When you steal an image and put it on your blog (come on, admit it, we all do it), do you:
1) Do the right thing: download the image and then upload it to your server, or
2) Do the lame thing: use the image by linking to it on someone else's server?
What if you did number 2, intending for your image to be this:
And for some time, that's what you got. But then one day, it suddenly becomes this (but imagine it 2000X2000 pixels, taking up the whole screen and distorting your website):
Well, that's what happened yesterday to hundreds of bloggers and businesses.
It seems that my favorite web developer noticed that an image that was on one of his client's sites was getting thousands of loads from other pages that had linked it back to his client's server rather than doing the right thing and putting it on their own servers (50,465 illegitimate loads of the image since January 1).
Many of the offending images have since been taken down, but here's a sampling of the stupid bloggers and individuals who still have it up (hundreds have already taken it down):
Extremely Stupid person
Some Christian blogger
A dumb Live Journal user
Another LiveJournal User
A Blogspot user
Another Blogspot user
Some dumb AOL user
Some Candy Raver
A university paper
Stupid businesses:
Laboratoire-Microsoft
From Patent to Profit
BlackBusinessExpo
Cycle2fastcash
Someone dumb in Germany
A foreign Bulletin Board
An inadvertent foreign political commentary:
America en Profecia
And my personal favorite, from a high school in Rhode Island:
Barrington High School
So, are you a stupid blogger? Are you guilty of stealing images and bandwidth? Do you have a similar story to tell? Do you know of any of the stupid bloggers who were smart enough to take this down within the first 24 hours? Do you know of other revenge attacks like this? What do you think? Personally, I think this is really frickin funny.
I also have to point out that while LiveJournal users and Blogspot users were abundant in the stupid blogger category, not a single Movable Type user was caught in the act. Hmmm...
Posted by Dawn at January 27, 2004 02:49 PM
Well, that's because LJ and Blogspotters don't usually have their own webspace to upload to. MTers always do. That said, it's pretty nasty to steal bandwith.
When I had a Diaryland blog, I had a friend upload all my images to his spot, with permission to use his bandwidth. I think a lot of people don't even know it's wrong, as well.
Posted on January 27, 2004 15:16 PST
This post takes the cake for funniest post of the day so far. I cannot believe how stupid people can be. Wait, yes I can and yet I'm still surprised.
Posted on January 27, 2004 15:34 PST
I'd just like to point out that my initial idea of how to do this did not involve actually using the word 'asshole' but rather a complex arangement between the futon couch, Dawn's tripod, Digital Rebel camera and remote clicky thingie which could be used (in macro mode) to take a detailed, close-up high-rez 6 migepixel image of my bunghole.....but better taste got the better of me. :)
Posted on January 28, 2004 08:49 PST
hmm i use blogspot and i can upload images no prob. i signed up for a plus account but have never been billed :-)
also it's a really rare day that i'll post an image that isnt mine.
i never really thought of myself as an exception, but i guess so.
bummer that peeps need to steal images
arf
coyote
Posted on January 28, 2004 10:14 PST
Hey Dawn -- Funny story! I myself have done the ol' image switcharoo before. It's amazing how long the changed images will remain on other people's sites.
For anyone reading this, I just wanted to mention that it is also bad form to take an image off someone's site and put it on your own without permission. That is a textbook copyright violation. In other words, it's illegal.
There are only two cases where it's legal to reproduce someone else's work: parody and criticism (and in the case of criticism, you can only use a portion of the work - not the whole thing). Or you can look for a Creative Commons license, or just ask permission.
The bottom line is, if you see an image on someone else's site and you think it's great, send fan mail. But leave it where it is. You'll never run afoul of copyright law so long as you're making your own images.
And for people looking to protect their images, you can also modify your htaccess files to make it so other sites cannot inline your images (steal bandwidth). It's relatively easy to do.
Posted on January 29, 2004 11:16 PST
Well, it had potential, but the execution wasn't all that funny.
More amusing stunts have involved substituting a "Bloggers for Dean" banner on a rabid right-wing site, and a not-terribly-tasteful nude on a church Web site :D
Posted on February 02, 2004 01:03 PST
I hate bandwidth leachers. I actually do the same thing. I have no problem if you download it and host it on your own site, but if you steal my bandwidth then I'll replace it with a similar picture.
Good post, thats great...hehe
Posted on February 02, 2004 10:19 PST
TrackBack from watching expired appliances align:
i try to stay away from writing about technology/computer issues since my knowledge in that arena is rather limited. but i must say that i'm not a fan of people stealing bandwidth (direct linking to images on my website). for...
Read more in of shopping & haircuts »
Posted on February 16, 2004 11:33 PST
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