACKING.
I guess you know who you are.
I have contacted my Service Provider.
Wow, I guess I used two photos I know about that were not mine on blogs two years old that were actually posted by someone who had the site before me.
Then I have about 1,000 of my own which I offer freely to the internet community.
Yours for the taking. I guess that’s not creative enough.
Now someone here hacks my site.
All the sites linked back to but TWO on this thread have stolen images and several are heavy into Google Ads, obviously blogging for money.
Yeah, the sites down because of a HACK.
I have sent the screen image to Alex.
Way to go. Retalation complete!!!!!!!!!!
Are you just as generous with your articles? Oh, wait! Those were stolen too.
Regarding the claim of “hack”: the Internet has a Wayback Machine, you know.
I know nothing about a way back machine.
What I do know is that my site was hacked and postings made.
It refers to this site.
I know my service provider will have an IP address though most likely a Proxy was used.
I know I have sent a Screen Shot to Alex and he is aware.
Thanks so much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine
The internet does not forget.
Alas, wayback machine takes only periodic snapshots of a webpage (say, every few weeks) so it isn’t very good for proving much (it also only grabs the homepage I believe)
True. How often a snapshot is taken depends on Page Rank and traffic.
Lee Ann
I am trying to write this in an objective manner. This is a bad situation and you are facing Alex’s snarkiness in his original post subject, you are facing your own actions in regards to the stolen copyrighted material on a site you are responsible for, and you are facing a worked-up internet.
To say an ant’s nest has been stirred is probably not even an amusing reference at this point, but I usually cross the line like that, so there you go.
However, the mark of a mature and capable adult is their ability to be confronted with extremely difficult situations, even entirely unfair ones, and keep composure, dignity, and effectiveness. Unfortunately you are acting the spoilt petulant child role and reverting to low sarcasm, spurious claims, and dumping spammy replies about how bad everyone else is.
This is, effectively, far beyond a copyright interest and is now seventy five percent internet trolls poking you to stir you up. Merely claiming everyone else is doing the same thing is no different than being caught in a brawl and finger-pointing while exclaiming HE STARTED IT!!!.
That may or may not be so, but the effective person walks away and keeps their dignity. At the moment the only person to lose by continuing your responses like you have is you, because it’s not just the copyright issue, it’s not just Alex’s response, and it’s not just about who posted what; it’s about the entirety of reddit, twitter, slashdot and the like all intent on dragging your name through the mud, and they WILL use every word you say against you, and WILL twist everything in the worst possible light. (I still believe you were wrong to act in the arrogant way you did for your first response, but that’s water under the bridge, no?)
Take a deep breath, apologize, and move on. Hope it works out for the best.
Of course, you have a point.
But the facts are the facts, are they not?
Someone has now hacked my site.
I do offer my images free on the internet to anyone who cares to use them and I am being attacked by people who do not even try to have their own images. I do.
Alex and I will work this out one way or another.
Here’s the thing Lee Ann. Right now your credibility is shot through the roof. So even if you do offer all your images to be used for free, who would want them? Not only have you used Alex’s images without permission, there was at least one other image that you used without permission. It makes anyone wonder how much you now about the content on your own site and whether you can give away the images in your Tumblr account.
That is a fact.
Great. I know nothing about that.
I know security with my Intenet Service Provider is investigating this.
So, that is good enough for me.
I will let the professionals take care of this.
I think that is best.
Wow, your site hasn’t been hacked, nobody believes you.
Wow, you’re an asshat.
Wow. You like the word wow.
Wow, you don’t seem capable of guilt or remorse about what you were doing, or that you’ve been caught. You could very well be a sociopath.
Wow.
I mean my hosting provider is investigating this.
I wonder which one of the spiteful posters this was?
I hope all the posters with images not their own will remove them.
This includes Alex Wild.
I find it interesting that so many posters link to sites with images not their own.
Again, mine are offered freely to the internet community. Though the one site is down you may still obtain them here:
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/dfwart
I am sufficiently hard working AND creative to provide this service and continue to do so.
