I am an avid photo and video website user. I haven’t had a problem with random comments until just recently. I took a picture with my camera phone of my feet while I was getting a root canal a few months ago and uploaded it to my photo site. I did it to show off my “cute” new Converse slippers. I received a comment from a random person so I decided to view his profile and found out that he thinks feet are “a turn on”. I threw up in my mouth a little. I immediately blocked this guy. I have had a couple more disturbing comments and have immediately blocked these people. All of these comments have made me wary as to who is looking at my content. You do realize that it is pretty easy to steal a photo whether you have a button clicked that says, “no downloading” or not, don’t you? Needless to say, I have all of my uploads marked for family and friends viewing only and have shut off all search possibilities on my photos.
Unfortunately, one Flickr member had quite an eye-opener recently. Several of this person’s photos were stolen and uploaded onto a pedophiles site. The Flickr member had fears that the photos were being stolen, so used a trusty site such as Technorati to search and see who might be using their photos. Sure enough, there was the information that lead to the discovery of the stolen photos. That being said, the Flickr member joined the “boy lover” site in order to dig to the bottom of the stolen photos issue. What the member saw and read was appalling. The member happened to see some familiar photos which belonged to another Flickr member and reported back. The member took action against the perpetrator and his profile has since been deleted from Flickr and Photobucket (caleb_jones13). Sadly, this will not stop him (nor any others) from finding photos elsewhere or creating a new username and committing the crime over and over. The internet just makes that too easy. I think we all know what needs to be done to stop him and other’s like him.
This just sickens me. The thought that someone may have my little girl’s photo and is using it for their own disturbing pleasure. I even hate to write that out. Who and where are the real life super heroes that will rid our planet of these evil-doers? One thing that bothered me most of all after scouring the discussion boards of THAT site was that there is a CHRISTIAN thread. How they can relate this behavior to God is beyond me. My hand was cupped over my mouth the entire time I was reading. There were also posts about how to get jobs in schools and what kind of diapers they prefer on toddlers that they are attracted to. I even read how one guy was hired to take pictures of kids playing in the schoolyard. I had to stop and get away from their filth for a while before I could finish this post.
A good way to find out if your photos have been stolen is to visit Technorati and type in your entire photo site or blog address and hit search. The results should show you who is using your content or photos.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of this heinous crime please visit these sites to file a report:
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
*One of my original Chicago Moms Blog posts
