Deb Trotter, Cowboy's Sweetheart

You learn a little more about them every day … those unscrupulous Blog Bandits or Cyber Thieves, lurking in the shadows of the internet, waiting patiently for the opportunity to steal your name, your business, your artwork – or maybe all three.

I know a number of artists, photographers, designers, consultants, and blog experts who have had their work stolen … only to resurface somewhere else under someone else’s name.

And the problem isn’t restricted to artwork or writing. Complete websites and blogs are being copied and republished using a domain or blog name that already exists.

Let’s say an artist closes her blog at Typepad or Blogger and moves her ‘new’ blog to another platform like Wordpress. In less than a minute her old blog, blog name, and content are snatched up by Slick Bot Bart – who now benefits from her traffic and reputation.

What’s to stop the thief from adding porn to her former blog? Or what’s to keep Sneaky Spider Sal, who has finally figured out the artist’s password, from stealing her identity?

Nothing. Absolutely, positively Nothing.

This disgusting ploy is even happening from one Wordpress blog to another. Can you top that?

Heck, it’s even happened to me and my art – me, who diligently checks copyblogger, hoping to cut those seedy varmints off at the pass before they are able to make off with everything I own. I have a slew of special programs to help me keep track of Bots, Spiders, and Crawlers. I set photoshop to automatically mark my work, and officially register my work with the US Copyright Office.

Yet last year I discovered 33 different people were copying my art and selling it on jewelry, collage sheets, and prints. The offenders had even replaced my © Deb Trotter, Cowboy’s Sweetheart signature with their own name (or alias).

It would help if all the blogging platforms would at least attempt to keep track of their users and send them a warning notice after the blogger closes down his/her site. Not everyone out there is savvy to the dangers of the ‘virtual world.’

I kept my Typepad account and name when I moved to Wordpress. It’s worth the small fee I have to pay each month just to keep my name and my brand out of the ‘available’ category. But even that wise move may not save me from the Blog-Cyber Bandits.

When I created the tongue in cheek piece you see at the top of this post, I was inspired by the original Wanted poster for The Wild Bunch (also known as the ‘Hole in the Wall Gang‘). Butch and Sundance had no idea how effective such a campaign could be.

Too bad we can’t deal with these culprits the way folks did in the Old West. Place a bounty on the outlaws’ heads, offer a reward, and print & post the flyers everywhere we can think of. Then we wait until some lawman or bounty hunter rides into town with the criminals so they can be brought to justice.

I’d like to be a part of the Lynch Mob waiting for the bad guys.

Remember that old saying, “Hanging’s too good fer ‘em” ?

I want that T-shirt!

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© Persnickety Friday is now a regular feature of Deb Trotter’s “Cowboy’s Sweetheart” blog. If you’re feeling a bit ornery yourself and would like to be a guest author on © Persnickety Friday, leave a comment indicating your idea & contact information. Or go to the Contact form at the top of this page to send me an email.

Persnickety

1. definition:  fussy about small details; requiring painstaking care; snobbish – or having the aloof attitude of a snob
2. synonyms:  opinionated; irritable; ornery; fussy

Friday

1. definition: the best day of the week!
   

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 8:04 am and is filed under Art and Life, Blogs for Artists, Photography, Photoshop, Western Cowgirl Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.