Intellectual Property, Copyright & Theft
May 22, 2010 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
Well I was going through my Google Analytics early this morning as I do weekly and I noticed I was getting a bit of traffic from a certain address. Now it wasn’t really the amount of traffic more like how many different pages (this very website) Digital Deceptions was getting from a particular domain name which does happen from time to time but this was different.
I clicked on the link suspecting some spam site has picked up my RSS feed and when the web page loaded I sat there for a moment stunned and very confused because the home page that I just downloaded looked very much like my own but it had a few things missing.
It Was a Complete Duplicate
My company logo and header graphic were gone and in their place was Raj Creatives, Multimedia Designer, the title tags no longer said “Graphic Design and Web Design from Durham Region” but “Graphic Design and Web Design from Rajasekaran”.
WTF?
Because I was still waking up the first thing I thought was that my WordPress site got hacked, but a quick glance at the address bar soon put those fears to rest for another day and as I began to look at the site much closer I immediately saw that it was an exact copy of my hard work that some bush league graphic and web designer, sorry “Multimedia Designer” ripped off and is using it to showcase his shoddy portfolio and other works he is trying to take credit for.
This isn’t the first time I have been a victim of plagiarism, it is the third and funny enough they all have been this year but this Mr. S. Rajasekaran is by far the worst offender that I have caught. They say that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery but this guy has still got my content on his front page, my copyright, legal notice, and link to my old website and XHTML strict compliance.
Internet Web Pirate, Design Thief and Multimedia Designer
I have been freelancing in the design business now for almost ten years and most of the last decade has been really tough, the internet bubble burst just before I finished college, there was absolutely no industry employers when I was coming out of school and studio jobs were nonexistent because most of the advertising and online marketing companies folded or cut back and all the experienced designers started taking all the freelance work.
I Know How Hard it is
I am pretty understanding and I know where this guy is coming from but the more I looked at what he did to my work the more angry I got. What if for whatever reasons his pilfered version of my website takes months or even years to be deleted from the Free Web Hosting Area servers (where it rests at the moment) and a potential client looking for me finds the stolen page, it does contain a lot of my content and what if they think that I do lousy work?
Bread and Butter
This isn’t just my blood, sweat and tears, it’s my livelihood and something I take very seriously. I don’t mind in the least that you copied my website to your hard drive, I do it quite often myself as it is the best way to learn. But when I get down to creating I come at it from a different angle, build it from scratch and try to do it better, I don’t steal.
The difference between you and I is that I always want to improve my skills by knowing how things work so I can offer a better product while you just take and then put your name on it hoping to make a quick buck, its people like you that devalue this profession, have no respect for intellectual property and make many clients so distrustful of us.
Two Great Quotes to Think About Mr. Rajasekaran
“Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”
Pablo Picasso.
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”
Albert Einstein.
The website in question (I don’t know how long it will be available so I have some screen caps and would you believe that this guy has actually watermarked some of his own work with his name and phone number …lol )
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- Internet Web Pirate, Design Thief and Multimedia Designer
Now Since I got all the business out of the way I would like to thank you for providing me with the unexpected opportunity to once again utilize my blog to practice search engine optimization techniques to better position my keywords by allowing me to talk about my graphic and web design company Digital Deceptions.
On the front page of my website I have a link to SlideShare where you can download the presentation I did at WordCamp Toronto 2010 on how to use WordPress and Social Media to Win an Election, on your version of my site you have your resume …lol.
Once a Thief, Was That a TV Show or a Movie?
I read your resume and even all your experience is a lie, judging by the bang up graphics butcher job you did with my work there is no possible way on earth you could have designed the web pages you say you did, plus all those sites you supposedly designed have got the design companies names on the bottom of them. Who do you think you are?
The Best is Yet to Come
At the bottom of Mr. S. Rajasekaran’s resume he has a declaration which reads:
I, hereby declare that the information furnished above is true to the best of my knowledge. If given an opportunity to work in your esteemed organization, I can perform to the best of my capabilities in a way that is satisfies the organization’s need and my career thirst.
Isn’t That Just Priceless?
Well if anyone is interested in Mr. Rajasekaran’s Multimedia Design services you can give him a call on his mobile at (988) 425-1897 day or night, mail or stop by his flat if you happen to be in India, he can be found at No.18, Seevaram 2nd Street, Perungudi, Chennai – 600 096 or you could just email him rajasekaran.gpcp@gmail.com. And yes ladies he is single as mentioned in his resume and if anyone does happen to contact my friend Mr. Rajasekaran don’t forget to wish that asshole a happy birthday, he turns 23 on May 27 which is next week and please do tell him that Duncan sent you.
