wildrhov:

More than one
person has messaged me asking why people are so obsessed with the Instagram user known
as lucy.dragneel1. Yes, she reposted art without permission, but so
do many people. I’ve had some say it’s too much focus on one
person, or making a martyr out of her. A few people have
messaged me with worries that artists will be satisfied with a
“victory” over lucy.dragneel1 and ignore the rest of the epidemic
of art theft.

Rest assured, it’s
not just one person. I’m reporting about
Lucy because she did more than steal art. She also bullied artists and
their supporters and gave multiple death threats to an artist, which
is why she’s being taken to court. Art theft is illegal and an artist
could spend the money on a lawyer to take a reposter to court if they
so wished (a group here on Tumblr did) but death threats are a whole
other ballpark. The FBI considers all direct and explicit threats of
violence and murder “acts of terror,” and they don’t care
if you were joking. (Word of caution: the FBI has no sense of humor.)
Plus one of her followers offered to kill an artist suing Lucy yet immediately retracted the offer, and another sent an explosive to the lawyer involved in
her lawsuit. (As I said, “acts of terror.”)

Plenty of people have
pointed out that she is not the biggest or most popular reposter out
there, and they are absolutely right. She’s merely one of the most
vocal and violent. You could say her case is simply more interesting
from a reporting viewpoint because of all the drama surrounding it,
whereas dozens more go by every day with a report filed, an account
deleted, a theft sobbing, and no one really cares.

This case with Lucy
caught my attention due to the antagonism involved. That does not
mean many more don’t happen every day. A certain fighter in this
battle against art theft gave me only a sample of the accounts that
have recently been deleted due to illegal reposting.

I have permission to
share these screenshots.

Warning:
graphic-heavy and a PMS’ing Rhov with a snappish wry humor!

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Art theft makes me sick to my stomach. You know how many times I’ve seen other people’s artwork on here directly from we heart it and the poster doesn’t bother to give credit? I seriously wish Weheartit would learn a thing or two from reading this! Put an end to art theft and reblog this!!!!!