Frank Hilario Saga continues

I feel like I am in one of those Phillipino political intrigues. What gives?

I wrote to the American Chronicle to warn them of Frank Hilario's propensity to use images and ask permission later. I got the following reply from the American Chronicle today,

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Dear Tan, thanks for your note. We have advised the author not to use images that are not in the public domain or images he does not have permission to use. Thanks for the alert and all the best.



- Pete
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Well and good. Frank was not too pleased and sent me this e-mail,
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I don't understand why you did not respond to my letter of 2 Jan 7:14 AM CST flickr email which, among other things, I said I couldn't afford it. You asked me what I meant by 'Thanks' but you did not wait for my reply; my flickr mail of 2 Jan was my reply. Your letter of protest (protesting a would-be violation) was grossly unfair.
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In the end, Frank did do right by me and did not use my image. He did however, use an image from the web site all-things-photography.com and acknowledged it in the American Chronicle article 'We'. I wrote an e-mail to Nick Stubbs, owner of the all-things-photography web site to let him know an image from his site was used in Frank's article. If the proper permission was given, all is well.

But here is my answer to Frank,
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Dear Frank,

I think it was unfair of you to simply declare that you were going to use one of my images in your article without asking politely first. And it was unfair of you to answer my polite response to my email with an unspecific 'Thanks!'. I saw your article entitled 'We' in American Chronicle and see that you have used an image from all-things-photography web site. I hope that you have asked permission as I have informed Nick Stubbs, the owner of the web site, of the usage. If you have asked him politely and gotten permission, things should be fine.

Mr Hilario, your blog entry on Bloghard, blogeasy, shows a basic disrespect of other people's rights and feelings. You even revel in the idea of committing the perfect crime. Just how do you square that with being a god-fearing Roman Catholic? Does a simple confession absolve you of the sin that you have committed?

My images and the images of other people are the means of our living. We put food on our tables and pay our rent with the images we make. We have to put them out for display so that other people will purchase our images, but this does not give other people the right to abuse our copyright. Even if I was an amateur whose images are for my own pleasure; it does not mean that I appreciate you taking my images and using them to illustrate unspcified articles. Looks like you have done this before and am proud of it.

When you repeatedly abuse people without given them a 'fair' chance to respond, just what do you expect from other people? Did the bible not say, 'Do unto others what you others unto you!' ?

Mr Hilario, if you want to be treated fairly, start with the way you treat others.

Yours sincerely,
Tan Ngiap Heng
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I know why I have to protect my copyright and other people's copyright. Mr Hilario has a different take on his being different and what should apply to him. Here is his reply.

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TNH,
This was my first email to you:

I don't really like nudes, but this one appeals to me. It's very appropriate, so I'm using it to illustrate one of my articles to be published by American Chronicle. I hope you don't mind - I always give full credit in any case:
Image by Tan Ngiap Heng who captions it 'TNH_061217_4069.'
I will email you when it does get published.
Thanks.

I said I hope you don't mind, and that I will email you when it does get published. And then you said you did mind. And I replied. And then you did not reply to my flickr mail.

You are all missing the point of my blog. It just happens I'm a different sort of guy. And I'm not the one to point it out - If nobody gets the point, if all you are after is intellectual property rights, then you don't get it. (If I get jailed for pointing out something, no problem.)

Frank
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Sigh... We are all different. But we all live together in communities. If someone is different, does that mean he is allowed to abuse other people, misappropriate their work? I don't get it.