Borderline obsessed today with all this? Yes maybe a little but it just happens to be Canada Day May 24 long weekend and I’m going to chalk it up to timing because I usually don’t have this much time on my hands 8p
Next is Now Stats
May 5, 2010 by Duncan · 2 Comments
Today was a really busy day, actually I have been very busy for the last few weeks and have had to turn off the notifications in Facebook and Twitter for a few days because like most I have a slight social media addiction. The wealth of great information I get daily from the caliber of people I friend and follow on these social networks can easily take up a lot of valuable time that I eventually have to make up at a later date.
We All Use Social Media in Different Ways
The time I spend is in no way squandered, as a matter of fact it is of great value to me because the quality networks I have built filter out a lot of crap and help get me to pertinent content I am very interested in and able to take advantage of.
Since I was a good boy today and got a lot of work finished I decided to jumped on Twitter for a bit before I headed for lunch (at 4:30 PM) and I happened to come across a tweet about the new Rogers Next is Now video on YouTube which I had no prior knowledge of due to my self-appointed denial of services and I decided to check it out.
Man Was I Blown Away With What I Saw
The video starts off with a time lapse sequence of the night’s sky and has a catchy little tune by Young Galaxy, a band I have never heard of but have bookmarked them so I can check them out later. The next thing on the video is the words “Next is Now”, so far so good it has my full attention and then it starts show all sorts of really amazing social media, mobile and internet stats.
As the movie went on I was wanting more and more, it was very well done and the first thing I thought to myself was how perfect it was to show some of my clients how important a role all this technology was going to be in helping them promote their products and services.
The BIG Picture
Most of my clients are small to medium sized companies and by implementing these tools now while most of their competitors do not have a social media strategy allows them to reap the benefits of being a fish in the pond before the sea of plenty. These next generations coming up don’t subscribe to TV and print ads like my contemporaries, Next is Now.
Whodunnit?
The video was produced by 76design and Thornley Fallis Communications who was a sponsor at WordCamp Toronto 2010 which I presented at (shamless) and it was produced using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 which I found out at Dave Fleet’s website who happens to be the head of the social media practice at Thornley Fallis Communications.
90% of the Time I Collect Statistics
The last few years I have made it part of my routine to record interesting social media statistics and web analytics to use in presentations and to my advantage where I can. I have taken the time to type out all the stats on the Next is Now video and I am posting them for anyone who is interested. Below the statistics you will also find the sources of the stats as published in the official YouTube video by RogerCommsinc
Rogers Next is Now Stats
- We create more information every 2 days than in the history of the planet before 2004
- It would take 28 years without sleeping to watch the video uploaded to YouTube this week
- There are more Canadians on Facebook than people living in New Zealand, Ireland and Norway combined
- At Facebook’s current growth rate it will exceed the world’s population by 2014
- 10 years ago it took 72 hours to download the Godfather today it takes 10 minutes, It still takes 3 hours to watch
- Snail mail takes days
- Text messages take seconds
- Delivery of words on paper will seem as strange to our children as milk delivery does to us
- Canadians sent 174 million texts in 2002, now we send almost as many ach day
- For the first time in history Canadians surf the web more than watch TV
- Today 12,000 books fit onto 8 Kindles, an entire library in your backpack
- There are now 2000,000 apps for smartphones, including apps to find a soulmate
- 1910: mass media spreads news faster than word of mouth, 2010: word of mouth spreads news faster than mass media
- Teens multi task enough to squeeze 21 hours into 24, watch more video online than on DVDs and don’t know a world without the internet
- By 2017, there will be 7 trillion connected devices, 1000 for each person alive
- While you watched this video 150,000 messages were sent on Twitter, 15 million text messages were sent, 300 million email messages were sent, Ashton Hutcher gained 6 new followers on Twitter and 5 cats did something really cute on YouTube
Sources
Facts in Next is Now are calculated based on data from the following sources:
[0:10] Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Information Week
[0:18] 24 hours of video uploaded per minute, The Official YouTube Blog
[0:25] Facebakers, Facebook Statistics Canada
[0:32] Normalized, averaged Facebook growth (Facebook Press Room milestones)
[0:49] iTunes download of The Godfather vs 56kbps
[0:55] Speeds of 50mbps and up in Canada
[1:16] Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association
[1:21] Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association
[1:29] Ipsos Reid Interactive Group
[1:39] Amazon Kindle capacity
[1:43] Bedford Public Library collection: nearly 12,000 books
[1:52] Android: Androlib / iPhone: Apple
[1:55] Match.com iPhone App
[2:32] OTX, 2008 Longitudinal Media Experience Study
[2:36] SRG, Digital Life Canada, November 2009
[2:40] SRG, Digital Life Canada, November 2009
[2:56] AmDocs, The Connected World Vision
[3:16] TweeSpeed
[3:20] 15 million in U.S. alone. CTIA-The Wireless Association, Wireless Industry Survey
[3:24] Symantec, 2000-2009: The Spam Explosion
Who I met at WordCamp Toronto 2010
March 29, 2010 by Duncan · 2 Comments
Well once again WordCamp Toronto has come and gone. I got to see a lot of familiar faces and just like last year’s event I met interesting people and enjoyed making new contacts while practicing the art of networking.