Does anyone else here do that?
Just curious.
“Again, mine are offered freely to the internet community.”
Why do you keep repeating that, Lee Ann Torrans? Do you think it makes your thievery of other persons’ and companies’ images legal? It does not.
I hope, since you offer them freely, that they do not now end up on 100 other websites. That would diminish the value of your original images, just as your copyright infringement diminishes the value of the images you swiped.
What???????
DO not even get your logic.
It’s fine if they end up on 100 other websites. That’s what they are there for. I am not looking for value in my original images. They are to enhance internet use and my website clearly stated that.
They could end up on 1000 websites. I would not care. They are there to use.
Alex is the one to determine if I have diminished the value of his image. But your agrument makes no sense.
MY IMAGES ARE FREE FOR USE ON ANYONE’S WEBSITE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.
Donating to a Food Bank does not make it okay for you to steal from a Grocery Store.
Accusing someone else of stealing does not make it okay for you to steal.
Also, in all honesty, I seriously doubt that your site was hacked.
If you truly had nothing to do with the site being taken down, perhaps someone alerted the NYT of your reposting their articles under your name with no attribution.
Go make a hot beverage and chill the eff out, your near-incoherent responses here are only making things worse for yourself. Quit while you’re this far behind, because you won’t get ahead.
Or don’t, because watching you do this to yourself is pretty amusing.
Oh, and don’t bother taking this down. I’ve already taken a screen shot.
And I’ve emailed the screen shot to patrickmcmullan.com. It’s a pay site. If you were not the photographer, they may be in contact with you. If you were, good shot.
Which/whose images are you referring to?
So who are you?
You know yow I am.
I have no idea about a patrickmcmullan.com
The image of Feryal Gulman taken at the 2007 Alzheimer’s Association Rita Hayworth Gala on October 10, 2007. The image is found on http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/search.aspx?t=person&s=Feryal+Gulman, http://lasocialdiary.com/node/2947/print with the copyright of PatrickMcMullan.com, and on what I assume is her site http://tututoday.com/designer-tutus/tulle-and-net-recent-uses/. Her name and email address are next to the image.
To quote patrickmcmullan.com, they are “…a full service photography and digital imaging agency established in the 1980′s by Patrick McMullan. The company photographs over 50 events each week, many of which are PMC exclusives, and services images to the leading national and international publications. In addition to current events, PMC has an extensive archive, searchable by date, name and event, starting in 1980. PMC is a visual Who’s Who that is an invaluable resource to the media and the individual.”
For more information about their site, see here. http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/help.aspx?t=16#pmc
Since the actual image does not have the photographer’s name on it, I cannot say that Lee Ann did not take it, but if she did not, it shows that she used an image from a site that charges for the use of its images.
Wow, so many comments.
Alex, do you want to post the hacked image?
I sent it to you and can send a better one if you like.
I have about three more.
I will most likely have an IP address in the next 24 hours, though I anticipate it will be a proxy.
Seriously, please please please do yourself a favor. I know you’ll read this and dismiss it. I’m asking you not to.
You may have a friend or a relative who is very honest with you. Someone you KNOW knows you really, really well.
Please ask them to read all of this. Ask them to honestly give you an assessment. Because if you’re not intentionally and I mean..VERY INTENTIONALLY pretending at all this…you have a problem. I don’t mean it in a nasty way, or cruel. All of us have quirks, some more serious than others. But your behavior and actions here have the appearance of something much more seriously wrong. I’m not going to armchair it, and I’m not trying to be mean.
But if there is something wrong, you might be a whole lot happier in life if you got it checked out. It’s hard and scary, but I strongly urge you to do it.
