When You Blog Content is Stolen

At some point it happens to everyone who writes a blog...someone is going to steal your content. I know it has happened to me. A blogger I know has had her entire blog stolen...2 years worth of posts. Copyright laws are in place to protect our content, so use them. Here is a post that I keep bookmarked for just such occasions. She has done an excellent job of outlining the steps that you need to take to get your content back. The funny thing I have found when someone steals a blog post is that usually my blog writings are not my best writing. They tend to be full of errors both spelling and grammatical. Sometimes my train of thought lacks flow and just wanders also. The sad thing is that they can't even correct the errors in the content that they steal. I find it amusing that the thief finds it necessary to pass my worst writing off as their best. The other funny thing that I find is that people are generally shocked by this and wonder why someone would do such a thing. Copyright laws came into being because this is a huge issue. People steal, whether it be ideas or things...they steal. Someone out there is always too lazy to do their own work and feel that it is ok to steal someone else's work. Another reason is plain ignorance. Many people think that if something is out in the public then it is for public use. A huge example of this are Disney characters. I once knew a woman who made a living painting children's bedrooms with cute little murals. Many times these murals depicted Disney characters, sometimes coming straight from the pages of a Disney book itself. When I explained that she was a thief and should stop because if Disney found out what she was doing they would ruin her (Yes, they really will). She laughed and said that the images were in the public and so the public could use them. The images though don't belong to the public. They are for public enjoyment only, but they belong to Disney. I use Disney because I see copyright theft of Disney images everywhere. Every art and craft show I go to has someone who has stolen the use of Disney's images. Why do they think that is ok and why do they think that makes them an artist. The biggest part of being an artist is the thought that go into the work whether it is writing, image art or music. So, expect them to steal from you and then take the steps necessary to punish them for their theft. And as a last bit of thought...for those that regularly use Disney images as their own. I have seen what Disney will do to someone when they find out and it isn't pretty. They will ruin you financially for years to come and the law is on their side because you are the thief. Blessings from the farm, Kat