The Ministry of Defence (MoD) admitted more than 650 laptops had been stolen over the past four years - nearly double the figure previously claimed.

The department also said that 26 portable memory sticks containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January.

The Lib Dems condemned the latest security breaches as evidence of "shocking incompetence".

But the MoD insisted that its policies were "generally fit for purpose",

Previously the MoD had confessed to 347 laptops being stolen between 2004 and 2007.

But Defence Secretary Des Browne was forced to issue revised figures after "anomalies in the reporting process" were discovered.

The official total is now 658 laptops stolen, with another 89 lost. Just 32 have been recovered.

In a separate response, ministers said that 131 of the department's USB memory sticks had been taken or misplaced since 2004.

Some 26 of those went this year - including three which contained information classified as "secret" and 19 which were "restricted".

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather discovered the information after tabling a question in parliament.

Ms Teather said: "It seems that this government simply cannot be trusted with keeping sensitive information safe.

"This shows a shocking degree of incompetence across the entire government."

And you think you can trust the Government (more than yourself) with the vast amounts of data it will acquire and centralise with the ID Card?

Yes, I'm a bit hot under the collar today. You see, my bike was stolen again. Not my Bigfish, that was stored safe and sound in the car. But my mountain bike (which I also enjoyed using) was stolen from the bike rack behind our apartment. This was my second bike theft in about 5 months. Only this time I was using what i thought was a good strong lock, but they just cut right through it,  and rubbed my nose in it by simply leaving the water bottle behind. It wasn't a very expensive bike, but that doesn't lessen the hurt, anger and inconvenience.

However, because I can take my Bigfish with me into my apartment or even put it in the back of the car, those dirty, filthy, disgusting bike thieves can't get to it. And to be honest, most of the journeys I was doing on my mountain bike could so easily have been done by Bigfish. I just don't need a mountain bike for city riding.

So I'm not going to bother getting another "normal" bike. Firstly because there's too much risk of theft, and secondly, as I've found out over the past few weeks, Bigfish can do the same job as a normal city bike anyway: it handles just as well, and there is almost no risk of theft.

And that makes me a lot more chilled out!!!

A 29-year-old man accused of stealing a bicycle in Boston's North End tried to complete his own version of a triathlon to get away from police.

Police said Jason Duncan of Somerville rode the bike onto the North Washington Street Bridge, jumped off the bridge into Boston Harbor and swam to shore when they tried to arrest him Tuesday night.

He then ran down a harbor walkway before being caught.

Oh, wow. When delinquents are more physically ambitious than I am, I really need to reevaluate my exercise regimen. Though if it were me, I'd have probably tried to find some object to go all shot put on the cops before I finally surrendered.

July 15, 2008                                                                                 

Contact: Liz Farrar (202) 225-4636

Ellsworth, Jordan Introduce Bill to Fight Organized

Retail Crime, Protect Online Consumers

WASHINGTON – Concerned about the growing use of the internet to sell stolen goods, Reps Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) today introduced legislation to provide law enforcement and retailers with more tools to fight organized retail crime (ORC) and protect online consumers. ORC is the act of stealing large quantities of popular consumer products that are then resold, often with the proceeds funding additional crimes. The Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, H.R. 6491, requires increased transparency of high-volume sellers – those who sell at least $12,000 in merchandise annually – on online marketplaces to help identify criminals engaging in organized retail crime and protect online consumers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that ORC currently accounts for $30 billion in retail losses annually. Criminals are increasingly turning to online marketplaces where they can unload their stolen goods with anonymity. Of particular concern are products like baby formula, diabetic test strips, and over-the-counter drugs, which require proper storage and may pose health and safety risks to consumers who unknowingly purchase these stolen products online. For instance, in a case in Texas, FBI agents seized $1 million worth of stolen baby formula that was being stored in rodent-infested garages with no temperature controls.  

“I spent a career in law enforcement and saw firsthand the growing problem of organized retail crime in local communities. The internet allows these criminals to expand their operations from the dark streets and pawn shops we all think about to millions of unsuspecting consumers’ living rooms in Indiana and across the country,” said Ellsworth. “The bill will provide law enforcement officers and retailers with the tools they need to reveal the cloak of anonymity and bring these criminals to justice; while at the same time, preserving the online marketplace for law-abiding citizens. I am glad to work across party lines with Congressman Jordan to introduce it.”   

