Two things:
First, the website is in full gear now, so check it out and email your ideas to unpleasantlysexy@gmail.com.
The second thing needs a little bit of explaining.
From the very beginning, I have had the option of putting ads on this blog, and I could make a small amount of money from those ads, but I have chosen not to - primarily because I think it ruins my idea of an open forum. I don't want to subject you guys to targeted ads, whether they be worthwhile or not. So...
There is a new website called "Bitacle" that has begun to blatantly steal creative material. They are copying it onto their servers (not linking to it), and re-posting it to their own web pages without any attribution whatsoever to the author(s). They have sprinkled these new, duplicated pages with ads, and they are now making loads of money off of stolen intellectual property.
I discovered that they have duplicated my entire blog. They are making money off of every single entry I have made. They have also added the link to my new website to their server, so they'll be making money off of that, as well.
Needless to say, I'm rather f*ck-all angry.
My email addresses, my web pages...some jerk is even making money off of that cute picture of Julia dancing at our wedding (and it ain't me).
In pursuing a solution to this, I have also found that Bitacle is blocking the IP addresses of its victims - meaning that I cannot get access to their main site to complain about the issue. Several victims have been receiving vulgar, taunting emails (in Spanish) that suggest that whoever is running this scam feels impervious to copyright law. I haven't been getting those yet, but we'll see.
The audacity of these people is staggering, yet I have no real recourse beyond signing online petitions to block Bitacle from US servers. You might be aware of how well that has worked in the past (Napster, Kazaa, The Pirate Bay, Allofmp3.com, etc.) - it hasn't done a damned thing.
My next post will be a little brighter, I promise, but for now...
...I hope that every single employee of Bitacle.com gets a skycraper plunged up their butt.
S
Did you see this? In case you haven't, there are some suggestions of what to do. But this is prolly old hat to you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bottomfeeder way to make a living, eh?
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2006/09/25/bitacle-debacle/
Sandy
I guess I don't really understand how they could access your material. Doesn't this blogger site "guarantee" that only those people to whom you've given access will be able to view your material? It seems to be that you may want to complain to this site management about protecting your material. I'm particularly concerned that material you considered "private" about your past job and former co-workers is now available to the public.
ReplyDelete-Mom
For-shame! I can't believe that. On one hand it's cool that your intellectual property is good enough to be stolen; I don't think mine would make it quite that far. On the other'n, THAT SUCKS! My faith in humanity is shaken. If the lawnmower man were real, I would sick him on those fools.
ReplyDeleteWell, Mom, I'm not so worried about the content of my blog being "out there", as it is. I've carefully chosen everything I've put in there, and I'm responsible for any backlash. The only thing incriminating is the picture of Creepy Guy, but there's no name attached - and I found THAT on the web, not from any internal source.
ReplyDeleteThe princi-bality of it is - this is thievery, and it's wrong.
And Ryan, whilst I appreciate the veiled compliment there, my stuff ISN'T good enough to be stolen - they steal blogs at random, and mine just happened to be one of 'em.
And Sandy, I did read that, and I've since truncated the RSS feeds for the site, but everything up to now has already been taken and copied.
Oh well. I'm over it, I guess. Let 'em have my fart jokes and Van-Damme-ologies. I gots plenty more in the well.
Many thanks and love to all of you!
That's so F-ed up Sam! I feel you on this, and I am SO PISSED.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe stuff like that exists.