Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water
Hi everyone,
I was a member of this board many years ago but I lost my details and I can't remember my login details or old email. I wanted to chat about juicy psychic claims and the supposed help they gave the police particularly the Yorkshire Ripper hunt, but got distracted by an article on the Titanic (another bugbear of mine!) that cropped up this evening:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... oraks.html
I fully expect my comment (redredwine) to be deleted by morning, so I'll post it here. Sadly, in an appalling quirk of journalism, Mr.Smith has been portrayed as a sad demented loon, while the miscreant, Mr.Crowe is depicted as a heroic vigilante. My reply is:
"I am very disappointed in the above article as it shows Mr.Crowe in a very favourable light and portrays Jon Smith as a loon. Fortunately I know both sides of the story and have been privvy, first hand, to the rantings of Mr.Crowe and his vendetta against Mr.Smith and his friends.
Jon has indeed spent a lot of money on his collection but rather than squirrel or squander it, he prefers to share his photos with the world via his Facebook account. To prevent theft of his images, he has watermarked them to prevent unauthorised copying.
This has incensed the group "Lovers of the Ocean Liners" who see it as their God given right to steal other people's property and pass it off at their own. Their leaders is a young man who has been banned from Facebook many times - some people say as many as 8 times - for stealing other people's images. He hides under the smokescreen of claiming to be "autistic" in the hope that this will let him off the hook. Other people - not just Mr.Smith - have decried the behaviour of the Lovers... group, and indeed Facebook has asked people to state their sources when posting up pictures.
However, this has not stopped Mr.Crowe. He has confused the issue by stating that Mr.Smith is claiming copyright on all instances of a photo, made at any time, any place. This is not the truth, Smith has merely claimed copyright on the scan of an image that he made, and has made public for the benefit of all. Crowe, who claims to currently be a director of a cruise line company (and they say he left them years ago) has made Jon's life hell. He did indeed say he would send friends round to break Jon's legs; all these allegations have been captured in screen grabs. The Police response was lacklustre and Facebook's response was - nothing at all. The attacks became worse and worse until it culminated in Crowe's group "Fakers Frauds and Other Plagiaristic Pariahs" which had rabid homophobic remarks, more threats - and the most despicable statement of all, labelling someone as a child molester. None of these comments were in jest, as the above article states. Fortunately, screengrabs have been made of all this which is just as well because soon after the reporter made contact with Mr.Crowe (and after the police and FBI had been informed), all of the vilest taunts disappeared from Crowe's site. However, the evidence is now in the hands of the police.
Facebook's response has been shocking. They claim to want to stamp out bullying, but when complaints have been made, more often that not, their response has been silence. On the two occasions when a response has been made, it has been exactly the same, by the same person: they seem nothing wrong in any of the posts. Its apparently OK to label people as paedophiles apparently. This is the same company that tolerated groups set up to advocate violence towards women, including rape, but when it comes to showing pictures of breastfeeding or a lady bravely showing off her mastectomy, Facebook's policy is clear - these must be removed as they are "pornographic". And Facebook is only too happy to rush to the aid of someone who's photo has been purloined from her account and plastered all over the internet - especially when said person is none other than the founder's sister. But for all of us plebs, watch out; we don't matter. Its alright to defame us. After all, its only the balance sheet and the investors who matter.
In a week where Facebook has promised to stamp out bullying, and it is under investigation for allowing shocking images of a girl who later killed herself, the article could have focussed on how powerless the common man is when faced with internet behemoths. But it just comes across as a dismissive "storm in a teacup" rant."
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