“Organized retail crime is a growing problem that costs Ohio retailers and consumers millions of dollars each year,” said Jordan. “I am proud to join my colleague Mr. Ellsworth in this well-balanced bill and applaud him for his leadership in combating this serious issue.”

Summary of Legislation:

The Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008 gives law enforcement greater authority to pursue criminals engaging in organized retail crime and imposes specific and narrow obligations on online marketplaces to prevent criminals from reselling their goods online.

The bill adds organized retail crime to the federal code, making it more difficult for criminals to hide behind state laws.

The bill provides a narrow definition of “online marketplace,” it does not cover entities such as ISPs or other Internet companies whose actions are not intertwined with the online marketplace To qualify as an online marketplace, an internet site must:

1. Allow persons other than the operator of the site to enter into transactions.

2. Promote goods or services of its sellers through their inclusion in search results displayed within the site. 

3. Have a contractual right to supervise the activities of the seller with respect to the goods or services sold.

-or-

4. Have a financial interest in the sale of such goods or services on its site.

As defined above, online marketplaces would be required to:

•  
  • Expeditiously investigate the sale of stolen goods or services on its site when credible evidence of such comes to its attention, and remove or disable access to the material when there is reasonable cause to believe the goods or services were acquired through ORC.  And maintain a record of all investigations for a minimum of three years;

•  
  • Require sellers whose merchandise packaging identifies the product as being available from a particular or exclusive retail source, to post such identifying information conspicuously on the site; and

•  
  • Maintain the name, telephone number, email address, legitimate physical address, any user identification, company name, and transactions conducted of each high-volume seller. The bill defines high-volume sellers as someone selling more than $12,000 in merchandise annually; and

•  
  • Require any high volume seller to:

·       Conspicuously post its name, telephone number, and legitimate address on the internet site where other information about the property being sold by the high volume seller is posted; or

·       Provide, upon request of any business that has a reasonable suspicion that goods or services were acquired through organized retail crime, its name, telephone number, and legitimate physical address.

###

Visit- www.stopretailcrime.com

Legislation to Combat Organized Retail Crime Introduced
MarketWatch - USA
"This is a serious crime issue with real health and safety implications," said Paul Jones, vice president for asset protection. "Without a secure supply ...
See all stories on this topic

Q&A: Organized Retail Crime -- What Retailers Need To Know

July 16, 2008

Click Here To Download:
•Q&A: Organized Retail Crime — What Retailers Need To Know

With Paul Jones, vice president of asset protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and Retail Solutions Online

According to Mr. Jones organized retail crime (ORC) is a growing epidemic that has cost retailers tens of billions of dollars each year, and that's just part of the problem. More important is the public health risks that ORC poses. Legitimate retailers spend millions of dollars to ensure that products such as over-the-counter medicines, infant formula, perfume, and diabetic test strips are stored and shipped appropriately. I have yet to find an organized crime ring that takes any such precautions. In fact, we have seen these sensitive items being housed and shipped in deplorable conditions. If diabetic test strips, for example, are not stored appropriately, they may provide false readings, putting diabetics, who are reliant on constant blood sugar monitoring, in great peril.

As such, I strongly recommend that consumers only purchase these products from legitimate established retailers who can validate the chain of custody of their products. This is the only way to ensure that the product is not spoiled, tainted, or otherwise at risk.

Click Here To Download:
•Q&A: Organized Retail Crime — What Retailers Need To Know

There’s chaos in the streets!  Vandals are taking over!  You’re not safe!

It’s being reported today that throughout California and in New York, a new form of organized crime is popping up, and it’s threatening to change the lives of everyone, forever.

“They’re like an army out there.”

“They’re in trucks.  They’re on cell phones.  It’s a business.”

“These guys are becoming much more organized and much more prevalent.”

“You’re in big trouble.”

This new organized crime, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, is stealing garbage.  It turns out that going through people’s trash and pulling out recyclables can be very profitable, and “poachers” have started stealing garbage and making beaucoup bucks.  This is really pissing off city hall, for reasons that entirely escape me.  In San Francisco, “poachers” who get caught can get six months in the clink and a $500 fine.  In New York, they can face a $5,000 fine and possible jail time.  For stealing shit that people have thrown away.

It’s stories like this that really make me worried about the future of America.  Recycling is a good thing, right?  I mean, it’s not like their rifling through the trash, looking for bank statements to use to steal people’s identities; they’re looking for bottles and cans that people are too fucking lazy to separate from their spent coffee filters.

