On the Quiltart list this morning this link was posted. http://kimberlyshaw.typepad.com/my_weblog/protecting-.html

This is a subject close to my heart since many years ago I had an artistic design stolen for someone else’s financial gain. All artists create from their God-given talents and whether their designs are for commercial or personal use they feel violated when this happens. It helps to get darn mad but unless you have a pretty bottomless pocketbook it is difficult to bring a lawsuit against a large corporation. I applaude Kimberly Shaw for taking action into her own hands.

With the internet, stealing [the politically correct term in the corporate world is ‘unauthorized use’] is becoming more of a problem. Blogs are wonderful for sharing but they leave an artist’s work open for theft. Don’t think you are immune because you aren’t an artist. There are companies harvesting images from the internet to use in their advertising with ‘unauthorized use’. How would you feel if that cute photo of your baby or grandbaby ended up in a formula ad, or your grubby faced toddler has the starring role on a laundry detergent box? The problem is, you have to find out about it and that’s hard to do if the ‘user’ is in England or Japan.

I regularly delete things from my facebook photos because of this. I will do the same with my blog as time goes by. Please be aware that this is happening. Okay, getting off my soapbox for now.