orgelspieler's Journal: hotlinking and copyright infringement

Has anybody noticed this, but most of the people bitching about hotlinking are copyright infringing. I saw a minimally amusing switcheroo, but then I started thinking about it. I see everybody getting uptight about drawing a line between copyright infringement and theft, but nobody bats an eye at calling hotlinking "bandwith theft." What gives? Especially with this Doc guy. Half the images on his site are blatant copyright infringements. Yet he has the nerve to bitch about people "stealing" his bandwidth. Grow up and use .htaccess if you're really that worried about it. Fuck that guy.

My favorite is in the feedback section there's this omnedon guy who says he "lifted" a photo from a website (hello copyright violation), and then he turns around and sent a C&D to somebody for hotlinking one of his images (not copyright violation).

I'm tired of people trying to use copyright to bitch about hotlinking. who's copying anything? the person viewing the website, and the original server that has the linked image. guess what? both people have the right to copy.

idiots.

wrong? maybe. stupid? oh yeah. copyvio? doubt it. theft? not even close. if you don't want people viewing your shit with your bandwidth, don't let them. end of story. now quit your panzy-ass whining so i can get off this soapbox already.