Or have a good night’s sleep and come back rational. You got caught walking out of the store with an item not yours, and you didn’t pay for it. You want to argue everyone takes a grape here and there, and HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THEIR FECKING PROBLEM?! But you’re not at the store where that’s okay. It’s not okay here. And when you were told that, instead of apologizing, you want to throw a tantrum on why you’re not a thief. Here’s the reality; ALMOST everyone is sympathetic to the ‘oh shit…I didn’t know’. Even the guy who’s work you stole. He makes his living this way, you realize that? Okay. Even the guy you ripped off is sympathetic. If you had simply credited him…or offered to…well…
But you didn’t. You’re wrong and being wronger isn’t going to make you right. Throwing a tantrum isn’t going to make ‘management’ capitulate. Threats don’t work either. After the lawsuit threat I half expect shady references to you ‘knowing people’.
Again, seek help for your own happiness. People like you are often miserable, and while your own misery is really sad and depressing to the rest of us…that’s your choice. But the other problem is, your melodrama causes problems for others.
Knock it off.
Love, Humanity
PS: Seriously. Just stop.
I know we’re getting all of this 8.1347 minutes late, but I would like to concur with Humanity on behalf of the Martian Collective.
And you humans wonder why we keep shooting down your Mars probes.
“He makes his living this way, you realize that? Okay. Even the guy you ripped off is sympathetic. If you had simply credited him…or offered to…well…”
This is kinda along the lines I’ve been chewing on… That what we really have here is a Lost Opportunity.
Had Lee Ann apologized and then asked how she could legitimately used Alex’s photos, what could be realized is even greater: A symbiotic relationship that could ultimately benefit both parties, something greater than the sum of both maybe.
I’ve seen it happen, and it can be glorious.
But no, this just turns into another antagonistic event, and I wonder if its symptomatic of the Law profession at large, You know, the “Hire This Law Firm, We are the MOST AGGRESSIVE attorneys in the World” crap that permeates their advertising.
Really, it’s a shame.
How much easier this would have been if the images had just been removed. The request to remove them was appropriate, and the immediate removal was too. Too bad this didn’t stop there.
I think that when you use ones photographs, even when there is no copyright on it, it is only POLITE to ask if you may use them. When there is copyright, you just d*** ask it or don’t use them. Of course, for this you need working brains and the type of reactions you give, someone might wonder if you have… common sense.
if i change a single bit in your image does it still implies the copyright?
What should be an information difference (number of bytes) to stop considering a file to be a “derivative work”?
It doesn’t work like that. File sizes vary wildly dependent on many factors other than the image being represented (compression, etc).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work#Transformativeness
The answer depends on the terms of the license, if any, and how the derivative image is used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#Fair_use_and_fair_dealing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work
I wonder if web search engines like google or web archives provide images and other files that are of public domain or fair use? Copyright law seems to be inconsistent with modern information reality. Is a copy in browser cache legal? lol
Search engine caches like Google are fair use, here is an article about a 2006 involving this issue: http://www.out-law.com/page-6571
I can give images away if they are MINE.
Those are my photographs UNLESS reblogged. That’s the only source now.
Alex’s has the hacked image. Host Provider is investigating.
Wow, I took the image down immediately.
I checked analytics, no one hit that site. That’s not why they were there.
They wanted the free images, honestly and now that’s gone.
I got more hits to obtain free internet images than anything else.
So for now, tumblr is my only source to offer them.
I guess I gave away about 8,000 free downloads last year of free images.
I took alex’s image down, he knows that. He just was mad and so was I.
But that is nothing compared to the unbelievable comments here.
Wow, cannot believe it.
You should take those photos off the tutu site, too, the photos you don’t own.
Lee Ann,
You should be careful with what you say and what you claim. Montana is scary good when it comes to finding stolen content and she will call you out on it.
You cannot believe it because there is a very large disparity between reality and your opinions. You keep repeating that you give away your photographs. So do I. That’s an irrelevant fact. You might as well state you drive a blue car in your responses.
That gives neither of us the right to steal others’ work, then claim you’re all clean, while more and more people find more and more of your ‘work’ online has been stolen from others.
Crazy suing machine http://www.outofthedark.com/CyberPagan/AnotherCompUSA45.html