Dear neighbours of the Ong residence,
if you happen to have woken up last night roughly around 2.30am to the screams of a distraught girl, well not really high-pitched screams la, but more like AAAAARRGGUUHHHHH !!!
Fret not, there was no manslaughter. And I hope you went back to sleep peacefully without worrying or cursing the daylights out of me.

A couple of weeks ago, I had this conversation with Huiwen about people re-using her pictures (she sells her clothes online as well hence her pictures) to re-sell them off on their blogs,
and even some people uses her pictures to sell *their* own clothes.
And I quote her, “Do you know how scary it is to open random sites, and see your pictures staring back at you!”

Tsk-tsk.
I completely agree. I sell my stuff online too, and I still get a little shifty when I see my pictures on other people’s blogs, but this is when my customer is re-selling my clothes they bought from me.
But I suppose this is acceptable, I mean, she’s re-selling the exact same garment she bought from me so she uses my pictures. And she writes that picture credits go to me, fine.

But what Huiwen meant was when random people are selling other clothes, it merely looks similar to what Huiwen was modeling off, then they simply use her pictures and post it on their own websites, in hopes to boost sales or something. No permission, no credits, no nothing.
Damn no manners.

But what caused me to cry bloody murder at 2.30am was this.

So I was randomly checking out online shopping sites right, la-di-da-di-da minding my own business,
then BAM! I saw it.
A strangely familiar picture staring back at me.
A picture of me. Cropped. To my torso area.
The blog owner was looking / advertising to look for a belt similar to the one I wore, so she used my picture and cropped it to my torso where my belt was.

But all I saw were my boobs staring back at me.

Needless to say, it was without my permission.

And that, my friend, made me scream in horror at 2.30am.

:+:+:

I bet boys will be so amused at this they’ll be scouring the whole internet for that website.
Sorry boys. I left the owner a note to take it down.

This post is not to defame anyone, it is a mere enlightenment, that such things are happening in our online shopping community.
Hundreds of shopping websites are out there solely in Malaysia, and more and more are opening every single day it’s amazing.

But using other people’s property and pictures on your own websites? Come on, there’s a line to be drawn.

If you’re re-selling the exact same piece you bought from her, then fine that may be acceptable. But still I don’t think asking for permission, or a just-so-you-know,-so-you-don’t-
get-the-shock-of-your-life-when-you-bump-into-my-blog is not that hard. Just an email away.
Come on folks, it’s common courtesy!

But using their pictures (or body parts) to promote your sales, or for any other reason without their consent, that’s just lack of common sense.

Til this day you have never seen me get so upset over a blog, never flamed or defamed anyone, to the point that I’m actually blogging out my frustration.
Yeah, it takes a lot to make me do this.

Oh I did it one time though, years ago, when I found out this guy/girl/creature used all MY pictures and copy-and-pasted MY profile onto his/her/its own Friendster profile. Damn. Fcuking. Creepy.

Omg I’m so peeved.

1. revel in me Says:
   May 31st, 2008 at 11:56 am

   Eeee, I can imagine it’s quite freaky to see your boobs staring back at you, haha! And ya, it’s been a couple of times that I had to leave messages on sites asking them politely to remove the pictures. =/ Oooh, how was shopping today! I left so abruptly, forgot to say bye! :P

2. babyPup Says:
   May 31st, 2008 at 7:21 pm

   how’s about watermarking the pictures?
   the would prolly help both of ya..

3. Anonymous Says:
   May 31st, 2008 at 7:33 pm

   Hi! umm i’m just a random person out there in Malaysia and i’m in desperate in seeking info regarding about this company called Divine Concept(DJ John Vu is one of the director,he posted this job on friendster,plz view it here : http://www.friendster.com/group/bulletin.php?gid=684426&bid=10416175 .I just hope an experienced person like you will be able to verify for me…i’m just not sure if this is a scam,and is the john vu guy real(not a clubbing person) if he is,i wonder if that acc belongs to him…

   Err…on how i linked to your blog,this i also forgot i just somehow search for clubs nightlife stuff and linked to your blog.And i’m just so desperate in seeking info on this company so i just leave u a comment like this,hope it’s not too much to ask!

   if you have an answer,plz email me at all-4-girls@hotmail.com or you can umm post it on your next blog post.

   Thanks!!

4. Cynthia Says:
   May 31st, 2008 at 11:58 pm

   revel in me: yalah, summore not like my boobs are small. topright corner on her sidebar summore, what a way to welcome customers in -_-
   Shopping was AWESOME! omg total shopping high after that, came home and when the high subsided, then only i realised i was getting a headache LOL, guess it was too hot n stuffy in there :/

   babypup: i DO watermark all my pictures. she cropped it, remember?

   anonymous: Sorry there’s not much i can do for you, you have to sniff him out yourself. Though i have worked with people who found me online before, that is only after corresponding with him/her first, to you know, sniff out signs whether the person is trustworthy. Subtly, of course :) Any signs of a rat and you should stay away immediately ok? There are alot of creepy people out there, trust me on that. Goodluck!

5. Anonymous Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 6:18 am

   Thanks Cynthia, was just wondering if you are aware of this company or person or not,that’s it.

   Thanks for taking time to reply!!!

   And yes i’ll be careful.

   Take care yah!!!

6. cc Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 11:23 am

   whoa… really creepy! what are you going to do about it? or did you already contacted the person who did this? this is so not right!

7. Agnes Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 12:22 pm

   WOAH, that is creepy. It happen to me before. It looks strangely familiar till i realize that its me in that picture! And i have seen people stealing other ppl’s photos and claim that its them inside the picture. Some people are just full of shit. Wanna-bes and has no life!! i guess now watermarking does not work. Mine was cropped out every single water mark. unless u paste your watermark right across every picture (which is pretty ridiculous)… Double sigh…

   ohh yea… if you are wondering how i got here… i bump into your link when i was in Jiameei’s site *hehe*

8. Jazlyn Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm

   that was creepy in a way .. i would get freaked out and privatize my blog straight away .. well i did once when there was this guy on skype who visited my blog and checked my pic and said he saved it .. wtf !

   *shudder*

   i changed my url since then

9. Jazlyn Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   oh ps : how you change the q’s pon ur nuffnang poll .. i seem to be lost

10. Cynthia Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 3:29 am

    anonymous: sure thing :)

    cc, agnes & jazlyn: yea of course i contacted the person. She took my picture of her clothes blog. aAs for Friendster, well when it happened 2-3 years ago he/she/it didnt reply me, i think it was a dormant account already the owner left. but i lodged a formal complaint to Friendster. problem was i got so freaked out i didnt save the URL, so i cant find the account anymore -_- i hope Friendster did something about it

    agnes: oh hello :) do you know Jiameei personally?

    jazlyn: you gotta do it through your Nuffnang account. go to your poll at your dashboard and poke around for abit, it’s somewhere there :)

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