Pundit Country

Just came across this blog entry while catching up on my RSS feeds. On top of the increasingly poor choice of stories the editors over there have been exercising (at least since their last round of VC funding brought new partners on board), this makes me wonder who is making running the shop lately and if maybe it isn’t time they had a sitdown with the boss on what is ethical and what isn’t.

Huffingtonpost uses my son’s photo without permission, no credit is given, my comments deleted

Can you believe it? Surely you are as shocked as me. And because it was a photo of our son, my wife was especially outraged.

So here is what happened. The Huffington Post ran a story entitled, “Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorced Parents: ‘Hey Kids, Wanna Have a Sleepover with Daddy’s New Friend?”. They used a photo of my son from my website and did not link back or give credit.

Now, all of my work is Creative Commons, which means people are allowed to use it for non-commercial purposes as long as they link back and give credit. Simple. They did not do this.

But even worse, to me, is the context of the photo and the article. Who would want their son’s photo associated with such a topic? It was just crass and an all-around bad idea.  Maybe the article itself is acceptable and interesting subject matter, but the article title is quite evocative and that photo makes it even more shocking.

I received the photo below from one of my fans that recognized the picture. I then went into the article itself and left a few comments (I have screenshots) — telling them my issue. They then deleted my comments and never acknowledged them.

I never received an email of apology or anything despite repeated attempts.  I’ve given them plenty of time.  Anyway, I think it’s a pretty lousy thing they did, and I hope photographers think twice before they associate themselves with the Huffington Post.

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• 5 Free Copyright-Related Steps Every Blogger Should Take Today (plagiarismtoday.com)
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