Women’s issues blog Jezebel drew attention yesterday to a spate of crafts on Etsy themed around the Casey Anthony trial and even some memorializing her daughter Caylee.

The impetuses behind such projects likely vary- many people are probably out to make a quick buck off the trial’s notoriety, while others may wish to create memorabilia to honor the dead child. Some of the crafts listed in the Jez piece were of highly questionable taste and some were of marginally questionable taste- all would definitely offend at least some people.

MSNBC has pointed out that one of the notable pieees, a diorama of the now-concluded trial, has been pulled from Etsy. But not only is the piece missing, there is also no trace of the user who had offered the item for sale. The news site highlights a portion of the Etsy Terms of Service that may affect Casey Anthony memorabilia:

We reserve the right to remove listings that we determine are not within the spirit of Etsy. Such listings will be removed from the site, and the member’s selling privileges may be suspended and/or terminated.

Many Casey Anthony and Caylee Anthony items remain on Etsy for the time being- should they be pulled from Etsy, too, or should people be able to remember Caylee through craft sales?

Etsy: Are They Yanking Casey Anthony-Related Crafts? is a post from: The Inquisitr

The saga of the hardworking Etsy artist and the idea-stealing moguls at Urban Outfitters has gone infinitely more viral, thanks to former Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus- who pilloried the mall store on her Twitter.

It must be a bit of a blow to the chain to be caught red-handed so prolifically stealing from indie artists, as part of their brand identity is appearing less mass-produced and… well, indie. The tale is another example of how not to conduct business in the era of sharing and social media. In the past, a seller whose work was appropriated in such a way had far fewer ways to fight such an injustice. Maybe she could have written to her local paper, but it’s unlikely she’d have connected with the right people to be properly outraged at the practice.

But the nature of the internet and how sites like these are operated meant the exact people who would up and protest Urban Outfitters for the admittedly sleazy practice were able to access and exponentially share the story through the correct channels. Which got it in front of Miley’s eyes within a single day.

Has your perception of the “edgy” Urban Outfitters image changed since learning about the Etsy fiasco? And does this mean my Anthropologie sweater wasn’t hand-knitted by milkmaids in a roughly-hewn cabin in Germany with strands of elderflower stems?

Urban Outfitters vs. Etsy Artist Battle Heats Up, Miley Cyrus on Team Handmade is a post from: The Inquisitr

Urban Outfitters has a knack for bringing cutting-edge, city-style designs to middle America folk via their mall locations across the country.

However, the chain also has a bit of a rep for sticky fingers when it comes to mass-producing unauthorized versions of indie designers’ exclusive pieces. Etsy shop owner truche says she’s the latest victim of the chain’s idea-lifting habit, and describes the heart-sinking feeling she had when she saw her unique design for sale on Urban Outfitters’ site, complete with copy very similar to her own. Truche links to a Village Voice piece detailing the chain’s thievery, and says:

My heart sank a little bit.  The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job.  They even stole the item name as well as some of my copy.

I’m very disappointed in Urban Outfitters. I know they have stolen designs from plenty of other artists. I understand that they are a business, but it’s not cool to completely rip off an independent designer’s work.

The link to Urban Outfitters’ thievery is currently borked, but screenshots and detailed accounts of the blatant rip-off proliferate across the internet. Truche says she will no longer patronize UO, nor will she shop at the chain’s sister stores, Anthropologie and Free People.

Do incidents like this make you less likely to patronize big retailers? Does piracy irritate you more when it’s perpetrated upon indie sellers and Etsy users? Here’s a pic of one of truche’s original designs, to compare with the one above:

Urban Outfitters Caught Ripping Off Indie Artisans Again is a post from: The Inquisitr

The internet’s craft fair, Etsy, is taking a bit of flack right now for trying to make the site more social, and in doing so, revealing a bit more about Etsy users than users may be aware of, to the internet at large.

Last week, Etsy quietly rolled out a feature allowing people to search users, sellers and buyers alike- revealing information on items they’d sold, purchased or favorited. This feature was discussed in a not-very-visible forum thread, but not formally announced to users. The issue is underscored to great effect in a quote over at Ars Technica’s piece on the controversy. Quel horror, for internet sex toy shoppers everywhere:

“I just found a woman who’s Etsy profile comes up on Google as the 5th link. I was expecting 6 or 7 pages down, but it’s on the very first page, right after her online resumes,” wrote one concerned user on the Penny Arcade forums. “She signed up a year ago, under the old privacy policy, and hasn’t logged in since 2010. And now I know what dildo she uses. Right down to the curvature and coloring.”