Aren’t we at war?  Isn’t the real estate market in the toilet?  Isn’t our economy racing towards that same toilet?  Aren’t 45 people murdered every day in our country?  Aren’t 78 women sexually assaulted every hour in our country?  Should we really be spending valuable public resources and man-hours trying to crack down on people who are stealing garbage so they can recycle it?

I think we have a new marquee issue for Jesse Jackson to complain about.  I don’t want to irresponsibly spread hearsay and gossip, but I have it from a very reputable source that he’s going to enter the ’08 Presidential Election on the “Don’t Steal Garbage From Black People” ticket.  I guess that’s what he meant when he was talking about “the issues that really matter to Americans.”

If you care about backlash, this isn't a town to burn bridges in. Fortunately, I couldn't care less. I'm particularly irritated today because of a certain business owner who just announced a new promotion that we had specifically talked about in a meeting that we had, but two weeks ago. It's in my notes from the meeting.

I spent 45 minutes driving to meet this person, an hour and half meeting with them, another 30 minutes preparing a proposal, thanking them and following up, only to have my emails ignored completely. Not even a modicum of manners, this person has. Not a thanks for taking the time, I've decided to go it alone or chosen someone else, nada. Now to top it all off, they've gone and taking one of the ideas that I brought up in the meeting and ran with it. I guess it's a good thing I declined to provide this person with the "sample" press release that they requested (to gauge my writing skills, of course) that I have no doubt would have ended up in the local paper, probably word for word. Nice.

All I can say is karma, people, karma. I know where I WON'T ever be buying anything ever.

Throughout a flight experience, there are multiple opportunities for fellow passengers, baggage handlers, and even airport security agents to pinch your personal possessions if you are not cautious.

In a recent MSNBC.com article, David Appell reminds us that we can not trust anyone, as over 400 (of the total 43,000) TSA agents have been fired for theft in the past 5 years. Between that and drug dealing, its no wonder we opt for "staycations" these days, but I digress...

According to Mr. Appell, who also contributes to the Airfare Watchdog, the top 5 airports with the stickiest fingers as Newark, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles and Seattle-Tacoma. He offers a worthwhile list of ways to prevent theft, which are:

- Keep small jewelry and electronics on your person, or at the bottom of your carry on.

- Consolidate valuables into one bag and keep a hawk's eye on it.

- Use small locks as deterrents for checked bags.

- Keep wallet on your person and valuables locked in bag at your feet, particularly on red-eyes.

We also recommend using a clear toiletry bag (shameless plug) to speed you through airport security and offer the most visibility of your possessions.

The list above, sprinkled with some awareness and common sense, should help you hold on to your possessions while traveling this summer.

Theft can be defined as follows: The use of force to transfer wealth from one individual or group to a different individual or group.

Government policies such as welfare, subsidies, and tariffs can be defined as: The use of force to transfer wealth from one individual or group to a different individual or group.

Look the same to me....

Rode our bikes to the International Day Festival which turned out not to be that International. Lots of overweight, white people looking at neighborhood business bullshit like US Bank and Church of Karin. Ya. Church. of. Karin.  They did have Catfish-on-a-Stick and a Thai cart so, I guess I had my share of cultural diversity for the year.

Caprese salads and BBQ with naked little boys roaming around our yard. Say wha?

Taking Bonkers for long walks while getting whistles and honks from passerbys.

Not knowing when to keep my big fucking mouth shut so not to seriously offend blacks people. I kid. I kid. Get over it.  No one should EVER take me seriously. Do you hear me? EVER.

Petty theft and white lies.

Salem. Need I say more? Okay, I will. Went there. Drank beers, went swimming, went boating, learned how to do a flip in the pool, played Speed, gave some sunshine/pool head,  road a raft like a bull, ate some Mexican food in 100 degree heat and got stuck in traffic cursing that it better be a wreck slowing these fucks down to a 5mph crawl. It was. Made it home by dark. Exhausted and full.

Reading in the sun.

Watched a couple at a bar (who seemed really nervous) guzzle down some drinkies. A while later, a bald, chubby, lame tattooed, backwards hat guy came. They apparently  met on the Intranets (according to our trusty bartender). They proceeded with whiskey, jello shots, beers and vodka (til obviously the girl was drunk enough to think getting gang-banged by two douche-bags with icky ball soup while she herself had vagina stew) which sounded like a fun thing to do on a 85 degree Sunday night. 

I now have a mild case of sun damage and two-toned tits.

