Further adventures with Google Reverse Image Search uncovering who's stealing my photos for innocent and nefarious purposes. If you like anything you see, have the courtesy to credit your sources or be forever labelled a thieving bastard.
Covers the second half of my first year of travelling in what's sure to be an endless, fruitless exercise in pissing myself off.
Malaysia
By George! (Town) (Thursday, April 7, 2011)
I thought Malaysia would lighten the load, since its tourism industry isn't as hefty as Thailand's. I was wrong. There's more corporate thieving going on here than there was for Krabi, but Penang.ws gets off the hook for having the decency to add a '© Dave' to the corner on their site. That's assuming they are crediting me and the guy who sources their images isn't called Dave, in which case I'd be madder.
The Secret of Monkey Beach (Saturday, April 9, 2011)
I don't have the enthusiasm to introduce these any more. I should go back to taking rubbish photos no one wanted. Or using my words.
Royal pain in the Azlan (Monday, April 11, 2011)
Finally, some respite. Thank Allah I visited the Islamic city of Azlan on a Friday when everything was closed, so I didn't need to do more unpaid photography work for travel agents. The only thing that was interesting enough to escape from this post is a photo I took of what might be a dead crocodile (though it could be a big monitor lizard), which was used as part of a grown-up debate about what would win out of a bear and a crocodile.
Cavedave (Tuesday, April 12, 2011)
I've been aware for a while that my view of Ipoh from Perak Tong features in a load of image galleries and sites about that city. I guess no one else bothered to take a photo of it before.
The Curse of Kellie's Castle (Wednesday, April 13, 2011)
Kellie's Castle is a lesser visited attraction, so again I have the burden of providing the photos no one else could be bothered to go to the trouble of getting. It's creepy, you should go.
Highlander II: Revenge of the Disgusting Bugs (Sunday, April 17, 2011)
Seriously, am I the only person with photos of these places? What about all the Korean tourists with massive cameras around their necks? What happens to those pictures?
Highlander III: The Skunk Hunters of Gliese 581 g (Monday, April 18, 2011)
The mossy forest in the Cameron Highlands was one of my favourite places in Malaysia, but my photos didn't do it justice. Apparently my Orang Asli hut is pretty definitive though.
Malaynutrition (Wednesday, April 20, 2011)
I almost got out of this one intact, but someone used my durian photo to illustrate a disappointingly tame '10 Strangest Fruits' blog. I'm not sure how the rambutan qualifies as the number two most obscure and bizarre fruit in the world. Hey, maybe I'd be more polite if you'd asked to use my image!
Islander (Friday, April 22, 2011)
A fair few people took a liking to my sunset photo. Real or corporate bastard, I don't have the energy to investigate any more.
I did check out this blog, where a Malay girl called Shida mixes my photo in with her own (and presumably those of other people). I did the same thing in my Perhentian Islands blog, except I gave credit where it was due. Do that next time.
T.A.I. Friday (Sunday, April 24, 2011)
I think literally no one goes to Kota Bharu. That's the only explanation for hotels and travel companies using my deliberately dull photos of closed attractions to actually promote these places. The only other tourist I met there was an American guy who got mugged at knife-point as soon as he stepped off the bus. Don't take this as a glowing review.
Malaysia's Got Singers (Monday, April 25, 2011)
There was only one bloody picture in this post, but still it gets half-inched. This time for a very strange website that seems to appropriate my sarcastic, critical review of Kota Bharu's Cultural Centre performances as some sort of glowing endorsement for Malaysia as a whole. Hang on, that means they stole my words too!
Ner ner ner ner, ner ner ner ner, Batu Caves (Wednesday, April 27, 2011)
This is one of my most popular posts, so I expected to find plenty of duplicates floating around. Would it be the breasted-and-uddered Hindu deity or the masturbating monkey that took flight and left these pages?
It turns out it's just the big statues at the entrance. Boring.
Kuala Lumpur? No, she walked into a door (Friday, April 29, 2011)
You dirty, no-good, thieving twats.
Malacca - A study in scarlet (Thursday, May 5, 2011)
Buy a fucking camera already.
Mouldering in Malacca (Sunday, May 8, 2011)
Haven't you got any respect for the dead?
Tea for the Tioman (Sunday, May 15, 2011)
Nothing to get too pissed off about this time. Which is weird, 'cause my Tioman photos are loads nicer than my Malacca ones - why aren't they selling the hell out of this place?
Tioman kangaroo down, sport (Wednesday, May 18, 2011)
Nothing travel-related at all this time, I'm just glad to be doing my bit for a misogynism forum. Have you noticed how women are different from men? Grrr, football! Cars! Mach 3! Um... snooker!
