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04/27/2005 06:02:11 PM · #1 |
I have always considered myself to be pretty savvy in the way that the world works. I've experienced an incredible amount of life in my short 35 years. I've seen a lot, done a lot, read a lot, and have had many opportunities that either have been provided to me or I have made for myself. I don't live under a rock, I wasn't raised in a bubble, and I know that good and evil both exist in the real world, in many ways moreso than a lot of people. Today I was reminded, in a very huge and devistating way, that evil is very close and lurks everywhere.
Most of you know me and know that I have three beautiful sons. I would do anything in the world for any of them. They are my heart, my life, and my world. You see them in my photographs, and they are in life as they appear in my pictures...happy and carefree. I have posted many pictures of them here and on my smugmug site. I love to share the pictures I take of them with the world, because even photos of them bring smiles to the faces that see them. I have always been quite careful about including too much personal information on photos of them, and I don't create keywords to go with them because there are some pretty sick people around. We know the internet is dangerous and that things are easily accessed, easily exploited, and easily corrupted. I know this, and I know I've tried to be as careful as possible to see that nothing bad happens to my family. Today, I found out that no matter how careful you are, you should be ten times again as careful, at least.
I received two comments at my smugmug site today, letting me know that someone has linked to photos of my sons from a known child pornogrophy site. It's a site that promotes the sexual exploitation of young boys. The photos are simple, innocent snapshots of my two youngest, camping in the living room, both in their underoos and t-shirts. No nudity, no nothing... but some sick, perverted, twisted person has decided to link to those pictures, calling them "cute," providing a link to the gallery so that other sick, perverted, twisted people can peruse my children's photos as well.
As soon as I found out, I locked the galleries that contain photos of the children. I checked the stats for my site, and in March, that particular gallery received about 300 hits (which is typical), but in April, it received 23,000 hits. I removed the keywords boy and boys from all 5000 photos on my account. I have emailed smugmug, and I have had wonderful friends working on helping me track down the people responsible for the site that included the link. Unfortunately, not much can be done at this point for me, but I wanted you to know so that if you have family photos of your children, be SURE to change your keywords (or remove them completely), lock your galleries from public view, and be very careful about the kinds of photos of your children that you post. I hate to be a doomsayer, but this has been a very sickening and eye-opening experience. I have been really struggling with this all day. I feel physically ill when I think about it.
I just wanted to be able to let you guys know what is happening, because I would never in a million years want this to happen to you or your families. You folks are like a family of sorts to me anyway, and I want your children to be safe. I thought mine were. I was wrong.
Thanks for listening.
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04/27/2005 06:06:02 PM · #2 |
| Thank you for sharing...it is indeed a lesson for all of us. What a dreadful thing to happen. You have certainly put me on my guard. Thank you. |
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04/27/2005 06:08:07 PM · #3 |
Absolutely shocking, i hope you track down whoever is responsible for the link. Thanks for the warning, and good luck.
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04/27/2005 06:12:58 PM · #4 |
I don't have children but i could not image anyone do this... I have seen your photos and they have nothing extravagant for people to linkthe photos to that type of views... Hope you get those sick people... Thanks for sharing this... It's just sad to know what people can come to do...
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04/27/2005 06:17:04 PM · #5 |
A sad reflection of the world we live in, you have done nothing to warrant this attention. Many photographers love the opportunity, as you have of taking pictures of happy smiling kids, they make great subjects.
Sad as it is those days are lost for many because of just the reasons you state.
Well posted Laurie, a good warning for all.
Paul. |
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04/27/2005 06:23:22 PM · #6 |
What peecee said!!
Sad, sad. |
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04/27/2005 06:28:50 PM · #7 |
How disturbing. I certainly hope the owner of the child porn site is found and thrown in the slammer for a long time.