The very first Bob Dylan album I bought was Modern Times; so you could say I'm something of a new fan. I immediately got into Modern Times and thought I would explore his later work further.

So, I bought Love and Theft and although the effect wasn't immediate, it would turn out to be the most important album I've ever bought.

When I first listened to it, I remember thinking, "This is alright... But I like Modern Times better." Then, when I listened for the second or third time, something clicked; I loved it. Now, listening to it for about the 150th time, its effect has not worn off.

(I'm pushed for time; so Part 2 will be the 'review.')

Oil prices have soared even further since then and so have instances of fuel theft, to the extent that the mainstream media has finally noticed.

The BBC today reported that more than £1,000 of fuel had been siphoned from a house at Auchterarder and an industrial unit at industrial unit in Alloa.

It also said police had advised people to keep their fuel secure but, as we were told when our oil was stolen, having fuel under lock and key does not stop the thieves.

If you padlock the tank hatches shut, the thieves use hole saws to cut through the tank walls, drop a hose in and then pump the fuel out to a van with a large tank in the back.

Once the fuel is in their tank, there's nothing that can be done to trace it back to the original owner.

With fuel prices continuing to soar, the problem is only going to get worse, just as metal thefts are rocketing on the back of soaring metal prices.

I'm going to see if I can move our tank inside the steading without running afoul of planning regulations, but there's little more than we can do except to remain vigilant at all times.

My current iPod (which I got for free by telling Apple I was a college student) is on the fritz. You may pity me however you see fit. As I look for a new iPod, I’m reminded about my first iPod (which I bought back when they weighed 40 lbs and could only fit 3 songs on them…ok, not quite, but feels like it).

When I was nine years old, I took an audio tour of Alcatraz and received a little tape player and a set of white headphones. It was the best tour ever.

Years later I moved to New York City and saw everyone wearing what looked like the same headphones. I wondered what type of tour all of these people were taking. It didn’t look like these people were on a tour since they were all walking incredibly fast and weren’t stopping to look up at any of the buildings. Instead it seemed liked they were listening to someone yelling "MOVE ROBOTS!!" as they weaved through pedestrian traffic.

After embarrassing myself by asking a friend if he’d been on the Turbo NYC Tour, he said, “It’s an iPod.” Not catching on, I responded by saying, “I Pod you too, man.”

As soon as I figured out what an iPod was, I decided I needed one. However, I wasn't going to get one unless I was able to get a good deal. When I found out that all Apple products were sold at the same price, I was disheartened, but not defeated.

After a little creative thinking I came up with a plan to use my job's 501c3 status. Basically, what this means is, taxes don't exist in the non-profit world. All I had to do was get my hands on one of our Tax Free forms and hand it to a cashier.

I came up with some intricate plans to get one of these forms, but in the end I acquired one through a lot of mumbling and some random hand gestures. It's funny how someone will give you anything just to get you to leave them alone.

I took my tax exemption sheet and headed to the bank where I withdrew the money I would need in one dollar bills. I figured that it would appear more non-profit like if I were to pay in crinkled dollar bills out of an envelope labeled Budget. I walked uptown while trying to think of a reason why a small environmental non-profit in New York City thought it was necessary to keep 10,000 songs in a portable music player. I came up with the answer of, "the whales like Mahler". It was vague, kind of creepy, and screamed, "Leave me alone!!".

My mission was successful and besides blurting out, "Yup, whales are amazing creatures," everything went smoothly. HA HA rest of the world!! I hope you're happy with your iPods and your lack of $32 you spent on taxes.

I went back to the office to put songs onto my new toy. I stayed at work late putting on CD after CD as if I were adding water to a cup I was determined to overflow. When I finally got tired I gathered my stuff and headed home. It was about 10:30 when I got on the train going back to Brooklyn. It was the most enjoyable ride I'd ever experienced. I finally felt as if I were in a music video and that everyone else could hear the music blaring in my head. I was the star and everyone else on the subway was a backup dancer waiting for the chorus.

When I got off the subway I was a man with a swagger. I was the only person in my rhythmic world. All other problems, fears, and stresses were drowned out by my headphones.

Well, all other problems, fears, and stresses other than the guy who came running up to me and started yelling in my face.

"Excuse me?" I responded as if manners were necessary to someone who had just run up from behind me to yell something in my face.

"If I go to jail tonight, at least I'll have a place to stay!!" he repeated.