Some of those new people include:
- Sue Varty of Wordtree Consulting a copyrighter
- Martha Chan the owner of the Divorce Marketing Group
- Brian Caicco the lead creative and project manager of dtmedia
- Christy Heenan the founder of Virtuall a virtual assistant providing administrative and marketing support
- Mai Peck a mortgage agent from The Mortgage Centre
- Clarence Johnson a photographer and eyewear photoblogger who has a cool concept website called
- Picpu about dudes like me who were glasses (my pic on his blog)
- Laurie (didn’t catch her last name) of Elle Media
- Ruth Maude a freelance web designer (like me) who’s company is called Dandelion Web Design Inc.
- Brian Anderson a content strategist and copywriter from Strategic Content who I first met on twitter and had the pleasure to meet in person
- The mysterious guy Joe from Double Take who I did not get any contact info from, had some good fun and great conversations with you …lol
- The event organizers Mathieu Yuill of Yuill.ca and Melissa Feeney of Mel, do tell thanks for all of your hard work.
Duncan and Mathieu Yuill
Duncan and Melissa Feeney
Location
This year’s event was held at the Centennial College Student Centre, first time I had been there and I thought it was a pretty good spot to have it. There was a good crowd turnout, it was spacious and wasn’t packed to the point that you felt like a herd of cattle having trouble moving around and it best of all it wasn’t hot and uncomfortable like some of these events can easily become.
The WiFi didn’t have any issues unlike other events I have been to in the past and there was a lot of crowd surfing (online, no mosh pits) and tweets going on throughout both days.
It is getting pretty late, I have (what I usually call) computer butt from sitting in crappy chairs all weekend which is my only complaint, back is killing me and my Aeron isn’t even helping so it is time to go to bed. I will write a little more about the event during the week and get into some of the presentations.
I’m Speaking at WordCamp Toronto on March 27
March 23, 2010 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
Wow it is WordCamp time already and I am lucky enough again this year to be speaking at it. From the exposure I got from my presentation last year and a couple of key contacts that were made, Digital Deceptions has by far had it’s most successful year since this crazy ride began.
At this years event I will be speaking with one of my partners in crime Glenn McKnight from Global Catalysts Consulting Service and our topic is “Using WordPress and Social Media to Win an Election”.
WordCamp Toronto 2010 is taking place on March 27 and 28 and will be held at the Centennial College Student Centre. You can find out all about it at the WordCamp Toronto website.
WordCamp Toronto 2009 is Over
May 10, 2009 by Duncan · 3 Comments
WordCamp Toronto 2009
Well WordCamp Toronto is all done for another year. I had an absolute blast learning lots of new things, will probably take a few days for it all to sink in. On Saturday I did a presentation on how Digital Deceptions transitioned from a Flash based website to a WordPress Content Management System and all the benefits and doors it has opened for me over the last year.
You can find my slides here.
And the biggest surprise this weekend was Digital Deceptions taking away the Best Theme Design Award, I’m still in shock.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people I met at the conference Jason from GueRilla Marketers, Glenn from Global Catalyst, Robert from SMO Joe and Alfred from Butterscotch just to name a few. I had some great conversations talking shop.
I would also like to thank Brendan from BackSpaceStudios and Phug and all the volunteers who put on a great show, here is the link if you want to learn all about the WordCamp Toronto 2009 conference.
