Liza Sabater over at Culture Kitchen complains about AOL and Getty Images sending Cease & Desist orders to hosting companies, ordering them to take down copyrighted images.

In this case, the copyrighted image was of the Brangelina baby. Liza published the photo, apparently belonging to AOL. AOL sent a C&D to her hosting company, Simpli.biz. The hosting company forced Liza to remove the photo. Liza is now furious.

What Liza did is not a copyright violation, it's fair use. That is, she used the photo as reference for a larger work. She didn't use the photo to illustrate her work, as most bloggers do. But rather, she used it to help explain the point she was writing about.

But where Liza is going wrong, is that she's barking up the wrong tree.

She's complaining that AOL is using its corporate might to force little guys to do whatever they want, whether or not the C&D order has any legal ground. First, this is not unfair. It's life. If a 2,000 pound grizzly bear with sharp teeth told you to vacate your camping spot, but leave your food behind, you still have every right to resist. But you wouldn't, right? That's not unfair, it's just life.

What can Liza do?

Well, if you knew that 2,000 pound grizzly bears frequently roamed the campgrounds, and you chose to camp there anyways, whose fault is it if such a bear wandered into your camp?

The answer is that you gotta either prepare for companies like AOL, either by arming yourself with a defense, such as an attorney, creating documentation, or, you accept the environment that you chose to work in, and take the knocks when they come.

It turns out that when campers see a 2,000 pound grizzly bear walking towards their camp, most of them jump into their cars and drive away. They don't complain, they knew those bears were there.

Liza instead wants liberals and progressives to invest their money into big media companies like AOL, so that they can take them over and change the dynamics of the industry. Well Liza, I'm glad to hear you're planning to become an AOL stockholder. When you get your grassroots investment campaign going, let me know so that I can dump my AOL stock.