More Malayzin' food (Sunday, May 22, 2011)
A radio station in Mexico is using a photo of me holding Malaysian chocolate bars for some reason. I don't know, the site wasn't working.
Raymond Luxury Yacht (Thursday, May 26, 2011)
My covert photo of (presumably) Chinese tourists taking photos of themselves has been used to illustrate a rant about a lack of Mandarin speaking tour guides in Malaysia. They even kept my cynical caption intact. Thumbs up!
Who's Taman? I'm Taman! (Saturday, June 4, 2011)
The level of theft starts to get more manageable now I'm off the main tourist trail. But is no one going to copy my photo of a spider eating a cricket? That's really good.
I mean, not that I want you to steal or anything. That's what I was just complaining about. Are you seeing someone else? Am I not good enough for you any more?
Literally everything I'm carrying (Tuesday, June 7, 2011)
If I was Philip Olivier I'd be feeling pretty confused right now.
Singapore
We came, we saw, we opened a bank (Monday, July 4, 2011)
Just a couple. Who knew India had no respect for intellectual property rights?
See you in hell (Thursday, July 7, 2011)
A couple of rip-offs by Tour Singapore, who evidently branch out into tours of Hell.
Back in the land of the living (Monday, July 11, 2011)
I'm sure there are plenty of malformed tigers in India, stop nicking mine.
Sentosa? No thanks, she already has a full complement of toes (Wednesday, July 13, 2011)
These Pelauts guys are showing up an awful lot. I like how the Segway picture I took in disgust is now being used to sell them. And do I want to report Clare Madden for stealing my stuff? I'll think about it.
Singapore - The Isle of Wight of Malaysia (Wednesday, July 20, 2011)
The comparison in the title was seemingly enough to convince the official website of the Marina Bay Hotel on the Isle of Wight that my picture of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore was actually a picture of their hotel on the other side of the world. That's how good I am. Some French newspaper helped themselves to a couple too.
A childish day out again again again again again (Friday, July 29, 2011)
First let's get the tigers out of the way. I guess it's theoretically possible that the three tigers were in the same arrangement and positioning both... you get the picture by now. They're dicks.
This post is far more noteworthy for containing a swollen baboon's arse, one of the most popular photos I've ever inflicted on the world. It's easy to see why:
Indonesia
Paradise regain'd (Monday, August 8, 2011)
Good to see the Bali Tourism Board putting in the effort to Google some images. Just stick your camera out of the window!
Bromos before homos (Thursday, August 11, 2011)
I was going to slag off the Korean Medical Library for thinking 'bromos' was a valid medical condition and for thinking my photos of a volcano would be of any relevance, but then they went and credited me. Aww. 감사합니다.
Malang and winding road (Wednesday, August 17, 2011)
Seriously, you're going to bypass Ijen Crater entirely and take images from bloody Malang? This place was even worse than Kota Bharu.
Freezing my Balis off (Friday, August 19, 2011)
Clearly I've ended up back in the mainstream.
Bedugul? No, the gull and I are just good friends (Monday, August 22, 2011)
I thought I'd almost finished the first year's worth of these and could finally get some sleep, but then this proved to be the most popular one yet. More corporate crap and a couple of friendly blogs / news stories.
Twelve monkeys (Thursday, August 25, 2011)
This macaque by gravestone clip art may eventually be used for a variety of hilarious / bereaved purposes, ho ho. But so far, only Brian has realised its potential.
Ubud-der believe it (Monday, August 29, 2011)
Back to this, and the return of some repeat offenders. It looks like I've basically been working for Pelauts.com for two years, they just haven't got round to paying me yet.
Big momma's temple (Thursday, September 1, 2011)
The final rip-offs from Indonesia, the Bali Tourism Board once again demonstrating their professionalism by stealing pictures from an amateur travel blog. Just sort me out with a free visa next time and we'll call it quits, alright?
Singapore again
Singa-poor (Saturday, September 10, 2011)
The first year of pictorial thievery ends on a quiet note as a blogger pilfers my photo of chicken feet to express disgust and slight racism. It's the best we could have hoped for at this point.
Those blogs are also available as an e-book if I haven't already wasted enough of our time. While you're being unscrupulous, why not pretend you wrote that e-book and took all the pictures and distribute it around the internet? You could make literally pounds from my efforts. Or just cut out the middle-men and help yourself to some of my bank funds, my pin number is 6985 but you'll have to catch me first.
(N.B. Not my actual pin number, give me some credit).
