Check out this photo we captured of the hot pools in Hells Gate on our recent trip to New Zealand:
(Don’t worry, we’ll tell you more about Hells Gate in an upcoming post.)
originally posted at Go Green Travel Green
Hot Springs Photo at Hells Gate, Rotorua, New Zealand
If you write or publish photos anywhere online, I highly recommend you read this short post.
While doing a bit of Googling this evening I came across several sets of Go Green Travel Green photos attributed to both my name (1 set) and Kimberly’s name (2 sets) on a TripAdvisor site called TripWow.
It’s a bit odd because the page seems to say that I created this slideshow. But I didn’t. Nor did anyone that I can think of.
It’s troubling because 1) these are copyrighted photos that are published on another site without our permission and 2) are not linked to Go Green Travel Green in any way.
(And frankly, this 4 min + long show isn’t all that good. They aren’t necessarily photos that I would choose to release elsewhere.)
It seems to me that there are two possible explanations for this:
1) Someone else fraudulently created an account in my name and submitted these photos. Or
2) TripAdvisor is taking these photos from Go Green Travel Green automatically without our permission.
Without accusing TripAdvisor of stealing our content, it does seem that there is some automated system going on here that I’m not completely comfortable with.
I Googled “TripWow” with several other travel bloggers names and found their photos posted as well. Though I’m not positive, I’m guessing they didn’t give TripAdvisor permission to post their photos without a link or any form of compensation. (I’m emailing them about it directly to let them know.)
I also emailed TripAdvisor’s PR department to find out what is going on. (I will update this post when I hear back.)
However, if you write or post photos online I would highly recommend you Google your name with tripwow to see if you have any of these slideshows. If you do, you may also want to contact TripAdvisor if you’re concerned about the prospect that they might be using your content without better attribution/compensation.
(Note that I’ve always been a big fan of TripAdvisor. But, it’s disconcerting to know that a big company might be using travel bloggers photos like this. Sort of like when Virgin Mobile was using people’s flickr photos without consent.)
originally posted at Go Green Travel Green
Blogger Warning: Are Your Photos Being Stolen?
