Please go to my stream and read about what is going on this website called Orkut. If you are a member of Flickr please favorite and comment on my friend Sarah’s picture. You can do the same with my image as the more shots we get into Explore the better. We need to get the word out about this and stop this from happening anymore. You all know how much I love and adore my children and this just infuriates me.
Also, pass it on. If you know anyone on Flickr who posts public photos of their children, their pictures may have been stolen just like all of the people I know on Flickr.
Thank you in advance to anyone who gets involved. I’m glad I have this space in which to reach more people. It’s just sick.
38 Comments
OMG — You got it!
I posted a comment on Sarah’s Flickr page, but it may get lost. From what she says, it seems Google owns Orkut. If that’s true, then an organized letter-writing campaign needs to start to flood Google execs with complaints about Orkut.
The most compelling argument against this practice, which Google is condoning by allowing it to continue, is that it feeds the sickos who use the Internet for stalking children. Yes, they’re stealing your photographic property, but the more compelling angle is that these images of children can potentially be used by folks who stalk and prey on children. Google does NOT need that kind of publicity. With the right campaign launched at the right people, it would seem to me that you could get this site shut down fairly quickly.
Just a thought.
Ugh, that is disgusting. Browsing that site is really creepy. There are so many kids’ pictures in profiles.
I’ll spread the word.
Me, too. This is just gut wrenching. Must stop these sick, twisted SOB’s. Count me in.
oh… ew. Its stuff like this that is the reason why I don’t post my son’s photos to the internet - some people are just disgusting and can’t be trusted. I’ll pass it on as well.
There are lots of my kids on there too. It’s insanely frustrating , no matter how much I email and complain to Orkut nothing gets done. And you have to jum through so many bloody hoops…
You got it, love. I’m there. This is absolutely disgusting.
Done. This is sick. I don’t even have kids, and I’m outraged…I can imagine how pissed the parents are right now.
That is dreadful and I think I am going to have nightmares. This is reinforcing my plan not to post pictures of my kids on the internet.
Ick.
I just linked to you so people can get the info.
Make sure that your pics on Flickr are restricted to “Friends and Family” - it’s an option when you upload. That way only you and people you know on Flickr can see the pics. Okay, it means all your friends have to join Flickr to see the pics, but it’s better than that sort of abuse of your pics.
This really pisses me off. My SIL got pictures stolen from her jewelry site (much like your scout’s swag shop) and one letter from a lawyer got the stolen images off. Find a lawyer friend who will write a letter as a favor!!!
Okay, now I’m more than a little worried because I put pictures of the Youngest’s last soccer game up on Flickr. How can I tell if some sick bastard took them to use on Orkut?
Scout - as far as I’m aware - the person who took the photo holds the copyright (even if it is made public on Flickr) That would make theses images on Orkut stolen property. I believe that this gives Flickr users the legal justification for images to be removed by Orkut. It might not be a bad idea for people to cc: Yahoo/Flickr on any correspondence with Orkut.
My youngest is 17, but this still scares me. I have friends with little grandchildren. Who on EARTH would think doing something like this was cute? Don’t
you sometimes just want to find people and smack them upside the head and yell, “Hey, you! Wake up!!!”
OMG I just used my youngest picture for something on Ravelry, so it was on FLikr briefly (I deleted it right away). How d o we know if someone stole our pics! This is frightening- just when I think I have a handle on online security someone else finds a way to destroy our serenity!
Is Orkut the only service that has a problem like this, or is the same issue possible on other social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook?
It would be best if you could get a national news channel to pick this issue up as ‘news’. I believe CNN’s web site has a way to submit news-worthy stories. Other cable channels probably do too. I think this issue would qualify as news worthy since a lot of people aren’t aware of this type of Internet-abuse. All it would take would be a news story by CNN to embarrass the bejesus out of Google and the Orkur problem would be fixed….However, the overall problem of creeps, stalkers and pedphiles doing creepy things on the Internet will not go away.