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04/27/2005 06:30:26 PM · #8 |
| I always feel sad that I won't even let a stranger approach me and my daughter in a parking lot since she was born - they could simply want directions, but I don't take any chances with her. Very sad part of life. I am glad to hear you at least caught it when you did, Laurie, and had been smart enough to not give details. |
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04/27/2005 06:31:36 PM · #9 |
| I'm so sorry to hear of this. What a bunch of sick_____ out there. I love looking at photos of anything and anyone, I can spend hours just looking at different pics of where people live and things and the pictures they take. Now someone has to come along and make it bad. |
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04/27/2005 06:35:31 PM · #10 |
| Wow, Laurie. This is really sad! It is really sad that we can't post pictures of our children without some perv ruining it. ((hug)) Hope you get things worked out. |
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04/27/2005 06:41:31 PM · #11 |
I hate to be the devil's advocate in this situation, but someone has to. You people are all screaming bloody murder and it's a waste of breath. People are saying "I hope you get the sickos who did this" and so on. I certainly don't condone exploitation of children, but what exactly do you intend to "get" them for? They haven't broken any laws. You can't suggest that linking to a photo on a website can somehow become a punishable offence. The people who did this are free to link to anything they want and for any purpose they like. I don't need to explain that I disagree with what they did, because that should be a given, but if you seriously think people should be punished for their thoughts, you seriously need to think about the negative ramifications of such possibilities.
I hate making parallels to George Orwell when discussing this sort of topic, but it's just all too appropriate here. If you think someone could be legally prevented from looking at pictures of children because of the fact that they may have different intentions than you like, then it would follow that the law could decide that you cannot look at pictures of other things. Or perhaps you can not read certain books because they don't want you to get ideas. It's only a few steps further and you're being policed for your thoughts.
The bottom line here is that when you post an image of your family on the internet you know full well that you're putting that up for the world to see. Anyone can take that image and do whatever they want with it. If you aren't aware that there are sick people in the world who will do just that, then you had better have a reality check.
My two cents. |
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04/27/2005 06:46:54 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by rebelo:
I hate to be the devil's advocate in this situation, but someone has to. You people are all screaming bloody murder and it's a waste of breath. People are saying "I hope you get the sickos who did this" and so on. I certainly don't condone exploitation of children, but what exactly do you intend to "get" them for? They haven't broken any laws. You can't suggest that linking to a photo on a website can somehow become a punishable offence. The people who did this are free to link to anything they want and for any purpose they like. I don't need to explain that I disagree with what they did, because that should be a given, but if you seriously think people should be punished for their thoughts, you seriously need to think about the negative ramifications of such possibilities.
I hate making parallels to George Orwell when discussing this sort of topic, but it's just all too appropriate here. If you think someone could be legally prevented from looking at pictures of children because of the fact that they may have different intentions than you like, then it would follow that the law could decide that you cannot look at pictures of other things. Or perhaps you can not read certain books because they don't want you to get ideas. It's only a few steps further and you're being policed for your thoughts.
The bottom line here is that when you post an image of your family on the internet you know full well that you're putting that up for the world to see. Anyone can take that image and do whatever they want with it. If you aren't aware that there are sick people in the world who will do just that, then you had better have a reality check.
My two cents. |
Yes, what you say, I have to agree with. I guess that is why it is "sad" for me, in that it isn't illegal or prohibited, just a sad part of our world. We have to be the watchguards for our own and not rely on outsiders to do it. |
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04/27/2005 06:52:23 PM · #13 |
Look, I said that nothing could be done about the situation. I am not out to "get" anyone. I just wanted to make everyone aware. I am certainly within my rights to find out who is responsible and let them know what I think, though. I never said anyone should be punished for their thoughts, nor did I imply that an Orwellian-type rule would make things better. All I did was post an FYI message. I know there are sickos. I said that in my post. My reality is in check just fine.
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04/27/2005 06:54:45 PM · #14 |
Sorry to hear that Laurie.
Wonderful world we live in huh?
Had a something similar happen last year when someone found one of the pictures I had taken of one of the wrestlers with his shirt off, and was being used to sell a CD on eBay relating to nude gay male wrestling. One of the parents found it when trying to find some wrestling gear for her son. Needless to say within an hour it was no longer there.
Amazing what some will do anymore.
Message edited by author 2005-04-27 18:55:14. |
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04/27/2005 06:54:53 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by rebelo:
I hate to be the devil's advocate in this situation, but someone has to.......... |
She said it was a known porno site so I doubt all the pictures there are sweet and innocent, even if the photos of her boys were. |
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04/27/2005 06:56:42 PM · #16 |
When I started taking digital photos and publishing them on the web,she who must be obeyed and an I discussed long and hard on this issue.
Our conclusion.
there are no picture published of the children, not any, nada, non.
