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When the RSS team posted an image taken by a former employee to their blog, they
did so without asking the photographer for permission, and he responded by swapping
the image with a pornographic one.
Hotlinking to an image in
ex-Microsoft staffer Niall Kennedy's Flickr stream proved embarrassing to the
people behind Microsoft's RSS Blog.
Kennedy was apparently angered enough to replace the hotlinked image with another
one, using an adult photo partly blocked with the Creative Commons logo.
Seattle P-I reporter Todd Bishop wrote
that the image had been posted under a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial
use of it with proper attribution.
Kennedy told Bishop why he made the change:
He wasn't pleased that Microsoft used his photo on a commercial site, without attribution. In addition, he said, the use of the photo violated the Flickr terms of service by not linking back to the site.
"Basically they stole one of my photos and put it on their blog," Kennedy said. "I decided to make them very aware of that fact."
Robert Scoble, ex-Microsoft blogger and currently with PodTech, criticized Kennedy's action and compared it to something "that gets everyone 16 and under to laugh.":
...is that really the best way that Niall could have gotten the image taken down?
I don't think so. Unprofessional, especially for someone who used to work at Microsoft.
Remember Niall, maybe someday this Web 2.0 bubble will end and you might need to go back to a company and look for a job. I know that doesn't seem probable right now, but I've been there.
Kennedy worked very briefly with Microsoft in 2005 on Windows Live Alerts, and abruptly left the company after a few months.
He cited lack of resources and other problems for his departure.
Scoble noted in a followup on his post that Kennedy never contacted the RSS team about the problem with using the image.
This serves as a good lesson for site publishers who choose to hotlink to another domain for an image.
Content that is not under one's control can be altered very easily, and leaving one's site open to a potentially embarrassing image swap does not build confidence with visitors.
About
the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews, WebProNews, and InternetFinancialNews.
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