I have two teenagers and I would never post their photo on any Internet web site for this very reason. I don’t let them do the Facebook or Myspace thing either. I think it is a real problem that a lot of people don’t understand how open and public the Internet is. It is Public with a capital P and the anonymous aspect of it attracts creeps and pedophiles.
Most parents wouldn’t dream of tacking a photo of their child to a tree in Central Park in NYC and leaving it there for anyone to view. But posting a photo of their child on the Internet is even more public. What Orkut is doing isn’t right but it shouldn’t surprise anyone. People need to wake up.
Done.
This is why I started to privatize all my kids photos. I’m going to go back and make sure there aren’t any I forgot.
thanks for the heads up!
So how do I see if they used my kids’ photos?
I was unable to view this without creating an account, which I refuse to do. However, I will be sending a complaint to Google as they are the parent company.
This has brought up a thing that has bugged me since becoming a parent. I always have wondered about photo finishing, and was very wary of Flicker and made all their photos private (not sure how much of a difference that makes). My friend however uses Flicker too and often takes photos and puts them on her site. So their photos are still out there. My gripe is that there are perverts EVERYWHERE! I get vibes from the guy at Costco that checks receipts—you would not believe what he drew on a receipt for the kids. It looked just like a woman with breasts and belly button knowing that it was for my kids! I may have to post a pic for those of you who may not believe me. I had wondered how to prepare my kids for this kind of thing. How do I tell them that this world isn’t always safe? I encourage them to be wary of people, they are naturally quite standoffish to strangers (thank God). But I can’t help that people will look at them in an inappropriate way anywhere we go. Half the time I looked like some crazed British bulldog who looks at people as if to say, “stop looking at them—or else!” This is such a hard thing to combat. But people have such warped views. Look at British Columbia which I believe has 14 as the age of consent. Anyway, I am over heating now I must come down from this.
This is so sick. I just went to orkut and searched for small, there is a ton of kids profiles.
OMG!!! that is so sick. I changed my kids pics to friends and family only. This is making
me reconsider ever posting any photos of my kids
Sick. Sounds like Google doesn’t want to address the problem so I would start an email campaign to Google’s and Orkut’ advertisers and contact the Attorney General’s office in your state.
Scary and wrong.
Did you post the directions on how to wrap the board for dyeing your own socks?
Great idea.
Thanks for the heads up, Scout! You rock.
Ewwwww!!!!!
I hadn’t heard of this site, but I have heard of people doing other things with kids’ pictures on the web. It’s one of the reasons I never show my kids’ faces on my blog or on flickr. I don’t know what is the matter with some people.
OMG! Horrible. Open exploitation of children. Can’t believe it. There is a special place in hell for people like this.
Ang
I am both curious — want to find out the facts so I can flame google like crazy, and leery of even putting enough info into the Orkut database to be allowed to cruise around fact finding.
this is SO disturbing!
Wow, that is just sick. It makes me glad I have never posted pics of my kids publically, it’s just too
dangerous. I will definitely pass this on to all of my friends.
This is so upsetting! I’ve been spreading the word and can’t believe after ready on the topic on Ravelry(though I don’t know why I would be shocked really) on how nonchalant people can be about the matter. Truly I think its one of those its not happening to me mentality so oh well. Or that’s its like a joke.Sick. I mean I’m not one to post pictures of my kids. I prefer to attach pics to e-mails, but still this is really upsetting! Sorry for the rant.
It’s for that single reason that I never put any pictures of my family on the web, in flicker or anywhere not even on my blog. IT’s the most discusting thing that I was afraid would happen…others stealing and altering your kids photos and using them in this way. Google needs to do something. Let me know if there’s a petition or anything I can do to help stop this.
I was reading your post about Orkut - that is totally creepy. I am the VP Marketing at a new photosharing site. We have image protection that places watermarks on all of your images. It was actually a suggestion made by parent bloggers in our earlier focus groups. This would help prevent them from showing up in random places (like Orkut).
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[...] 2nd, if you haven’t seen Scout’s blog in the past few days, please go read this post, and take a few minutes to follow the related links. 2 minutes of your time to help put a stop to this. There are just no words. [...]