BEWARE: SkillCountry.com

[neiramarina.livejournal.com]

I hesitated to post this at first, relunctant to give these people any kind of traffic and/or attention, negative or otherwise. But I think other artists should know of what they are doing. I am also not sure if it will be fitting for this comm, but I could not think of a better place to warn fellow artists about this website.

TO SUMMARIZE: SkillCountry.com will send you an email to inform you that they created a profile in your name on their website without asking your permission. To do this they will lift artwork and text from your own website or portfolio, and effectively make said profile look as though YOU created it and wrote it. They will send you a password, as well (gee, thanks?) I personally did not log in to the account.

There is an email to which you can write to request deletion of the profile (support@skillcountry.com.) I did so, but I am so angry and indignant about their boldness in using my images, name and text so blatantly for their company's benefit, that I wanted everyone to know so they can avoid them. I feel as though I've been impersonated on their site. Really cannot imagine how these people think these are good business practices.



Today I found the following email on my inbox (my email address is displayed on my portfolio so my clients can contact me so there is no point in me blocking it out, but I did block out the password):



As stated above I did email them requesting that my information be removed within 24 hours, before I am forced to take whatever legal measures they make necessary. On that idea, I am pretty sure what these people are doing has to be illegal? Since they are reposting my artwork without permission.

Here is a screencap of the profile in question, still live here at the time of this post. All images can be clicked to their full size in the live profile. (UPDATE: IT HAS SINCE BEEN REMOVED)



Just something to keep in mind, if you are thinking of making a profile on this site, do consider that they have no qualms about using your stuff and name for their purposes of filling their site with artist profiles. Avoid them.

UPDATE: THEY REMOVED MY UNAUTHORIZED PROFILE. It was fairly prompt (same day I emailed my request) though I am still pretty peeved they would do this in the first place. This was their reply:

Thank you for contacting SkillCountry Support Team and we regret the inconvenience caused to you. Now we have removed your profile from our website. In case if you have any further clarification please feel free to contact us and we will be glad to assist you. Best regards,
Team SkillCountry

Comments

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Yikes, the nerve of some people :/
I wouldn't even bother asking them to delete the stuff and just DMCA their host.

[neiramarina.livejournal.com]

I know! Thankfully it's been removed. I was going through their posting policy, though: http://us.skillcountry.com/home/Posting_Policy

It says any material you post to their site "Shall not infringe any intellectual property, trade secret, or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy of any third party."

"Do as I say, not as I do" much? Sigh. They actually posted commissions of mine featuring characters belong to my clients --effectively their intellectual property at least partly, even if I own the copyright to those particular illustrations. The irony!

[mpd-84.livejournal.com]

You ran antivirus stuff after looking at the email and site right? Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems off somehow.

[neiramarina.livejournal.com]

Nah, to be honest I really don't get a phishing/virus vibe from these people despite initial appearances. They have a decent online presence (FB group, FB page, Twitter account, their own site in several languages, and apparently a real person wrote me back pretty quick when I asked my stuff be taken down.) I think it's just a horribly misguided company. The general idea of their site, while it doesn't interest me, is not bad or unusual in nature, but they are going about a very strange and poorly thought out manner to get people interested in them.

They never did try to get private info from me; just used what already available online. I may be wrong but never did get the feeling of "um, I may have gotten a keylogger/virus from here."

[neiramarina.livejournal.com]

Dear mods, this was actually "resolved" (so to speak) on the day I submitted this entry. They wrote me back and removed my profile from their site. Still, I'm glad if there is a record of them here for other artists to see. Thank you so much for approving my post.

Mod Post

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

Hey there!
Feel free to add a note to the bottom of the post if you'd like! I did get your message, but we cannot edit the body of posts, just the tags.

I will mark it resolved for you, however!

Re: Mod Post

[neiramarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wasn't sure if I was allowed. I've gone ahead and done that. Thank you all for all your hard work.

Re: Mod Post

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

We don't mind users editing to add a note at the bottom of their posts. The only issues spring up when a user deletes out the body of their post or removes information (8

Tiny mod note.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Please feel free to edit that INTO your post.

EDIT: Oh! I see you did. Great!

[mpd-84.livejournal.com]

Wow... Not everyone they email will get that email. And the email itself comes off as some sort of phishing/keylogger attempt.
I don't see this site lasting very long.

[maxi.livejournal.com]

That email they sent you sounds so dang..pompous? Like putting your information and art on their website without your permission and then having the nerve to add "We want to thank you for being on this unique website"??

Thanks for the head's up - this is very skeevy indeed.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

If they did that to me, I would be very tempted to post exactly the kind of stuff I tend to get commissioned (extremely adult) as samples of my work, and see how long they took to remove it and ban my account. o uo

Good to see they at least took action in removing the profile quickly.