Followed up by:

“Found an XXL glass dildo with veins and swirled gold coloring (beautiful piece really) and checked to see if anyone favorited it. Someone did. She also favorited some cosplay cat eat hats [sic] and a bell collar/necklace thing. Then I found her on Facebook.”

I must submit here that buying handmade sex toys (or “hillbilly bajingo wash“) is kind of a bit unnerving, but still, nobody’s business. If you’ve got a questionable Etsy history or merely want to conceal your love of etched Dolly Parton leather cuffs, you can opt out in your Etsy privacy settings. (That is, if you’re one of the few Etsy users who knows about the change.)

Have you checked your Etsy privacy settings?

[Ars Technica]

Etsy reveals your dildo preferences to the world is a post from: The Inquisitr

These super rad handmade felt cases depicting retro consoles are the heroic work of Etsy store owner rabbitrampage, and will protect your iPhone or iPod Touch from scratches. Also, they are about to be bought by you for me as a belated Valentine’s gift. What I’m saying is: I only got a card from grandma again. :0(

The Famicom (Japanese NES) version above is probably more effective at deterring dust than the real thing priced at $28, although younger, more supple gamers may prefer this impressively detailed Xbox 360, or the rather hip PlayStation at the bottom. I love the funky little controller keychains these come with!

Head to rabbitrampage’s Etsy shop for more.

[Etsy, via technabob]

Cute: Wrap your iPhone in a tiny Nintendo is a post from: The Inquisitr

Perhaps you’ve fallen in love with one of these rare gems of a girl, and you want to express how much you adork her through the medium of shiny things. Etsy is a virtual (really) treasure trove of well made, reasonably priced items to show your geeky love interest that you less than three her. Pi day is rapidly approaching, and you don’t want to be the dude who forgets to mark it. Etsy is a fantastic place for gift-shopping for any person or occasion, but shopping for geeks yields a particularly large number of awesome options. (Note: most of the items on the list would work for a boy, too.)

Clothing & Accessories

Is your girl such a hipster, her phone needs a hoodie too? This reasonably priced iPhone case is thoughtful, cheap and unfrickinbelievably adorable.

$13.99

Or maybe she’s the kind of internet geek who’s tickled by general goofy things. Like this TV dinner that’s actually totally also an iPhone case. [/sarcasm]

$20

Does her head get cold? Do you care? Then buy her a space invaders hat if you love her so much, you insensitive cad.

$20

Maybe yo’ bitch ain’t even up in any of that stuff. Perhaps she is known to kick it straight gangsta and plays WoW right up in there with the boys. If so, grab her this fancy shirt:

$20

Then again, she could be subtle about who she throws down with, in which case…

$15

For the no-apologies retro gamer, this bag is sleek and fancy enough to be a casual briefcase while keeping it old school with a NES controller.

$48

For her crib

Chicks dig things for their houses. Get her a dustbuster and parts of you won’t get hoovered for at least a week, but everyone in the animal kingdom brings pretty leaves and twigs back to the nest. If she’s a gamer girl with oldschool roots, she might appreciate this:

$45

But maybe she’s just a general internet geek, and that’s cool. That whole Web 2.0 thing is all about puffy things and pop art, so she could dig a GMail pillow:

$19.99

And hey, maybe she’s a straight up drunk, I’m not judging. But if she likes to hit the hooch while she throws down playing DnD, this might be her gift:

$32

Is your girl always staring into the unforgiving eyes of the internet? Flip this baby around, and it’s a sweet and everlasting reminder of your soppy, soppy love:

$15

Girlfriend will never deal with a floppy iPhone again if you buy her this cool, NES controller iPhone dock

$34.99

And who doesn’t love a cross stitch? Remind her daily of her top score and your lurrrrve with this geeky framed needlepoint.

$22

12 unique gifts for a girl geek that aren’t jewelry is a post from: The Inquisitr

Let me start by saying I found all the menses-related humor after the iPad’s admittedly silly name was revealed to be low-brow, crass and obvious.

Menstrual jokes stopped being funny before we hit puberty, and being smacked in the face with tampon visuals brings to mind the time your purse spilled in shop class. Thirteen year old boy humor. Add to the mix that as a female, it’s almost unavoidable that the person making the joke doesn’t know the difference between a tampon and a maxi-pad, and it’s irritating. I think part of the mass disappointment when the iPad was introduced stemmed from the fact that we all knew we’d be in for cycles months of ill-advised Aunt Flo jokes. I was absolutely convinced anything in this vein would be made of fail.

