Yesterday, I was making dinner and checked instagram. I noticed that Tomorrowland's account (the music festival I obsess over) had a picture that looked familiar. Too familiar. I could pick it out a mile away. Oh yeah, because it's my picture. I went immediately to my blog post with the image, and I even saw that they expertly removed my watermark.
It's almost silly how much I talk about this festival. After I went to Tomorrowland in 2012 I romanticized the experience over and over on my blog. I get questions from all over the world every month, and closer to the festival- every day. I answer them to the best of my ability and talk
After I tweeted, facebooked, and corralled some people to comment on their instagram, they proceeded to delete all comments and block all users that commented, including me. Eventually, they deleted the photo, without a word.
The thing is, all they had to do was tag me. All they had to do was give credit where credit is due and I would have been over the moon.
I know that in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal. It didn't hurt me in any way. And they certainly didn't turn me into a meme, but it's still a problem with the online world.
The internet is extraordinary. Yes, it brings us everything we could ever want to know at the blink of an eye, but the issue of stealing images is absolutely unfair. And there needs to be an easier way to solve issues like that. I have no idea how to solve it, but I think it's important to talk about.
Sorry to be so ranty on a Monday morning, just needed to get it off my chest.
UPDATE: Tomorrowland reached out, that is not their official instagram account. I tried contacting the owner but I've been blocked.
