Our Disappearing Charter of Rights... and a little credit.

Here's an odd situation.

Back in February I posted on Twitter one of my Photoshop creations encapsulating the erosion of Charter rights under various legislation brought forward or attempted by the Harper government. I simply started crossing off the sections under attack.

Contrary to my usual practice, I didn't add my Twitter handle (@stephenlautens) to the bottom. For some reason I felt it vaguely disrespectful of the Charter (although not as disrespectful as what the Conservatives have been doing).

It struck a nerve, as it's been retweeted about 1,200 times (thanks Twitter followers) and had more than 104,000 impressions.

I even saw it reprinted and carried as a sign by someone at the anti Bill C-51 protests.

So imagine my surprise when someone "improved it" by adding a title to it, which is fine, but then posted it as a royalty free image on Creative Commons with them as the author. I only found out about it by accident when it appeared in Press Progress and I asked where they got it. They said it came from this Flickr account:

(By the way - I have no idea why when I look at Flickr it is all in German...).

Anyway, I've never minded my political Photoshop work being shared - it's all for a good cause. I do get a little annoyed when someone else takes credit for it and then shares it with the world as their own (with minor modifications). I'm trying to get it properly attributed and pulled back from Creative Commons, but once something is out on the Interwebs it's like trying to get the aerosol cheez back in the can.

Finally, I've updated my image to reflect recent assaults on the Charter. Feel free to share this one - preferably with attribution.