Yesterday was the last straw in me being ripped off by digital culture. This bloggger (here) set up a mirror site of mine that he cut and pasted my blog into. The site is an add site. The blog owner is hoping to make money from Google Adsense.
The way I discovered this site was when I was Googling a phrase that I wrote after a lecture that I attended. To my surprise I could not find the the original speaker or my post on it but the ad-spam-blogger site came up on page one of Google in the top five listings.
Yesterday afternoon I asked for help on Facebook and Twitter and many of you came to my aid. Thank you for that! Google was quick to respond to my issue also. Due to the the way I copyright my work, having the blog removed may take some time.
Why bother. People have taken advantage of my Creative Commons license that I provide to share and distribute my work for too long.
For the record I think Creative Commons is a great way to distribute and build an audience for your work. Because of me using CC licensing my work has gone places that it never would have seen: a South Carolina community college used my blog as part of a photography class, that was cool. I have been able to share many photographs in trade for advertising as well place hyperlinks. I have been published in a couple of books due to CC licensing. You get my point, I bow down to the invention of Creative Commons.
This is not the first time that I have been ripped off by digital culture, it has happened many times. It is been becoming more and more frequent in the last couple of years. I have even walked into doctor's offices to see my night photography hung on a wall. I have even seen a pic of mine plaster on a side of a delivery truck. Various other random way people feel the need to take my work.
The sad part is that I love sharing my work. Just give me credit, truly that is all I ask. The distribution of my work has provided a very nice way of life for me and my family.
CC does have a licensing that states "look but don’t touch" that I may try. For now I am going old school and placing watermarks on my prints (which I truly hate).
If you would like to use any of my work publicly or commercially please contact me by e-mail. Good chance I will say yes.
