Dear Diary,

How dare people try to use my photos as their own? Like really? People are out here portraying themselves to be someone else. Then again some of them are just wanting to use my photo and vodors for their gain/wank fodder. It’s a sad world when people have no respect for your intellectual property. I know it’s nothing new but it’s a mean thing to do.

~ You can never be me

Let’s dive right in.

At some point I believe that we all face the reality that people are using our photos/videos for one reason or another. There are not any words that I wish to waste for how I feel about those kind of people. It’s a shame that people will spend their life on using something that someone else has put their time and energy into to gain from OR hurt them.

Let’s face it. It happens. With technology now days it’s very rampant. So it behooves you to take a few steps to try to protect yourself/intellectual property. I’m going to give a few ideas on how to do that.

• Install a VPN: Virtual Private Network. Use it on your computers/phone. It is there to keep people from tracking your IP address. Don’t be tempted to turn it off because sometimes it makes things run slower. Turn it on and keep it on. Especially when sending pics/videos to unknown people.
• Download a watermark app: The 3 that I like is PhotoGrid, Pic collage & Iwatermark. On PhotoGrid and Pic collage you can also edit your pictures.
• When sending pics through your drives etc. Be sure that they are not downloadable unless you don’t care that they are. You will have to use your computer to change this option on your Google drive.

Remember that you have put in a lot of work to do what you do. I’m not saying people can’t get around systems of protection. I’m saying you need to at least try to protect what is yours. So many people like the easy way out. One of those easy ways is taking from others. They don’t care.

If you have not taken these few steps start doing it today. Don’t get afraid if you have not been doing any of this. From this point forward put in the effort to do so.

Wishing you the best.

Until next time…