On
July 26, 2008 I discovered that the photo and near total verbatim
content of an earlier version of the biography I wrote of my
father had been used on another website. No permission had been
granted for use of my work, nor was it even requested and it was taken
despite a clear copyright notice on my page. A few words had
been added at the beginning and end of my work and it
was used on a site about an O. P. Brown on a page that cited
LBA as the
"compiler." This followed my discovery about two weeks earlier that the photo of my grandparents from my pages had been stolen and used without permission on the same site. She also had appropriated a great deal of my grandfather's written work as well as that of his forebears that had been compiled by an aunt. In this case also LBA was credited with compiling the material. My grandfather's writings as well as many other documents valuable for research and information purposes had been archived a few years earlier on the now closed site www.shillrothrock.com. Upon the first discovery I immediately emailed LBA and questioned her use of my photo, how she could say she compiled what had been compiled by and aunt and if she had permission to use my grandfather's writings. I got a reply that she had other pictures of my grandparents so that wasn't a problem and she'd list my aunt on her page. She didn't address permission for using my grandfather's work. She also made mentioned that she's had lots of compliments on her pages, which I suppose might impress some folks, but to me simply says that she's done a good job of stealing a lot of the good work of others. She also mentioned that she'd been given lots of things by other people, which I guess is supposed to excuse any theft. But since she has cited my pages and others, she has no excuse for not knowing it is our work. Before I discovered the theft of my other photo and biography, I did go back to the site about my grandfather and found she had cropped the photo she had initially stolen from my site. I guess she thought she could call that one of those "other" pictures of my grandparents, but in fact she didn't notice or didn't want to have to actually work to remove the unique incidental light pattern characteristics of the photo she'd stolen from my pages. That really told me a lot about LBA. After seeing that cropped photo and then discovering the additional theft, I again emailed LBA and demanded that my written work be removed from her pages immediately and absolutely denying permission to use even a single cited word of my written work, my name or any mention of my site anywhere on her pages. Given her disrespect for the photo, I ceded the graphic content. In the future, all my photos will be steganographically encrypted with source information. While I'm willing to trash my graphics, the intensely personal nature of my writing, my name and my web address require that I take all measures available to preserve them as mine and mine alone. At this point, I have yet to hear again from LBA and I am becoming more and more incensed. Apparently LBA sees "compiling" as stealing whatever you want from wherever you want, adding a few words if you like, then listing sources as if you'd actually done the writing yourself. This in no way meets the fair use doctrine of United States copyright law. Perhaps it's acceptable in her family, but it surely isn't acceptable in mine. I detest going to court, but I've done it before and I won't hesitate to do it again if LBA doesn't cease and desist her unethical, immoral and illegal activity. I've considered taking out advertising in a couple of her local newspapers or notifying her church leaders of her actions but I've decided to hold off on that for the time being. I have now notified everyone I think might have rights to my grandfather's writings in case they want to follow up as well. I know that people who do wrong never really get the punishment they deserve in this life, but I always delight in the knowledge they'll be called to account in the next. LASM |