You never know how you're going to respond when someone screams something like that to you. It was pretty clear to me that this guy was either here to mug me or eat me. Some people will say things like, "I would have run," or, "I would have fought him," but logic is a distant memory when someone is screaming about the comfort of jail.

"Allllllllright," I said, hoping he was in fact reciting a line from some poem he wrote. I wasn't about to pull out my wallet and say "well, let's get this over with". Not until he pulled out a gun, a knife, or even threaten to beat me up.  

"Look, mother fucker. Keep walking!" he said as he walked besides me.

I immediately became conscious of my newly purchased iPod and their perceptible white headphones. It was then that I started to get really nervous as the $17 in my pocket was no longer my concern. I started asking myself, 'What would make you hand over this iPod? A gun, a knife? Could you take him?’.

We walked almost a full block in silence before he said, "Look, here's the way it's gonna work. Give me all of your god damn money!".

I still hadn't heard an 'or else' and he wasn't even putting in the effort to put his finger in his jacket pocket, pretending to have a gun. So of course, I said what I always say to someone who asks me for money, "I don't have any money".

"What?! You don't have any money!?"

"No, I don't." I said as I wondered if I was worsening my situation if he were to find that I did in fact have money on me.

"You don't have any money?!!?"

I thought that perhaps my best move was to say, "Well, let me check my wallet. Oh wait! I do have some money," and hope that he'd be so relieved that he'd forget to ask me to hand over my $300, easily sellable, non-traceable, portable music player.

"You don't have any money at all?!?!?"

"No!" I said as I patted my pockets (the universal "I'm all tapped out" sign). He stared through my eyes and I knew that he was either going to beat me up and search my pockets himself or pull out the gun he was reluctant to use.

"You don't have any money at all?!?!?

Having answered the question three times previously I began to understand that this person had no idea what he was doing.

"Not even a dollar?!?" he said as his voice wavered.

"No."

The man squinted his eyes and looked forward, as if this wrinkle in his plan needed required serious thought. We walked almost a full block in silence.

Finally, the man thought of his next move and asked, "You don't even have some change?!?".

I once again patted my pockets to signify that I had not acquired any change in the last block.

The man looked crushed. He waved me forward and stopped walking beside me. I quickened my pace and headed for home feeling a little sorry for my mugger. He obviously was a beginner and I half expected to hear him yell to me, "Maybe I could give you my number so you can call me when you do have some money."

My sympathy was overridden by relief. I had escaped unharmed and more importantly, still a member of the iPod community.

I chuckled for days at the idea that I could have lost my iPod only hours after purchasing it. More specifically, I chuckled for TWO days because that's when I took my iPod into the shower with me and shorted the non-warranty covered circuitry.

If you use the GO Transit system to park your car and get to your train or bus to work, school or play, listen up! Apparently, there have been a number of recent thefts surrounding GO Transit car parks and the customers are very ferrocious about GO transit's actions on patrolling car parks over time.

Things that thieves like to steal are electronics, sporting goods and many other valuables. However, the biggest hot topic that came to GO car parks (parking lots) are Catalytic Converters.  Durham Regional Police has defined the Pickering GO Station as an "auto parts store". Theives stole airbags, doors, hinges and many other things that theives may can fine.

Catalytic Converters are getting very high in value because the metals inside it have reached record high levels. Those valuable metals are Platinum, Rhodium and Palladium.

Many people are very angry about this and they are very very concerned that an instince like this will happen next. In response, they decided to take the bus from home and board the GO train or bus to work.

So far, it hasn't hit my older sister as of yet. She lives in Ajax, but goes to work in Toronto. One blogger and my colleague, Andy (who formerly worked for Durham Region Transit) posted his view about one shocking individual about the incident that involves someone stripping her car of parts. You can read the blog posting here. A letter was published in the local Metroland Newspapers spanning across Durham Region and can be viewed here.

My advice to all of you folks who use GO: Take the bus and leave your car home. That way it'll stop thieves from doing so much damage.

References:

"Outpouring of anger at GO." Hamilton Spectator. 14 July 2008. 14 July 2008. <http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/402406>

"Riders rip GO over car lot thefts." Mississauga News. 14 July 2008. 14 July 2008. <http://www.mississauganews.com/article/16626>

"Outpouring of anger at GO." Toronto Star. 14 July 2008. 14 July 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Fixer/article/459534>

The Image Is Familiar; the Pitch Isn't
By MIA FINEMAN
Published: July 13, 2008

IN February 2007 the Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay was installing a solo exhibition of his work in Paris when he received an e-mail message from a friend about a commercial for the Apple iPhone that had been broadcast during the Academy Awards show.

