Copycat

I've noticed lately, around the internet and in my daily life, that there have been bouts of plagiarism. My friend's father is a freelance photographer, and puts his photos on many social websites. He recently posted on Facebook about how his photo had been stolen from one of these websites, and someone had deemed it their own. In the past two years I've realized there is nothing I hate more than a thief. Someone who has no personal ambition to become better at something instead decides to steal someone else's work for praise.

Realistically, if you see a photo, or design of some sort that you appreciate, why not reference them? Email them, ask them questions if youre the social type. Personally, I like to use people that are better at something than me to fuel my competitive urges, but I digress. Plagiarism is never alright, regardless of the excuse. I have heard so many different reasonings behind this, and those people who report plagiarism always seem to be treated like they committed some sort of crime. I never understood this. "It doesn't affect you!"

Come again?

Consider this scenario for a moment. You and someone you know apply for a job at a local design firm, fresh out of school. You slaved over your portfolio, making sure you did everything right, those long nights and multitude of mistakes paid off. Next to you is the person who copied all sorts of people's work, appearing to have a wide variety of style, and gets hired instead. This may sound farfetched, but consider the fact that the majority of networking is done via social websites. Someone gets piad for your photo hat took 8 hours to put together, or that poser that you spent weeks planning. Not so isolated anymore, is it? The internet is a large place, there is no way to catch every art thief, but don't go about telling people to mind their own business, when someone has already stolen it from them.