But the licenses are there to be respected. Yes there are so many licenses that we hate. But still complying to the rules of civilized society is essential.

@NB
I’m not sure whether you are Nibras Bawa who is being bashed all over Kottu. But you got nice points.

Anyway even RMS is more than happy to sue people who disobey GPL. GPL gives certain set of freedoms. But still there are some reasonable needs that should be fulfilled.

Thanks for dropping by. You’d be interested to know that I actually agree with most of your points on sharing of information and have in fact been a big fan of the Open Source movement. See this post by my old pal Prabath for an idea.

The issue is not about the copyrighting of the photo, but the fact that my photo is available free of charge as long as I am credited as the author.

I mean, it’s not the kind of photo that merits actual payment for its use. However, as reparations I wouldn’t mind if I could get them to make any contribution to a worthy charity.

It is an essentially free resource that was misused. That the perpetrators of this plagiarism would then go on to accuse other entities of plagiarism as well is absolutely hilarious.

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
- Buddha

As you may have guessed, I beg to differ. I think both the smallest personal battles and most horrifying global battles are ultimately resolved through giving. In the end, even if you don’t get credit or money, your ideas are reaching new audiences, and if they help those people you would never have reached, that’s a good thing in my mind.

Copyright laws makes people lazy. It makes the original creator rest on their laurels, and it gives descendents of the creator the message that you should not earn your own living. In fact, I’ve always felt that copyright of artistic work should be released after the creator dies, if not sooner.

If you’ve written something that people feel so touched and inspired by that they want to share it, then that is the ultimate goal of a writer and the real prize, not the monetary gain from it. Similar logic applies for photos & photographers.

My late auntie used to grow beautiful flowers in her garden. One day, I asked her, Auntie, you could make a lot of money selling these flowers – if only you knew how much these flowers sell for in the stores! Why do you give your flowers away? She just shrugged and said, “I give them away because people enjoy them. You have to share what you have, because this is how you get your blessings.” My auntie literally died with nothing, but she was rich in spirit.

It’s all Universal Knowledge if we just tap into it and you can’t copyright that, can you? You should side with the Open Source movement.

If someone wants to take my work and improve upon it, I think that’s a wonderful thing. How does it hurt me if they steal? Should it even matter they stole my work? If they can take your favorite photos and make something funny or inspiring or thought-provoking or even sad … You say more power to them. The creative community only benefits from derivations and inspirations.

That being said, I still respect your right to your own copyrights.

OMG! My very first Troll! Ooohhh…!!! (jumps for joy).

But seriously. The only reason I’m replying to you is that maybe you might drop by again and read this. Besides, you’re the first troll so I’m making an exception.

In a nutshell, my (self-admittedly crappy) photo has been used by two major(?) Sri Lankan websites in clear violation of the very liberal Creative Commons license under which it is available on the web. One site apologised and took it down, while the other (DailyMirror) continues to use it in blatant violation of the terms.

In addition to stealing (which is truly lame, since the photo is free for use as long as it’s attributed), DailyMirror now tells the whole world that the PTI is stealing their articles. I’m tempted to write to the PTI and pointing out that they are stealing from an organisation known for IP theft, but why bother?

So you see, I’m quite well (thanks for asking) and hope this should clear things up for you. After all, discussion and debate on a blog are most welcome methods of learning. In fact, we could have almost had a constructive discussion on Copyrights and how they can both encourage and stifle creativity and productivity on the net. But then, there’s no point discussing somethings with some people.

But before you hide behind fake email addresses and use the comments to attack people, maybe you should read something like Neville’s comments for the commentors for some insights into commenting on blogs. Unless that is, you want people to actually think of you as an idiot who comments on things without using a dictionary to help with the big words.

You might want to use the “define:” function in google the next time.

Cheers!

I’ve already written to them twice on every email address they feature on their site as contact details to no avail.

At least the folks at Ada Derana had the decency to write back and also take down the photo. Of course, I’d be just as happy to have my photo still there with the attribution but you can’t always have everything, can you?

BTW, seems you were right about the impact of the rural populations contribution to the local FMCG market – did you read the Sunday Times Financial supplement this last weekend?

Thanks for reading, Sue! Well, this is just the way it is in good ol’ SL.

I hope that they will at least understand the reasons for my complaints earlier and take better steps to dealing with content.