I was wrong. I so want to hate this sanitary napkin themed case but there are many reasons I love it. It’s on Etsy, which is always preferable to mass produced stuff. The pop-art sensibility is carried off well- small details like the weave on the surface are realistic and impressive. The structure seems like it works well too- having neither used nor transported an iPad, it looks like it tucks in snugly and wraps up thoroughly so it won’t come out and get destroyed in your bag… like tampons do. Plus, it’s got wings for added protection, because every girl knows the wingless ones are useless.

At $40, it’s not cheap, but it’s handmade and people gotta eat. Also, it’s not out of line with iThing accessory pricing- generally astronomical even if you pick add-ons up at Wal-Mart. Do I need to tell you it’s better to spend $40 with a person who makes things by hand than at a mass retailer? You can view the seller’s Etsy shop here.

[Thanks, Mashable!]

Brilliant: iPad gets a cover befitting its silly name is a post from: The Inquisitr

Now Union Square Ventures (USV) and Fred Wilson have made some great investments, and I would never suggest otherwise, but reading this piece you’d think they were angels (not in the investor sense, but the godly sense). The problem is, where as Wilson and his team may be savvy investors who help startups along the way, there’s a world of difference between corporate benevolence and smart money making, and USV falls in the latter.

Let me say upfront that my first experience with Fred Wilson wasn’t positive. I was writing a weekly column for a now defunct site, and the topic I picked one week was web analytics. In the post I wrote how comScore was at the time using what other serious publications referred to as “malware” and “spyware” to get installs of their internet accelerator onto PC’s to improve their stats reach. Among what I noted in that post was a proven fact that at one time, comScore’s software was being bundled with Kazaa and being installed without, as other sites claimed (I didn’t make the claim without proof, and I referenced it) permission. I would note that comScore is not using the same tactics today, and as far as I’m concerned this is a matter for the past. However, Wilson came gunning. On his person blog at the time he wrote an attack post that targeted me personally, including (if memory serves me right) calling me a liar. He was however caught out, because originally he didn’t disclose a vital fact, one I wasn’t aware of initially when he wrote that post, that he was on the board of comScore. He subsequently updated the post. What struck me about the man was that he was a hard arse, a man who went for the jugular in defending his financial interests, and certainly no benevolent fluffy bunny that we see in the New York Times today.

That trip down memory lane aside, lets look at some hard facts. The New York Times claims that USV likes to make small investments up front because they’re some how different to the crowd. It’s wrong on two fronts. One: they don’t always make small investments upfront, and second, they buy in small on other companies to set themselves up in a prime position for other rounds (a point I’d note admitted later in the article); they’re buying a strong chance of an in if the company looks like it’s successful by buying influence and presence early.

Lets look at USV’s investments. Of their list, many initial rounds were small amounts for small shares, like Etsy profiled in the Times. And yet there’s Series A investments that included participation or direct investments of $6.5m into Coinvest, $5m into Buglabs, $4m into Wasabe, $10m into Zynga and $5m into the aptly named Indeed.

Consider the corporate benevolence of the Etsy investment featured so heavily in the Times. $1m Series A for less than 5%, then participation in rounds include $3.25m series B, then (and this is the good part) $27m series C. I make no dispersions on Etsy, and it’s a smart startup, but lets be very honest here: USV didn’t make a small investment up front because it wanted to play startup santa claus, they made the investment so they could get a priority in for future rounds if the company was heading in the right direction.

And the cream of the crop is Twitter. USV invested early, and as the Times article points out, they have a hands on approach to their investments. Do I really need to say any more? If they were so hands on, how do you explain this year? Still, maybe Fred saw the halo around Ev and Biz and knew the company was blessed, after all, I would never suggest the man isn’t smart, indeed, he’s probably one of the smartest in the business.

If Fred Wilson came knocking on my door tomorrow bearing gifts of funding (99.9999% chance of not happening), I wouldn’t think twice about bending over to accept it. But lets not confuse one of the smartest guys in the business, and a hard arse fighter to boot, with a saint. While I’d love nothing more than to see more people like Fred Wilson, and more funds like Union Square Ventures, I reserve my right to vote no in the ballot for sainthood.

Nice advertorial for Union Square Ventures in the NY Times is a post from: The Inquisitr