January 31, 2010

It's a little bit depressed that I write to you all today.

I've found out again this week that my work was being redistributed without my consent on the net through filesharing groups on Yahoo and google.

Jeanne Convis (jmcsocal@verizon.net, IP: 71.116.251.125 ) has been sharing my Painted Goth Bows in at least one of those groups (see screenshot here) and this is only one that i have been made aware of.

I've put the sharing up there in italic because it's not an appropriate term for what goes on in these groups... filestealing defines it a whole lot better so from now on I will refer to these groups as filestealing groups instead of filesharing groups. When you share, you give something that belongs to you, your hardwork, your labor, when you give other people's hardwork and labor without their consent, you're stealing from them. So if you give away files that you did not create without the original author's permission in these groups, you are a thief. If you grab those files that are being offered when you know very well that the person offering them did not create them and does not have permission to give them away, you are also a thief, stop pretending you're not doing anything wrong!

One of the eternal excuses used by those thiefs is: "we're not doing anything commercial with those files anway so it's not illegal, it's just for personal use and for fun". hummm... My daughter started making craft jewelry over the holidays, she doesn't sell the jewels she makes, she just makes them for fun, for her own personal use. When she goes to the craft store to get the supplies she needs to make them, do you think she could go out of the store with all her supplies without paying? Because you know, it's just for fun she's making them after all... Of course not hey? Like the craft store that sells supplies for people to create jewels that they may sell if they want to or that they just want to make for the fun of it, I sell pretty images for people to either use creatively in their derivative products or to just play with and have fun in their favorite graphic program. All this to say that wether you want to use them for your commercial endeavors or just to have some personal fun with them, in both cases you have to pay for a license to use them, if you haven't paid for this license, then stop fooling yourself, you have shoplifted from me and you are a thief. You have paid for the license? Great! But this license only gives you the right to use the files in the zip, you do not own the files themselves, you own a license to use them and this license is non-transferable which means that you cannot give the product away to anyone else, you can give away the creative derivatives you may have made with them, but you cannot give away the product. If you do give it away, you are breaking the terms of use and this is also against the law.

Over the past 13-14 years I have had an internet presence I have done and still do (although right now I'm starting to reconsider) plenty of giving and sharing, all my own labor. I have given hundreds of websets over the years, dingbats, brushes, photos, images, poses, textures, everything I've shared was made by myself and when I used resources it was always with the permission of the people offering those resources. During all those years I also worked really hard to improve my skills so that I could always offer better images for people to use. I paid for my tools, I paid licenses for the resources I have used, I have purchased books and magazines to try to learn some more, I pay for my presence on the net, for the installation and customisation of my shopping cart and invest many hours a day, most of the time 7 days a week for the past 13-14 years for the content that has been and that can be found on this website. To find out that there are people out there who think that this still isn't enough giving from me and to see them take the liberty of giving away my labor to thousands of people in these filestealing groups like there's nothing to it and it won't affect me at all, to find out that all these people who have joined those filestealing groups and are downloading away have absolutely no respect for all that went in the creation of those products is to say the least pretty disgusting and discouraging.

Right now, I am asking myself if I want to keep doing this and I'm going to take a break from it all, this is what those thiefs do to me, make me wonder if I should bother keeping at it... I love making images and art, but I don't want to keep providing for those parasites who steal my work and the work of other artists and who do not have an ounce of respect for the property of others. They enjoy kidding each other into believing they aren't hurting anyone, they like to pretend they are so generous and pat each other on the back with their "Oh! You're so kind! What would we do without you!" and "you're the best, thank you so much for those wonderful products!" It makes me want to throw up really... In fact what they are really doing besides taking the bread out of those artist's mouths is also sapping away the artist's desire to create and his/her inspiration, making him/her wonder why he/she invested so much time, work and money if it's to get ripped off by those thugs? They are effectively crushing the artists who are honestly trying to make a small living with those images the filestealers love to see and use and grab and redistribute with no shame at all.

You know, I don't have anything more then anyone else, nor does Dana or Kat or any other artists. All I got really is a lot of patience to learn, a strong desire to acquire new skills and a small dream of maybe making a little bit of money with my work to help pay the bills at the end of the month... If you think I'm asking too much for what I do or that Dana or Kat are asking too much for their work, why don't you get busy, learn like we did and make your own images that you can then share with the entire world if this is what you want without hurting anyone else in the process?

Lucie