I was notified about a complaint today, that the Solinger Tageblatt received because of my portfolio website cornelia-kaufmann.jimdo.com.

Mr. G. had been to the Tageblatt office on Friday to complain, and from what I've heard, he was not very well-spoken and not the quietest either. I had written an article for the Tageblatt, which was published on 9th October 2008, in which he and his wife get a mention. After all, it was them who alerted us to the problem and basically commissioned the article.

I had used that article as part of my portfolio website, on which I collected all my articles until early 2009. Their complaint was now, that although you can also find the article on the Solinger Tageblatt Homepage, it shouldn't have been on my site. "It's not right to find my name mentioned on the internet", Mrs. G. told me on the phone. They said they hadn't given permission to me to use it - thing is though, technically, they had. They had given permission to the Tageblatt, which I write for.

However: First of all, I stated on my site, where the article originated, that I had written it and why I used it on my site (as part of my portfolio). Also, my website has a link to the Tageblatt homepage. So it was properly referenced.

But here's the thing: If somebody wants to republish or use a Tageblatt article in any shape or form, not the persons in the article have to give permission - just the author of the article. And in this case, the author is me! So if I decide to publish my article on my website I am in my right to do so!

Besides, you could only find my site if you knew the address, and you could only find that specific article on the site if Mr. G. went on an ego trip and googled himself. Which I assume he did, how else would he have found it?

I reluctantly deleted the article from my website, but I just got word from the Tageblatt's secretary that he was back in the office Tuesday (19th January) to complain some more, even though I had called them and deleted the article.

Welcome to the internet age, is all I can really say to that. Oh yeah, and: "Mr. and Mrs. G., get a life!"

What do you think? Leave a comment on the blog to let me know!

Finally some good news!

I've just got a letter from the University of Cumbria, informing me, that I am going to receive a small bursary in form of their Cumbria Bursary for EU students!

This is the first response I've had from the university, since I wrote a letter of complaint to their Finance Department last month, after they tried to take out my tuition fee without warning or approval.

I discovered in October (embarrassingly when I wanted to pay for Sunday Lunch), that all my money was gone, although I had just paid money into my account. It turned out, that after two years of me paying my tuition fees myself, the UoC had decided to take two payments (a total of more than GBP 1,070) out in one go, without sending me a letter informing me of payments amounts and dates. I therefore decided to cancel the direct debit, and informed the university, that I am still in the process of applying for my student loan (which I still haven't heard from - all I know is they're assessing it) and I will therefore not make payments, until I have heard back from Student Finance.

Up until today, I still haven't received a letter about tuition fee payments, or an official response to my complaint. But I will count awarding me this bursary towards it - after all, why else would they all of a sudden send money my way?