A member here, youknowit, let me know she had seen my before and some after pics of me in some youtube videos. Shontel had let me know a couple months ago that she had seen my pics in a youtube video as well, but didn't do anything about it. Now, I find this kind of creepy.

Least to say, I did not authorize the usage of my photos. I contacted the poster, and advised them that they were violating the TOS of youtube. I'm assuming they snagged my photos from this forum because my OH is completely private. So, I went in and made my photo album here available to only my friends.

I gave the poster 24 hours to reply. If I do not hear from them, I will report the privacy violation to Youtube.

If your album is public and you would like it to be somewhat private, go to your User CP, hit Privacy Options, and then make it available only to your friends. You can also make it only viewable by you.

I'm not completely upset by having my pictures out there. It's the principle that the poster did not ask for permission to use them.

I realize the internet is not private. I realize once it's out there, it's out there. That is NOT my concern so I don't need a lecture on posting pics on the internet. My point is that the pics were snagged, and used without any consideration or authorization. Even a common courtesy to say "hey I'm making some videos on youtube and would like to use your pics." would have been appreciated.

Also, the poster has a weight loss forum/community (not just for WLS patients) that he/she is trying to get people to join.

So, least to say, we'll see what happens.

Yeah... I have learned some hard lessons too. I had someone "friend" me on Flickr, and when I looked at theirs it looked like they were collecting photos of heavy women, both clothed and nude! I have NO nude photos just for the record LOL just typical photos of hanging out with my friends and family, but apparently the guy got off on that. That was super creepy. I've also been weight-loss blogging on and off for like 9 years now and I've had people recognize me in person which is creepy too.

It's so hard to balance because if I make everything in my "online life" private, it makes it so much harder for people to be a part of it, especially family members who aren't that internet savvy. Hard enough for them to get to the link... if they have to have their own account, sign in, have a password, etc to see private stuff it just doesn't help. Plus then if my photos were private I couldn't really blog them. For me, I had to just accept that if I want to live my life the way I want to live it, then I will have these things happen from time to time. So that's where I'm at for now I guess.

That being said I totally agree you should have been asked before your photos were used. I think people forget with weight loss before & afters that this is a real person with a real life and feelings. They just see a photo they like and they are only thinking about the fact that it shows a success. I hope you hear back from the person!

I just read the rest of the thread... the way she responded was really rude! I was designing digital products once and someone made a product using my stuff and gave it away for free without asking me. She didn't take credit as if it was her own, but still, that's against all the usage terms in that field. I politely told her that and she told me I should take it as a compliment that she liked my stuff enough to make something with it to give away. Reminds me very much of the comment this girl left you. Some people just don't get it! Exactly like you said, it isn't her place.

But its not like you just had your pics out there on the internet, both this and OH are specific forums that should be used as methods of information gathering and support BY THE MEMBERS! I would be pissed to see things I have said here floating around because even though this is a public forum, there is an element that we are a group and we respect one another. So sorry! But don't forget, she wouldn't have bothered if you hadn't done such an amazing job!

Well, she never replied to the Youtube service team, and she's being investigated, the videos are apparently being removed from her channel. I should get an update in a few days.

Several other members on OH that I recognized, and contacted also filed privacy complaints. So, this is a big problem for this person to be trolling weight loss surgery sites to snag pics.

I swear if the uploader would have just asked permission, and not copped a sh*tty attitude with me, I would have never had a problem with it. I'm still going through her videos and reporting more videos that she's got me in.