American Piglet vs. Copyright Troll

[peacetraveler22]

From the very beginning of this blog, I've advocated for free expression, divergent viewpoints, and admittedly allowed too many abusive comments to infiltrate some posts. The reason is simple - I'm a huge advocate of free speech, even if the viewpoint being expressed is completely idiotic from my perspective, untruthful, or especially unfavorable to me personally. Unfortunately, this week I have no time to write travel stories because I've been consumed with trying to get my copyrighted photos removed from two posts, which have drawn a lot of attention here on LJ.

For those who are unaware, after the Russian translation of my story about the villagers appeared in the popular community odin_moy_den last week, someone came up with the brilliant idea to create a scandalous post about me, using a copyrighted photo of myself and one of the kind villagers I met as the backdrop to speak negatively about my appearance (calling me a "piglet") and write a long list of anti-Western sentiments. Btw, the person who wrote the post is an immigrant, now living in Houston, Texas. This, in and of itself, does not concern me. However, it soon became very clear that the true intention of the author was to promote her YouTube videos, piano software and music lessons in the comments to the post. Sadly, the author's creative scam worked, and the post hung in TOP LJ for an entire day, collecting almost 2,000 comments, hundreds of which were generated by the author herself, constantly throwing links to promote her business and get free advertisement at my expense. This behavior is sad and pathetic in itself; however, the reaction from the LJ community was even more disconcerting. So many people quickly climbed to the comments, anxious to spit bile and hate towards me and America, not even realizing that they, themselves, were being played by the author, manipulating and encouraging them on, so she could continue to get free promotion for her business in the comments. Yes, I'm very emotional, angry and frustrated over this situation...

When I confronted the blogger in her post, she didn't  try to hide the fact that she was promoting her "scientific research." Btw, she claims to not only be a learned musicologist, but also a legal expert, attempting to school me in U.S. copyright laws on numerous occasions. You can some of the comments below:

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Why am I writing this post?  It's not for the sake of a further scandal, although it may be perceived as such by some. The post is simply a warning to all copyright trolls to NOT use my images for the sake of free advertisment, or drawing attention to your blog for promoting commercial endeavors, without my consent. The drama further unraveled last evening, when someone republished the author's post in the pora_valit community. Again, this woman ran into the comments to throw links to her YouTube videos and websites, but as you can imagine, the crowd in this community was not so receptive and immediately called her bluff. After I contacted the user who republished the story in the community, he immediately understood the deceptive intent of the original author and removed my copyrighted photos from the post. Most importantly, he also deleted all comments from the original author which were overt attempts to get free advertisement yet again. I wish to thank the moderators of the pora_valit community, and alexxw5 for removing the infringing content, but allowing this woman's post and opinions about me and the USA to remain published there. This is very, very crucial to me that the words and opinons of the author not be removed, only my copyrighted photographs. If you want to know her views about me and the USA, you can read them here.

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ой, не скажите!

mudraya1

2015-06-03 01:41 am (local)

Польза автору огромная.
Такая раскрутка ее музыкальной программе, ее каналу на ютубе. Не зря ж она толкает во все дыры (ха-ха, двусмысленность какая!) ссылку на себя в ютубе.

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yosemite_ca

2015-06-02 11:28 pm (local)

Вам бы лучше не совать свою рекламу в этом сообществе. Результат будет противоположный желаемому.
Вы будете сильно шокированы, но здесь попадаются люди, которые живут в Америке десятилетиями и будут реагировать на ваш бред как на бред. Промахнулись бы с сообществом.

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kiwidition

2015-06-03 12:48 am (local)

Дурашка! Шенон, согласно российскому законодательству, имеет права фотографировать все, включая людей, не спрашивая разрешения, если фотографирование производится в публичном месте. И даже на 100% уверен, что она спрашивала разрешение на съемку, потому что Шенон живет в стране, где уважают чужое прайвиси. В отличии от вас. Вы нарушаете (и очень серьезно) закон (в том числе и российский), используя фотографии без разрешения правообладателя.

Не говоря о том, что сильно смеялся, читая ваш фейерический бред.

Мой вам добрый совет - удалите фотографии. Нарушение авторских прав - это очень серьезное правонарушение. В противном случае может случиться так, что вместо распространения ваших музыкальных методик вы будете работать на адвокатов и выплаты штрафов.

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(no subject) — svetkakh — Expand

profiless

2015-06-03 05:59 am (local)

Банальная классика жанра
Бабу можно вывести из села
А вот село из бабы...

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profiless

2015-06-03 06:43 am (local)

Spare me your issues

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oryx_and_crake

2015-06-03 06:32 am (local)

Как вы жалки со своими выдумками и со своими потугами на рекламу.
Скоро от вас уже весь интернет блевать будет.

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Perhaps some people believe this woman's objectives were pure, that she was only trying to express her opinions about me and the USA with no ulterior motives, however for me such a conclusion is almost unfathomable when the situation is viewed in its entirety. When it became clear the blogger would not remove my copyrighted photos from her original post, I filed a formal abuse complaint with LJ.  Please note that I asked ONLY for the removal of my copyrighted photographs, not that the author's entire post be taken down. I don't care what this woman thinks of me or the USA. She is entitled to her opinion on both of these subjects. LJ suspended her post as of this morning, in response to my complaint.

I'm sorry for the long soap opera, and for throwing such scandal here in my otherwise cozy blog, but such abuse of my copyrighted images will not be tolerated, and I will dedicate a lot of time and legal resources to battle those who engage in similar behavior in the future. I'm a full time lawyer, deriving no income from this blog. It is merely a labor of love and outlet for creative and artistic expression. I dedicate a huge amount of time to each travel post I write here (on average 5 - 6 hours), and it's not fair under basic human principles, or U.S. law, when unknown bloggers cling to the reputation and audience I've worked very hard for over the years to generate traffic to their own sites for free advertisement and promotion of their products/services.

There is no "fair use" defense in this instance, when the intention for using my photos is so blatantly tied to commercial promotion. If you want to see an example of "fair use", you can look at this post, where my photos are also used, without permission, in connection with yet another conspiracy theory about my identity and motives for writing on RuNet. I would never object to a post like this, they are written over and over again by various LJ users, and I don't mention them here in my blog, or draw attention to them because people are free to think of me as they wish. However, if you decide to call the USA home, as the woman who wrote the scandalous post now does, you must also be aware that you live in a society and culture where laws are respected by the vast majority of the population. More importantly, you're dealing with a blogger, ME, who will not be taken advantage of and will fight to the death when there is a sense of injustice, and I have the means and ability to try to effect change and stop it.

How would you have reacted in this situation? Some people think all artistic content, photos and literary works should be available for public use at no cost, no matter the circumstance. Even when someone so clearly uses the work and reputation of another for their own self-promotion and commercial gain? I'm curious to hear your opinions on this topic.

P.S.: Thanks for paying attention to my long, emotional post today, and a big virtual hug to those who climbed into the comments of both posts to support me. I saw your words of support and encouragement, but did not wish to communicate further in the original post about me, nor will I communicate with the author of that post in this story, or any others, in my blog.

Comments

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Internet is still the "Wild West" to a certain extent and with increased popularity, comes increased trolls and problems. This is the downside. :(