Slide Show: Art and Advertising

The 30-second spot featured a rapid-fire montage of clips from television shows and Hollywood films of actors and cartoon characters -- including Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Dustin Hoffman and Betty Rubble -- picking up the telephone and saying "Hello." It ended with a shot of the soon-to-be-released iPhone.

Mr. Marclay tracked down the ad on YouTube and watched it.

"I was very surprised," he said recently by phone from London. Like many in the art world he saw an uncanny resemblance between the iPhone commercial and his own 1995 video "Telephones," which opens with a similar montage of film clips showing actors answering the phone. That seven-and-a-half-minute video, one of Mr. Marclay's signature works, has been exhibited widely throughout Europe and the United States.

About a year before, Mr. Marclay said, Apple had approached the Paula Cooper Gallery, which represents his work in New York, about using "Telephones" in an advertisement.

"I told them I didn't want to do it," he said. His main concern, he said, was that "advertisers on that scale have so much power and visibility" and that "everyone would think of my video as the Apple iPhone ad."

Mr. Marclay said he spoke with a lawyer after learning of the commercial but decided not to pursue legal action. "When people with that much power and money copy you, there's not much you can do," he said.

In any case he did not want a controversy to draw attention to his own appropriations of scenes from other sources -- mostly Hollywood movies -- without permission from the copyright holders.

"I don't consider what I do stealing," Mr. Marclay said. "I'm quoting cultural references that everyone is familiar with. I make art that reflects the culture I live in." And unlike advertisers, he said, "I'm not trying to sell phones."

Contacted by telephone and e-mail, neither Apple nor its advertising agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, would comment on the iPhone ad for this article.

Artists have been appropriating images from Madison Avenue for decades. In the 1960s Andy Warhol made silk-screened copies of Brillo boxes and Campbell's soup cans. In the 1980s Richard Prince rephotographed magazine ads for Marlboro cigarettes, enlarged the pictures and exhibited them as his own. Works like these are comments on consumer culture that also challenge the idea of originality itself.

But what happens when the tables are turned? In recent years a number of advertising campaigns have seemed to draw their inspiration directly from high-profile works of contemporary art. And the artists who believe their images and ideas have been appropriated are not happy about it.

Donn Zaretsky, a lawyer in New York who specializes in art law, is often approached by artists who perceive echoes of their own work in advertisements. "It does seem like advertising people are pushing the envelope on this," he said. "They're being more and more brazen in their borrowing. On the one hand they should be mining the art world for inspiration, and you would expect them to be referencing works that people are familiar with. But more and more they seem to be getting into the territory of blatant rip-offs."

The law governing the unauthorized use of copyrighted images and ideas, he said, is notoriously murky. "Copyright law doesn't protect ideas, it only protects expression. The question is, where do you draw the line? Is the agency being inspired by the idea? Or did they copy the artist's expression?"

When artists go after advertisers in such cases, the disputes are most often settled out of court. But there have been a few notable cases in which artists successfully sued advertisers for copyright infringement.

In 1987 a federal court granted summary judgment to the artist Saul Steinberg, who claimed that a poster for the Columbia Pictures film "Moscow on the Hudson" copied his famous New Yorker cover "View of the World From 9th Avenue." (Like Steinberg's drawing, the poster had a detailed rendering of four Manhattan city blocks in the foreground and a sketchy view of the rest of the world in the background.)

In May 2007 a French judge ordered the fashion designer John Galliano to pay 200,000 euros, or about $270,000, to the photographer William Klein in a dispute over a series of magazine ads that mimicked Mr. Klein's technique of painting bright strokes of color on enlarged contact sheets.

Recently Mr. Zaretsky was approached by the artist Spencer Tunick, who is known for his photographs of large installations of naked people in public places around the world. Mr. Tunick was concerned about a television commercial for Vaseline shown in Europe and the United States in 2007.

The 60-second spot, called "Sea of Skin," features large groups of naked men and women posed in artful configurations in various outdoor settings. They stand and sway in a forest, sit on a concrete rooftop, bounce gently in a glacial lake and wave their arms on a city street.

"There was such a close resemblance to my work that it was uncanny," Mr. Tunick said in an interview. "When I saw the ad, I thought it was definitely inspired by my photographs and videos of installations."

Was it? Not according to Kevin Roddy, the executive creative director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York, who developed the commercial for Vaseline's parent company, Unilever.

