Icons, icons everywhere, and not a copyright to infringe.
Backstory: Over on the Queer Eye For the Straight Guy LJ community, easternbird posts some promotional photos obtained (apparently from Google) from Hollandse Hoogte, a professional media site. That particular post has been deleted. The maintainer of the site finds out and demands she remove the photos, threatening legal action. easternbird complies. Wouldn't you? A day or two later, saavira posts detagged versions of the promotional photos obtained from an earlier post in the community. This post is friends-locked.

Enter the sockpuppet.


I'd like to point you all over to my journal. Saavira, you are not protected by making your posts protected. You are still in violation of federal law and I would suggest, as such, you remove your post immediately instead of leaving it up until Friday. You have already been reported to the appropriate rights holders and I would not recommend further pressing the issue. Moderators, I would highly suggest reading my journal, as I will be reporting the community as a whole to Livejournal if you continue to allow copyright violations within the community. People who have turned the copyright-protected images into icons or are using icons of the images that others have made, if you do not remove them immediately, I will begin reporting you all individually as well.
Sorry folks, I hate doing this, but I'm an artist myself and you've got to learn the laws somehow. I've tried being nice and just warning people as an individual but nobody ever listens to me when I play nice, so I've started to just report people. As long as I am a member of this community, I will warn you once before reporting you, because I can see the protected entries. If I am banned from the community, I will simply report you without warning.
I hope you don't consider this too harsh of an option. I'm just looking out for the rights of my fellow artists. I would hate to see this wonderful community go, but I will not stand by while people act as if they are above the law and think this makes them gain a higher social standing. It doesn't. It's immature and disrespectful.
If you need an example of how to handle this in a mature manner, look to easternbird. They should be applauded for their reaction and I'd like to thank them for handling it that way and not thinking I am maliciously targeting them. As for the majority of comments on that post, it's a thoughtless reaction to blame the messenger. If you don't agree with copyright law, tell someone who has the capability of changing that law. Don't flame me for trying to protect my rights as an artist.
And, for the record, I am certainly not a stalker. Thanks.


There are 928 members of the community. She's picked a long, arduous path.

After laying in a dark room for four and a half hours trying to get rid of a godawful migraine I've had all day, I realize I overreacted. I'm truly sorry about that. I know I need some serious counseling. And to be brutally honest, I did have a very sad childhood, though I don't see why you find that to be humorous.
Saavira, I didn't turn you into Angelfire, and I'm sorry if that was done by the rights holder. All I did was inform the Hollandse Hoogte guy you posted his photos. I figured he would just email you with a warning, like he did easternbird. Don't get me wrong, copyright violation still ticks me off, but in the future I will remind people of it politely instead of flying off the handle like I've just done. I was just frustrated because I've fought this battle to no avail so many times in the past. I'm paranoid because I've got photography of my own online, that I can't afford to register the copyright of, and I know I wouldn't have the money to fight any disputes in court if they were to arise. After going through a whole lot of b.s. the past couple of years, my photography is one of very few things left in my life I have any passion for, so it's very important to me. That's why I overreacted so badly. Please don't blame Easternbird for my flipping out, it was my fault and I apologize. Easternbird seems like a really nice person and I regret introducing myself to him/her in this light.

But, I did find some of the comments to be a lot harsher than they needed to be as well, so I want to set a few things straight:
* I'm not a stalker. I was already a member of this community and the bragging nature of the posts in question set me off. Way more than it should have, apparently.
* I'm not a lawyer. I don't know everything. But I have spent a great deal of time studying copyright law, because of my own paranoia as an artist with work online. I've found I'm better informed on this issue than a lot of people. I don't like to see people get in trouble. If you didn't get harassed by me, you might have got harassed by someone more psychotic or someone with the power to take you to court.
* I don't draw crappy anime :/ I'm a photographer. And I know I'm a good one. This wasn't sprung by an inferiority complex.
* The Hollandse Hoogte photographs are not free-floating graphics on the internet. They are a professional photographic agency that you must pay in order to access the photos. They seriously do have the potential to get you in some legal trouble, so even if you were offended by my behavior, please keep this in mind.
* Kwanboa, I think we have a little problem with assumption and stereotyping. I'm not a child. I've been on the internet since the early '90's and I've known how to type since the early '80's. I hadn't replied to anyone's comments yet because the livejournal validation email hadn't come through my mailserver yet and you can't post comments until you've validated your journal.
* I just created this account earlier today and I haven't uploaded a single icon for it yet. I did not "suddenly become an icon-free user".

Anyway... I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

BTW, my account's been validated now so I can reply to your comments and I'll explain myself further if you've got questions or anything.

Edit the Ninety-Billionth:She's heeeere.