La cadena Fox «manga» fotos a un internauta para felicitar la Navidad

(PD).- El tipo no salía de su asombro. Se encontraba viendo la retransmisión de la NFL en la Fox cuando de pronto aparece en pantalla su perro Truman felicitando las navidades.

Cuenta Aberron que Sweetney, que es como se llama en la red el perjudicado, ahora avisa a la cadena de que han dado con el usuario equivocado y de que no se quedará cruzado de brazos ante el robo.

Además, recuerda muy oportunamente que recientemente la Fox se querelló contra Youtube porque alguien había colgado vídeos de los Simpsons y 24.

All I want for Christmas is for FOX to stop using my copyrighted photos in their NFL broadcast without asking my permission

Is that so much to ask? Seriously?

SO. Here’s what happened.

Earlier this afternoon I was in our kitchen doing dishes, minding my own business. Jamie was in the living room, watching some NFL football.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Suddenly, Jamie called to me from the other room, claiming I had to come see something. When I entered the room, he unpaused the broadcast he had been watching (thanks, TiVo!), and immediately I saw the image of an adorable pug, dressed in festive Santa gear, pop up at the bottom of the screen beside FOX’s Happy Holiday’s ticker. I vaguely remember Jamie saying something to me to the effect of, “Gee, that dog looks a lot like Truman, doesn’t it?”, but I couldn’t really process something as complex and nuanced as language at that moment, what with MY FREAKIN’ HEAD EXPLODING ALL OVER THE PLACE. Because that adorable pug? That pug didn’t just look a lot like Truman. THAT ADORABLE PUG *WAS* TRUMAN.

After making Jamie pause and rewind and unpause and re-rewind the incriminating footage several times, I was convinced beyond a shadow of doubt. FOX had gotten hold of one of my photos of Truman — specifically one in a series I’d recently posted here with him wearing a Santa suit — very slightly doctored the image by removing the flash-flare lighting his eyes (good aesthetic choice there, FOX!), slapped a superfluous Santa Hat on his head, and then dropped the purloined pic into the on-screen graphic rotation for their Saints/Eagles telecast.

I know. Can you even believe that bald-faced shit?

It took another appearance of Hijacked Truman on FOX’s broadcast to convince Jamie. Always the eternal doubter and naysayer, it wasn’t until FOX threw up on the screen a second, much larger version of the same photo, and I stood beside the television with my laptop in hand pointing studiously to my original photo and then to the nicked one on the television, that he became a believer. See for yourself:

EXHIBIT A: The original photo many of you already know and love:

EXHIBIT B: Shot of the screen during Truman’s appearance:

Yeah, so as you can imagine, I’m a teensy-weensy bit… oh, how shall I say? On the enraged, indignant, and generally pissed-off side.

I’m trying to imagine what went through the person’s head that did this. Did they think that FOX, being a big ol’ monolithic Capitalism-with-a-captial-C company could sort of, err, do whatever the hell they wanted? That the words ALL RIGHTS RESERVED and COPYRIGHT somehow didn’t apply to them, despite being visible on my flickr stream and on every page of this site, respectively? Did FOX Broadcasting, without my knowledge or consent, sign a contact with Truman behind my back giving them rights to all extant images of his adorable, fawn-colored smushiness? I mean, I know Truman’s a bit hungry for fame, but I never expected this kind of shameless Eve Harrington shit out of him. Traitor.

What really, REALLY sticks in my craw is that following all this I was forced not only to sit through several more hours of football just to make certain they didn’t show the image again (yes, please shower me with your pity), but I also had to endure the endless tape-loop of FOX’s NFL copyright warnings, which seemed to repeat every five minutes or so. Hilariously enough, FOX Broadcasting and the NFL are apparently very, very concerned about legal rights to their telecasts and rebroadcasts of their telecasts. They’re concerned about — ho ho, it’s rich — PEOPLE STEALING THEIR SHIT. But as far as them stealing other people’s shit goes? Errm, not so much. See also: Please to go fuck yourself if you aren’t us.

Oh and let’s not forget that this is the corporation who sued YouTube over leaked TV Shows. Because people, traffic of content between the web and broadcast TV matters. Like, a lot and stuff.

Oh god, I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Listen, the bottomline is that this kind of thing has to stop. It’s ridiculous. Hello, I OWN MY FREAKIN’ CONTENT. How many times, and in how many different ways, do I need to say this? I have indicated on every single page of this site that my content is copyrighted. I have all rights reserved on my photos. So reason suggests that if you want to use a photo or some other content I’ve created on a national TV broadcast, YOU SHOULD ASK FIRST AND YOU NEED TO PAY ME FOR IT. And not in NFL-logo water bottles, commemorative hat pins, and autographed copies of The OReilly Factor For Kids. No no no. Greenbacks pleez, beeyatches. Dolla dolla bills, y’all.

In case it wasn’t clear, FOX Broadcasting picked the wrong stupid Mommyblogger to mess with.

Oh and FOX legal — if you’re reading this — you might want to get in touch. Jus sayin’.

PS: God bless us, every one! snort.