"I'm familiar with Spencer's work," Mr. Roddy said, "but I can't say that was an influence at all. Spencer is about masses of people and nudity. We're about representing the functionality of skin. Sure, it's hundreds of thousands of bodies, but they’re meant to represent one thing: skin."

Mr. Tunick said he had not decided whether to pursue legal action.

In some cases artists who see variations on their own images may be victims of their own popular success.

In the late 1990s there were several well-publicized disputes in which young British art stars accused advertisers of pilfering their ideas. The conflicts arose around the time the so-called Young British Artists, or Y.B.A.'s, were featured in "Sensation," a 1997 London exhibition of contemporary art from the collection of the British advertising mogul Charles Saatchi that later traveled to Berlin and New York. 

In 1998 one of those artists, Gillian Wearing, complained that a Volkswagen commercial featuring people holding handwritten signs had copied the style and idea of her series of photographs titled "Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say" (1992-93).

For her series Ms. Wearing photographed people on the street holding paper signs on which they had written brief statements describing their feelings or states of mind. In the best-known image a smirking young man in a business suit holds a sign that reads, "I'm desperate." Similarly the Volkswagen ad includes a shot of a tough-looking security guard who holds a sign bearing the word "sensitive." Ms. Wearing did not pursue legal action.

The following year Damien Hirst threatened to sue British Airways over a billboard for its low-cost subsidiary Go that featured a grid of colored dots. Mr. Hirst claimed that the design was based on his paintings of grids of colored dots against white backgrounds. At the time a spokesman for Mr. Hirst told the newspaper The Independent that he had discussed licensing his dot paintings to British Airways, but that the deal had fallen through.

Advertisers have traditionally tapped into the cultural cachet of fine art by commissioning works for hire. From 1950 to 1975 a Chicago company, the Container Corporation of America, commissioned dozens of artists -- including Fernand Léger, René Magritte and Willem de Kooning  --  to create paintings that were reproduced in print ads that ran in upscale magazines like Fortune.

In 1985 Absolut vodka began its famous magazine ad campaign featuring variations on the distinctive shape of its bottle, executed by hundreds of contemporary artists, among them Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Lisa Yuskavage.

But plenty of other artists have staunchly resisted agencies' requests to license their work.

Mr. Tunick said he had been asked to work on campaigns for Dove, Lipton, Microsoft and Blue Cross Blue Shield, among others. "I think I get two e-mails a week from ad executives or publicists who want to use my work, and I always tell them I’m not an advertising photographer," he said.

The Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss have turned down numerous requests from ad agencies interested in licensing their award-winning 30-minute short film, "Der Lauf der Dinge" ("The Way Things Go"). Produced in 1987, it follows a Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction in which everyday objects like string, balloons, buckets and tires are propelled by means of fire, pouring liquids and gravity.

Yet in April 2003 Honda ran a two-minute television commercial, "Cog," in which various parts of a car -- tires, seats, windshield wipers -- form a dominolike chain reaction that culminates when an Accord rolls down a ramp as a voice-over (read by Garrison Keillor) intones, "Isn't it great when things just work?"

At the time Mr. Fischli told Creative Review magazine: "We've been getting a lot of mail saying, 'Oh, you've sold the idea to Honda.' We don't want people to think this. We made 'Der Lauf der Dinge' for consumption as art."

In a strange twist the Honda "Cog" ad, which was developed by Wieden & Kennedy, has inspired several parodies of its own, including commercials for BBC Radio and the British directory assistance service 118. The chain reaction of creative influence, imitation and homage was the focus of a panel discussion at the Tate Modern in London during a retrospective of Mr. Fischli and Mr. Weiss's work there in 2006.

In an age when sampling and appropriation have become widespread practices in contemporary art and in the culture at large, some find it paradoxical that artists are now guarding their own creations more vigilantly.

Michael Lobel, a professor of 20th-century art at Purchase College who has written about Roy Lichtenstein and Richard Prince, said the easy availability of digital images on the Web had helped foster this defensiveness. 

"There's a broader consciousness among artists about owning their work and keeping tight control over its distribution," he said. "The more available images have become, the more of a countermovement there is to clamp down on them."

Mr. Lobel said that while he sympathizes with artists who believe their work has been copied, they also need to recognize their own reliance on existing images. "Culture is about ongoing borrowing," he said. "It's about taking images, ideas and motifs and opening them up to new uses."

