Monday, February 08, 2010

Privacy and blog break

 I had a very disturbing experience yesterday: I found a photo I had taken in January on somebody else's blog -- posted without attribution and without having asked my permission.

I had no idea where she had found it because it is not posted it to my blog -- and if I had posted it, I had thought better of it and removed it because I wanted to use it for my own artwork.

When I contacted the blogger, she insisted it was sent to her by someone else.  NOT true.

I finally tracked down my original photo in a Picassa web album I didn't even know existed, thanks to Blogger, which apparently uploads into Picassa every photo you upload to your blog, whether or not you end up posting it.  Apparently, this artist had taken my photo from Picassa and used it on her blog.  I am NOT happy and have let her know she should remove it ASAP.

Once I discovered the PIcassa album I think I changed the privacy options to having to sign in to see the pix.
I hope it works.

This is a warning to all of you that if you are on Blogger, your pix are out there waiting to be stolen.

When I come up for air again, I will post. Don't know when that will be.

23 comments:

Sherryl said...

In the left column there is a place to share or not share. Click on not share and no one can see the album. It won't stop anyone from lifting from the blog but you can track that with a free (for now) program from http://www.tynt.com/.

elle said...

There are many ways that we can be/feel vialated. I am so sorry that this has happened to you, Rayna. Thank you for sharing what you do share. Please don't let someone smaller stand between you and the sun!

Mandi said...

I didn't know that about picasa. I just looked, and there are my photos! How did you find your photos on that blog...were you just browsing, or is there a way to search for them? Very scary. People are so awful about the way they behave on the internet.

Frannie said...

I had no idea about picasa! Thank you for letting us all know. Sure enough when I went to look there were my pictures on picasa. I am sorry to hear someone grabbed one of your pictures and published it without your permission. Some people just have no sense. And, that she lied about it to boot...really. A member of my camera club once had a picture stolen right off the wall at an exhibition...it makes you wonder about people. Although she was upset, she took it in stride and joked that she supposed she could take it as a compliment that someone wanted her work bad enough to steal it.

Eva said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sophie said...

It's creepy that someone is going to that much trouble to surf/steal from Picasa albums.

FWIW, I rarely upload photos into blogger (and hence Picasa) because it isn't visible, nor easy to set controls. It's one of the things I like about Flickr–it's easy to set rights to an individual photo or set of photos and you can also pull them into blogger to use them in blog posts.

Debra Dixon said...

Unfrickin' believable. The nerve.

I know plenty of people who put a copyright/watermark on their photos-don't know if it helps but anyone stealing them would have to go to pains to remove it for reposting.

Rayna said...

I am always startled to see other artists who have no clue about copyright and don't even think they are doing anything wrong. Water over the dam or under the bridge or whatever. It has been removed.

Judi said...

can you tell me where to look for thisI have a picasa albumn but the only thing I see in it is pics I put there myself and none from blog. I guess I'm looking in the wrong spot maybe?

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

I've had people send me a note after the fact saying oh I used your image in my blog post today...
I think people do know that they shouldn't be doing this...
Why they do it is beyond me... It is very annoying... And also hard to control when Anything can be lifted from anything online....I'd be pissed too....
Ask permission people!!!!

queenopearls said...

Thank you for sharing this information Rayna. You opened the door for me to change my settings as well. Watermarking photos is going to be a great way to go.
~Christina

Rian said...

Da Noive! Thanks Rayna, for bringing this to our attention. I recently went to Picasa and deleted personal (well not THAT personal) photos that I had no idea were public.

Barbara said...

I'm sorry this happened to you. But meanwhile, I must confess that I posted the picture you had taken of your snow-covered table just to show how it resembled mine. I should have asked first. I'm not always as good as I should be about this sort of thing, but I would never steal someone's artwork!

I hope you can figure out how to put this behind you and move on because you have so much to offer the world!

GerryART said...

Rayna, thanks for the heads-up.
I've had Picasa for a couple of years now
and had never looking into the WebAlbum feature

Now, since your heads-up I immediately checked out my web album [who knew I even had it] and there they were
I took your 'advice' and opted to make my albums private
Hope you get things straightened out with this blogger.

Thanks for suggesting I look into MY PICASA WEB ALBUMS.

Hugs,
Gerry

Anonymous said...

How distressing. And what a violation. I'll check my settings now. I'm sorry this happened to you.

Eva said...

My first comment was off-topic, the second one unnecessary. I removed both.--
I got copied in the past. Once, I designed a candle pack for a customer who got a patent on the pack. It was copied by a Danish candle factory. My customer went to court. The packs of the Danish company had to be destroyed, and a high penalty was paid to the owner of the rights (my customer). I was a little proud.
If you get copied, it is a compliment, too -- apart from being a violation of your rights.

Libby Fife said...

I hate when something that you really like doing turns bad and ugly. Unscrupulous and ignorant are the words that come to my mind. I am all over Picasa so thanks.

Be well!

Judy said...

unbelievable....that really takes a lot of nerve or hutzpah or something else that I won't mention here!
Thanks for the heads up!

xo

Unknown said...

Oh Rayna, you must feel utterly violated. This is one of my own worst artistic nightmare scenarios, my heart goes out to you. I wish there was something I could say to make you want to come back and blog again, but I know this is the second blog bodyslam you've had in just the last few months and I can't blame you at all for wanting to take a breather.

I hope you won't go but if you do, I'll be lining up to read your posts when you come back online. :D

HUGS!

Dianne Koppisch Hricko said...

Sorry for your pain Rayna... you are one of my daily pleasures and will be much missed while you recoup. With yet another snow storm headed to Philadelphia I think I will scan through your older blogs and make due that way. You are in my thoughts

Sonja said...

I also had no idea where the photos went from the Blogger stuff. I'm very sorry to hear about the 'stolen' photo. This type of stuff always leaves an icky feeling. Hope you feel better soon.
hugs

Rayna said...

hugs to all of you.
R.

Liz Plummer said...

That is truly awful, Rayna. That's one of the good things about having a self hosted blog - as long as no one hacks into it...
Liz

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