Shirley Hornstein: An Honest Apology
For as long as I can remember, I have been lying. From the simple white lies, to the “if-I-say-this-I’ll-get-what-I-want” lies, and the this-could-have-serious-consequences lies, I’ve told them (probably even to you). In fact, I have spent the last 26 years (or, my entire life) lying to, deceiving…
Last year TechCrunch exposed Shirley Hornstein for being a pathological liar who tricked and deceived dozens upon dozens of people in Silicon Valley into thinking that she was a well-connected tech ninja, even going so far as to Photoshop herself into photos with celebrities. Last week, Shirley posted her public apology on her Tumblr, detailing how her rampant insecurities fueled her chronic lying problem and how it all spun out of control so that she was creating new lies to maintain the appearance of old ones (see above).
Hey Jodie, sound familiar? Because reading her apology just reminded me of how you stole my Facebook status about getting mugged and posted it to your own Facebook just for the glory.
Surprise! I haven’t forgotten about you.
Dear Jodie Koo,
Fun Fact: My sister’s a lawyer. No seriously, she’s a registered lawyer in the state of California and I’d invite you to look her up on the California Bar Association, but honestly, you’re a stalker and it’s weird and I’d rather you not stalk the rest of my family in addition to the stalking that you already do to me.
I learned some interesting things about Copyright Law in the United States today.
Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture (source). “Literary works” include nonfiction prose and poetry (source), or in other words, shit that I write on my blog.
I thought I had to register my entire blog in order to have legal grounds to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against you, but because the US signed the Berne Convention in 1989, the use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law (source), and according to the United States Copyright Office, all of my work “is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device” (source), so basically, immediately. Which means you’ve already infringed upon my rights as author and sole owner of my copyrighted work.
But fine, you know, maybe you didn’t realize that my blog was copyright protected. Which is why I’ve added a copyright notice to the description in my blog:
As well as a Creative Commons license that enumerates exactly what rights you have in terms of sharing content from my blog, in the event that you continue to disregard the “ALL Rights Reserved” portion of my copyright notice.
Here, I’ll even lay out the terms of my Creative Commons license all nice and easy for you:
So basically, you’re allowed to share my writing (ugh, I guess) if and ONLY if you:
- Attribute the work to me, or in layman’s terms (not sure how smart you are since you clearly exhibit poor decision making on the reg), give credit to me on your blog.
- Stop altering/transforming/building upon/butchering my writing.
More from the US Copyright Office: “Furthermore, in the event that a work is infringed, if a proper notice of copyright appears on the published copy or copies to which a defendant in a copyright infringement suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant’s interposition of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages” (source). In other words, now that I have given you proper notice of copyright all over my blog, if you continue to steal my writing and I catch you, you’ll have no defense in court to claim that you “didn’t know” my blogs were copyrighted material.
Jodie. I’m fucking serious. I will literally sue your ass if you continue to copy and paste my writing on your blog without giving me proper credit. You’re a pain in my ass, and I will do whatever it takes to stop you from continuing to plagiarize my personal writing. You’re like a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and gets mad at me whenever I swat at it, yet continues to fucking buzz around my goddamn head. I don’t know how much more clear I can be about this - Stop. Stealing. My Fucking. Writing.
I mean shit dude, this wouldn’t even be a problem if you just credited me on your posts where you’re clearly appropriating my writing. It’s really that simple, just stop being a crazy person and give credit where credit’s due.
thought receptacle: when you are
In a committed relationship, it’s easy to lose yourself in it; it’s easy to let it define you. It happens all the time with couples, doesn’t it? Two people begin dating. Before you know it, “he” and “she” become a merged “they”, “we”, “us”, converging into one single entity. A collective identity.
My entire life, I’ve valued my independence. Individuality. Self-sufficiency. Self. Me. My identity has never been derived from my relationships with other people. Naturally, this applies to all different kinds of relationships — friendships as well — but specifically, I have encountered so many weak women whose happiness and very breath of life are so wholly dependent on, and defined by, their men. I do not let myself rely on others in that way. Of course, this does not mean I am incapable of feeling. When I love, it is obvious. I love so obviously. My relationship means everything to me, but I am proud of my ability to exist outside it. I guard it. I can (and need to) function independently outside of “us”.
The reality of being in a long-term long-distance relationship, however, means that I’ve had to live with this loneliness that haunts me for days and weeks at a time. Despite my efforts to secure my independence, this emptiness — this lack of a human physical connection — carves out an aching space that I am still learning how to cope with.
Jesus, Jodie, you suck. This entry is basically a combination of this one that I wrote back in February and this one that I wrote in April. You may not have stolen the entries word for word this time, but did you really think I wouldn’t notice you taking apart my writing and piecing it back together?