The cycle of influence goes round and round: Ad agencies borrow from artists who borrow from advertising. Isn't it great when things just work?

Big companies using Flickr images without consent is what I like to call corporate charity.  They use photographers work and hope they don’t get caught.   While it is true that you may get exposure from a site using your photos, the reality is that it isn’t going to make you back more money then you lost from the company stealing your work.  Even if your just starting out and feel flattered that they choose your photo to display; remember they are breaking the law in several countries and if they felt your work was good enough to put on your site then your work is good enough for them to pay you for it.  Don’t let them use you, you deserve better than that.

The simplest way for companies to steal your work is with an API.  When you tag your photos on Flickr they can then be used by an API with those tags.  I have now removed the tags from the majority of photos I have on Flickr do to theft.  Beware that it is up to you as the photographer to enforce your copyright, no one else is going to do it.  I have had to write many letters to companies telling them to remove my photos in 24 hours or I will bill them.  Usually they take my photos down, but it does get time consuming.   Frankly I have better things to do with my time, how about you?

 Flickr now provides stats to pro users and that makes it easier to track down who it stealing your photos.  The easiest way to ensure your photos are not being stolen is to watermark them through the middle and to not tag them.  If you do find that one of your photos is being used without your consent write them a letter asking them to remove it, do not bother to notify Flickr, they have a hands off approach to it.  If you feel that someone is stealing photos, spread it around on the various Flickr groups your a member of.  Let everyone know who the offenders are so they can take whatever action that might need to be taken.  Also as with most things stay vigilant, the only person looking out for your work is you.   Don’t let thieves walk all over you.

On Friday, the wedding rehearsal went smoothly and quickly.  We were out of there and on our way to Spaghetti Warehouse by 6:00.  I hadn't been there in over a decade, but it was still a nice place.  The room we had reserved was a little warm and the mercury was rising as it tends to do when lots of people convene in a social setting.  And since our girls had inhaled a container of Cheerios during the rehearsal, they had little interest in sitting in their chairs at a new restaurant with so many things to check out.  To top it off, they were a little under the weather.  Add up all of those elements and the result you get is J honking right after the meals arrive; luckily L insisted on picking up some full body bibs.

So, we packed up our kids as fast as we could, threw out our apologies to my sister and fast-tracked it home.
Then the story gets interesting :-)

Now, my youngest sister, S, had flown into C'bus from NYC with her boyfriend C.  They borrowed his brother-in-law's car (who happens to live in C'bus) to get themselves around this weekend.  and after rehearsal dinner, the plan was to meet up at Tanks (Tankies!!) for a few drinks before the big day.  Around 9:30, I get a call from my mom telling me that someone broke into C's car.  Things are missing.  Important things are missing.  Let me back up bit.

A and J were hustling to get to the rehearsal on time, so they asked S and C to load a few things into their car; things they didn't necessarily need for the rehearsal, but things for the wedding day.  Yeah, it gets bad from here.

Fast-forward to the crime scene.  S and C get to the car after dinner and realize things are missing.  Things like her bridesmaid dress, the engraved champagne flutes and cake knife, the name cards, and let's not forget S's Blackberry and C's mobile. Oh yeah, S was also holding onto gifts from our dad for S and A. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

Now Dayton has it's share of crime, of which I'm full aware.  But it was daylight a block from Main St.  I guess I underestimated the nerves of thieves in Dayton.  So the guy from Jersey comes to Dayton to get robbed.

More coming later...

  First, thanks to the efforts of David Barsalou, an art teacher ... here's a comparison of some comic panels by Russ Heath that fetched Heath only a subsistance wage and the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein that has fetched millions. (Lichtenstein's work is in the corner.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/40845492/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/45875584/

  And here is Barsalou's side-by-side comparison of several other Lichtenstein works -- borrowed from numerous comic book artists.

http://davidbarsalou.homestead.com/LICHTENSTEINPROJECT.html

  I've always admired the large pop-art versions of these images. And I won't deny Lichtenstein a share of the credit. But it annoys me to no end that he did not share credit or cash with the people whose art he borrowed. It's one thing to repurpose comic art -- that I doesn't bother me. But to claim it as solely your own ... that pisses me off.

 And as some other blogs have mentioned, it's just plain ironic that the Lichtenstein Foundation uses a "Lichtenstein" image borrowed from Joe Kubert -- another comic book legend -- to warn against copyright violation. Hypocrisy incarnate.

  Also, I often think the original art has more expression in the faces.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6fvu-FRiGU