It's a shame, but as someone exposed to this environment (thankfully survived unscathed) as a child, I/we feel this is the best and safest solution. |
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04/27/2005 06:59:01 PM · #17 |
The one thing that you all need to think about is that perverts can adn do link to children's pictures..whether dressed or not. Protect your photos as best you can. On smugmug or anywhere remove the tags from CHILDREN's pictures. Where possible also make it impossible to link to the photo. That way your child isnt being exploited behind your back.
Message edited by author 2005-04-27 19:00:34. |
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04/27/2005 07:00:45 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by laurielblack:
Look, I said that nothing could be done about the situation. I am not out to "get" anyone. I just wanted to make everyone aware. I am certainly within my rights to find out who is responsible and let them know what I think, though. I never said anyone should be punished for their thoughts, nor did I imply that an Orwellian-type rule would make things better. All I did was post an FYI message. I know there are sickos. I said that in my post. My reality is in check just fine. |
Laurie, I did not mean to hurt or anger you - I was simply agreeing that no one is going to get hauled off to prison for this, so you have to do what you are doing - watch out for your kids and be their protector in every way you are capable. No one was attacking you, I don't think. |
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04/27/2005 07:01:09 PM · #19 |
Im sorry this happened :( ...I am wondering...wouldn't they need a model release form (in this case ur signature) to post it??..making it illegal?
Message edited by author 2005-04-27 19:01:58.
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04/27/2005 07:03:55 PM · #20 |
I am shocked about this. I had recently put two photos of my 15 year old granddaughter on my profile page, and my daughter asked me to remove them. I love my two grandchildren and intended to share some photos as I take them. I am so happy I removed them now. My grandchildren file is emtpy.
My heart breaks for you. You are so right, it is a sick world. We often become the victems while the perpetrator walks around. I just don't get it.
We who enjoy looking at photographs for sheer enjoyment have to be very careful what we put in our files.
Wow, is that a scary thing. Best of luck. I am happy you know about it now, and will think differently. Audrey. |
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04/27/2005 07:04:49 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by laurielblack:
Look, I said that nothing could be done about the situation. I am not out to "get" anyone. I just wanted to make everyone aware. I am certainly within my rights to find out who is responsible and let them know what I think, though. I never said anyone should be punished for their thoughts, nor did I imply that an Orwellian-type rule would make things better. All I did was post an FYI message. I know there are sickos. I said that in my post. My reality is in check just fine. |
Calm down. I wasn't even addressing you, really. My comments were directed at the army of bloodthirsty people who came out in response to your message. I am fully aware that your message is quite logical and realistic in your expectations. If that's how you handle feedback, though, I'll be sure and not comment on your photos. |
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04/27/2005 07:09:30 PM · #22 |
I just had a discussion about this potential recently with a DPC member....
What I will say, although it may not be illegal (technically) under the pedophile laws...what they're doing may in fact be illegal from a copyright standard.
a) in the case of BradP's photo there'd be a strong case.
b) in the case of just linking to your gallery there is much less of a case. (however, if they're deep linking (embedding your image in their site) you might have some ground.)
Just something to consider. |
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04/27/2005 07:12:54 PM · #23 |
I'm sorry that happened to you laurie.
On a somewhat related note, as to what theSaj has said, if someone links to your site, there really isn't *much* you can do (I'm sure you can do just about anything with a good lawyer). But like he said, if they're taking the picture and putting it ON their site, then something can be done.
Always remember to put a copyright notice on your photograph. like
© 2005 David Paull
For example. Because then if they steal your image, AND take that copyright off, there is DEFINATELY something you can do.
--
Again, not 100% related to your first post, but just a side-thought I had while reading through them -- and something we can do as photographers that love to share our photos on the internet to semi-protect ourselves. |
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04/27/2005 07:13:13 PM · #24 |
Rebelo, Laurie's not out of line here, and not overreacting in her response to your post. She's included in the class of people you refer to, just because she made the original post. She's unequivocally setting the record straight regarding her position, and I applaud her for it. To draw a parallel between this (her KIDS were threatened) and how she responds to criticism in general when its directed at her photos is ridiculous. IMO you're the one overreacting now. Let's all take a deep breath.
Laurie, this is sad news and a real eye-opener. I'm glad you're handling it so well, at least.
Robt.
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04/27/2005 07:16:36 PM · #25 |
'army of bloodthirsty people'
....would be an understatement of a mother bear when her cub is in danger.
With all that is going on today with kids missing, dead, and abused it's a normal reaction.
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