A Revolution is the Solution
To be honest PG i dont blame you its just another case of a certain mind set among web users so what if its not mine i will use it anyway
Funniest post ever! And teh best day ever!
I don't blame you!
i wonder if they know they can use services like imageshack.us to snag the images without even having to download them to their local computers...
on the other hand, since they are your images, have you specified a license for them? are they public domain, CC licensed, or something more restrictive?
Everything on the site is covered by the creative commons licence - the link can be found on the left hand side.
However, the problem isn't that they're stealing the content of the images...they're just screen grabs. If someone wants to use them, I'm not particularly bothered. The problem is that these sites are serving up the images from my server, rather than uploading the images to their own site / free hosting etc. End result, the additional load of these sites piggybacking my bandwidth is causing a fair few wobbles. One or two "standard" piggybacks like this normally wouldn't matter, but as the Eon8 story has exploded, I've found an amazing amount of places doing this with my site. Its not even like they're difficult images to obtain - just visit Eon8, print screen and bam! instant picture.
Problem with the CC licences is that nobody takes any notice of them anyway - the guy from the screenshot reprinted my entire article, and yes he did credit me - but that's not the point. And he's still hotlinking the images to boot..
It's goatse.cx, meaning GOATSEX -- get it right. WTF does goatse mean?
Goatse.cx is often truncated to just goatse. I'm not gonna get all anal over it.
i used an image from here. but i didn't hotlink it and put a little thing saying 'image from vitalsecurity.org' underneath it!
proof: http://robomilk.blogspot.com/200...06/07/
eon8.html
i'm a good boy! 
it is possible to edit the .htaccess file so that 3rd party websites cant link your images.
http://altlab.com/htaccess_tutorial.html
nice linky
At present I can't even access my htaccess file, sadly. Though I have to admit, this is much more fun in the meantime - seems to be working, too....muahaha etc...
I'm proud of you, PG! I have the good fortune of being so insignificant, stuff like that never happens to me.
paperghost:
i realize the main problem for you is the bandwidth used by massive hotlinking...
it's just that reusing people's content can be a tricky issue these days and i suspect that the people in question are hotlinking instead of making copies of the images because most of the time that's a safer bet from an intellectual property perspective...
i must admit i hadn't noticed the cc link on your page before (perhaps cc should consider a colour that stands out more) but now that i've seen it i have some thoughts...
you're clearly right that people don't notice it - maybe people don't even think to look for it, i don't know... for those that do look for it, your license is pretty restrictive - no commercial reproduction and no derivative works... if people copying your article aren't making exact duplicates of your work (and some may interpret that right down to the image link level, strange as that may sound) then they are in violation of your license...
i've been reading your blog for a little while now and it seems clear to me that you want to be mentioned by others - could it be that maybe the cc options you've chosen aren't optimal for that?
not that i think there's anything wrong in what you're doing, by the way, just wondering if there might be a way to make the right thing for others to do also be the easier and/or more obvious thing to do..
"if people copying your article aren't making exact duplicates of your work (and some may interpret that right down to the image link level, strange as that may sound) then they are in violation of your license..."
...yet there *were* no exact duplicates. the articles I saw that were lifted word for word all did different things with the images than how they were presented in the original in any case, so they *still* violated any supposed licence of what they could (or could not) do with the work.
And furthermore, in all of those cases, there were either additions made / things removed, credit was not given, or it *was* but the images were altered - and there can be absolutely no excuse for hotlinking. Besides anything else, those sites did not mention the licence under which the article could be duplicated in any case. But CC licences are just a "best hope", punt it and see what happens - if someone wants to ignore it, they will and then it just comes down to common sense, which in this case has not been employed.
"i've been reading your blog for a little while now and it seems clear to me that you want to be mentioned by others - could it be that maybe the cc options you've chosen aren't optimal for that?"
Nope, they're fine as they are:
Reproduce - sure. but give credit, don't try to make money from it. Don't fiddle with it, or use it as the launchpad for something else. Reuse it - state the licence terms to others.
All of the above are just common sense anyway - its just that CC licences give you the option to actually *state* that common sense approach in writing, on your site, to help combat against senseless boobery that exists on a grand scale.
But even without that licence (for all the good it does, which is actually very little), there is no excuse for lazy stupidity and that's what has been deployed to amazing effect in the last day or two.
Bottom line - go onto a site, rip a bunch of text from it and repost and you may (or may not) get into hot water.
In this case, I really don't care about the text being reproduced as long as I have a credit and / or I am linked to. The same goes for *any* piece of writing on this site. Common sense suggests this would be the bare minimum someone could reasonably hope for.
But go hotlinking mindlessly, and you have all the potential hurt in the world coming down the pipe. Let's face it, the people performing the hotlinking don't care about any form of CC licence - I really don't think they debated what constitutes breaking the terms of the licence with regards image duplication, because the way they implemented those "reproductions" broke whatever was set down by the licence in any case so its pretty much irrelevant.
Their hotlinking is just pure laziness, can't be bothered, just do it and never mind the consequences because if I throw up some other site's image, it doesn't matter, right?
In fact, many of the sites doing the hotlinking had CC licences of their OWN on their sites, which rather makes a mockery of the whole thing. One such site states:
You are free:
* to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
* to make derivative works
Under the following conditions:
by Attribution. You must give the original author credit.
Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
* For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work.
* Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
...I hope he enjoys his Goatse.
you're right, it is laziness... people are lazy, and rebloggers are lazier than most...
maybe it's my software development background, but i just think making the right thing to do be the same as the easy thing to do is a better long term solution than cursing human laziness...
perhaps not quite as much fun, mind you...
Hi - I am journalist at the Danish daily Politiken. I have tried to reach 'Paperghost' for an interview but my emails keep bouncing back. Would you mind sending me an email to jens.lenler{at}pol.dk.
Thank you...
Jens Lenler
Hi Jens, just replied. Sorry about the mail bouncing, not sure why that's happening 
another press appearence for PG
....and Operation Goatse clock is now live. Thanks to all my friends and family for making this happen. I'd also like to give a shout out to my management, my press team, that girl from back office, the dude on reception, my stylist and Jackie Chan.
you sir win the internets
The whole thing, or just the part with Tubgirl & Co in it?
http://desmondsweb.blogspot.com/...d-just-
got.html
didn't do anything...
I've given him a fiddle, so to speak - because I left him a message on his blog and he might not have seen it yet. I play a game of fair ball, and that. Apart from that one site, everyone else has apparently yanked their leeching.
....though that doesn't mean he escapes any form of punishment 
"OMG Ponies?"
...it changes on a semi-regular basis.
For now...
Nice Going PG, People no stealing another guys bandwidth its not nice at all after all would you steal his Car ?? Ok cancel that question :-P
It depends what they've done to me previously - I'm thinking Ben Stiller Mystery-Men style bonnet jumping is called for myself :P
Best post. Ever.
Way to go PG stick it to them.
(go away for a weekend and i miss things hitting the fan.)
yea way to gooo :D
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