I’m not going to ask you to take it down, because I get that you’re also in a long-distance relationship and, like, have your own feelings and shit that you added on top of the ones I’ve already expressed in words. So whatever. I just hope you know that I’m never going to stop checking your blog and that I continue to think it’s weird that you’re just, you know, stalking me and saving my writing in some folder on your computer so that you can repost it months later, all the while crossing your fingers and hoping that I won’t notice.
thought receptacle: a word of warning
If you want to shit on me — fine, whatever, I can take it. But when you decide to involve the people and things I care about, that is crossing the line. You went waaay too far, you had no right. The way you lashed out was completely inappropriate and unnecessary considering the situation. See, I am writing this out of anger. That’s the thing, though — I am writing this out of anger. I am not acting out of anger. I try to think before I act. Which you clearly do not do. I guess you thought you were inflicting maximum damage on me but NEWS FLASH: I AM FINE, I HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER, and really all you succeeded in doing is piss. me. off. Do not piss me off. Do not fuck with what I love. I really don’t think you know who I am. You do not understand what you are dealing with, you really have no idea. Which is cute. But sweetie I recommend that you do some more research before making your next move (because clearly you are not as intelligent or media-savvy as your credentials would suggest). I have everything. You have nothing. I am untouched. You cannot touch me.
I lol’d. You realize you pretended to get mugged, right? That’s weird.
stayspiffy-deactivated20130413 asked: Lol, you don't know me, but your post about that Jodie girl is hilarious in my opinion. You're a great writer and kudos to you for being such a badass.
Haha, why thank you. :)
PS.
Oh, and hey Jodie - I know there’s a chance you’re reading this because you clearly still stalk me - you may have deleted or made private the FB status/life experience that you stole from me, but I went ahead and messaged your boyfriend anyway. Because you’re crazy and he deserves to know. Don’t know if he’ll ever mention it to you, but in case you were wondering, here’s what I sent him:
Hi. You don’t know me, but your girlfriend, Jodie Koo, has been stealing my writing for the last couple of years and I actually just wanted to ask you a serious question.
On April 17 Jodie wrote a FB status about getting mugged (https://www.facebook.com/jodiejodiejodiejodie/posts/10150823036563109) and I wanted to know if she actually talked to you about it? Because that FB status is actually something that I wrote back on March 22 (http://kristine-dg.tumblr.com/post/19771086223/yep-this-happened-today-will-probably-write-a), when I was mugged outside of my office in San Francisco.
It was a really emotionally traumatic event that gave me sleepless nights and took me weeks to fully recover from (which you can even read more about here, so you know that it did actually happen to me and not Jodie: http://kristine-dg.tumblr.com/post/19788913792/fight-or-flight), and I just found it really disturbing that Jodie would re-post something that was so deeply personal in my life and pretend that it happened to her.
Stealing my writing is one thing, Jodie isn’t the first person to steal my writing and probably won’t be the last, but I find it really disconcerting that it seems like she’s not only stealing my writing, but also my life experiences and acting as if they’re her own. It just makes me question who else she steals from and what else she steals from them.
Anyways, not necessarily trying to start shit, just thought you should know.
I’m in the process of narrowing down who I should contact at the Office of International Affairs, Middle East & North Africa at the US Department of the Treasury (yeah, you’re not the only person who can stalk) to notify them of your questionable conduct over the last few years and whether you’re the type of person who should have an internship within the US Government. Have a nice fucking life.
Are you fucking kidding me?! This bitch fucking STOLE MY FACEBOOK STATUS ABOUT GETTING MUGGED. A fucking emotionally traumatic experience that gave me sleepless nights and took me weeks to get over, and she just went ahead and posted it on her Facebook so she could glean the praise? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HER.
I just sent this in a message to her but I’m going to post it here too just to see if it’ll shame her.
To Jodie Koo:
Honestly though, if you like my writing or ANYONE’S writing for that matter (since I’m sure I’m not the only person whose words you’ve appropriated as your own on your blog), fucking REBLOG. GIVE CREDIT. Don’t pretend that our words are your insights or your feelings, because they’re not. They’re OURS, and you can like them, you can appreciate them, but you can’t fucking parade them around as if they’re yours.
on the weight of your absence
Being lonely is like a sickness. It spreads, it contaminates. I can feel it crawling under my skin and dragging itself across my body. I feel so small. There is no substitute for you.
It would be so much easier if you were here to fill the space you used to inhabit.
THIS IS MY WRITING. MINE. TAKE IT DOWN, STOP STEALING MY WRITING, AND WRITE YOUR OWN GODDAMN WORDS, YOU CRAZY ASS BITCH.
For reference, I caught this crazy fucking girl stealing my writing, like, 2 or 3 years ago, off a totally different blog. By chance I just remembered about her today and decided to visit her blog to make sure she wasn’t still stealing my writing, BUT OH LOOK. SHE IS.
Jesus, get a fucking life. Your own life. In your own words. And stop stealing mine. Oh, and stop fucking stalking me too while you’re at it.
