And our dear politicians focus is; social control, which is not even that big of a problem in our society.
I am against social control and haven’t seen it in my circle, but apparently it’s okay for politicians to make up something as long as it is against Muslims …

“What? How is that possible?!”

So me, being me. I can’t be put in one box alone.
I have always had this entrepreneurmindset for as long as I remember. Lucky me, my family has always been supportive.
Just like most of the non-Muslim and Muslim parents out there.

Often when I meet new people, they are surprised by my achievements at a young age.
(I still don’t feel I have done anything special, but let us take that up at another time.)

Hijab vs non

So when I started my first company at the age of 21, it was without hijab, back in 2013.

Trying to do something good for my business and the community I meet with many people.
A lot of them are amazing.
Really.
Everyone from boys from so called “ghettos” to successful entrepreneurs and CEOs.

People were surprised when they found out my age but … not as surprised as when I decided to put on my hijab.

Then …
I noticed a difference in people’s reactions to me being an entrepreneur.

Without hijab: Utterly amazement and recognition.
With hijab: Surprise, amazement and recognition.

Amazing right?
Putting on my hijab made such a difference.

I know, all those people meant it well and they didn’t have any bad intentions, but we have a distorted picture of women with hijab.

So much, that when one of us stands out, it becomes such a surprise, that it is all over their faces and body language.

It shouldn’t be.
Women in hijab are in every field all over the world. Be it in the police, military, medical field, business, entrepreneurs, sports etc.
How come it becomes such a surprise in Denmark, when one of us is excelling at something?

Boxing hijabi

I recently took up boxing and was looking for boxing gloves to try, before buying them. Therefore, I went into a store that sells sportswear.

Keep in mind, I was wearing a maxi dress, my hijab and a leatherjacket. I didn’t want to waste time walking around in the store to look for the gloves myself, so I went straight to the cashier.
I waited for my turn.
I went to him, asking him if they had boxing gloves.
He looked at me as if I was from Mars.
He kindly said no but the surprise was all over his face.

My sister, who was with me and I had a good laugh out of it, as we were driving home.
The friends I told, did too.

But … the question I am left with is: Why is it such a surprise?

Is it because we have such a distorted picture of Muslim women who wears the hijab? Why is that?

Why is it that especially Muslim women have such a bad image of being weak?
Why is it so unsual that I go to boxing?

In my circle. Most of the relationships I see, is where the women are tougher than the men but still the image we have, is opposite.

Why can’t we accept hijabies to be like normal women?
Why is it that, just because we choose to wear a hijab, we suddenly become less than the rest?

A person is a person.
A woman is a woman.
A man is a man.

It shouldn’t matter how we dress.
It just shouldn’t.

/Hafsah

P.S. If you want to follow my boxing, you can check out my Instagram @HafsahbintFarooq

The post WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED EVERY TIME? appeared first on Hafsah Fatimah bint Farooq.

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Especially pictures on the internet, are at great risk.

Most do not have the knowledge about what copyrighting is and others just do not respect other peoples work.

1. Is copyright really a law?

2. Is it really stealing?

Absolutely, it is 100 percent stealing, if you take someones work and use it or publish it, as your own.

For the record it is not stealing, if you get inspired by a particular piece of work. You are allowed to produce your own, using the same idea. – Unless it has a patent. Then you cannot.

It is the expression which is protected and not the idea.

Let us go through a couple of examples to make it perfectly clear.

You may not:

• Find any picture and post it all over your social media accounts.
• Take a beautiful photograph, taken by a normal person and post it as your own on a blog.
• Find the perfect picture and put it on your blog, even with a link to the original source.
• Take any kind of text, which you just copy-paste.
• Use your favorite music piece in a video you make.
• Download a movie and upload it on Youtube.   

You may:

• Find a piece of text you like and use it as inspiration to write your own, then publish it on your website.
• See a picture of a motive and take one just like it, to put it everywhere you like.
• Upload a karaoke song to Youtube, which you have sung.
• Like a movie so much, that you make your own, which is inspired by it.

3. What should I do, if I really want to use the picture?

Ask for permission to use it. – And with that are two possibilities:

1. The owner will say, no. – Meaning you will have to find a new picture, pay someone to take one or take it yourself.
2. The owner will say, yes. – They might just ask for a link and others will ask for a price and add some conditions.
   

4. I have been a victim too

Once I discovered that two of my competitors had stolen pictures and some text from my online shop, X2Nails.

1. One took a picture and used on their Instagram account.
2. And the other one took four product pictures and a text I had written for the products. 

At first I could not believe that a company would steal something from mine. Fortunately, I knew the copyright law. I gathered all the evidence I could and contacted my lawyer. We sent a letter of removal and later an invoice for the violation.

1. The first case was solved fast and they paid as sum we both agreed on.
2. The other case went to court and was ruled in my favor. 

5. What to do if you are a victim?

1. First of all, you need to gather all the evidence you can get against the thief. Take videos of the material and screenshots.
   
2. Back the evidence up in more than one place. For example in any secure cloud service, on an external drive, in an e-mail or another computer. – It it best to have more than one back up.
   
3. Now you need to prove that the work is yours. Find the original picture or what it is, which is dated. If you have had it edited or made by someone, find the invoice, e-mail and more. – Save that by filming it and take screenshots.
   
4. Now seek help from someone professional or someone who has a lot of experience with these types of cases. If you have a case in Denmark you can get professional, cheap and great help from Not Allowed. They will even take your case for 35% of the settlement amount, with the “no cure no pay”-principal. – For your own sake, do not use anyone who has not done copyright cases before.
   
5. Have the lawyer send them an e-mail or letter and ask them to remove your work. Also make a claim for the violation. The amount you can claim is different, depending on the type and amount of work which has been stolen.
   
6. If they do not want to pay, there is always a choice of suing them. It can be difficult if you live in different countries but it is possible. – Although it is best to settle outside of court, since it can be time consuming and expensive.

6. Protect your work

This is important!

Especially since it is such a common crime to steal someones work. The tings you can do to save your work and easily prove that it is yours, are as following:

• Send an e-mail to a secret account, which only you know about, before publishing it.
• Back it up i an online service, which can save webpages with dates.
• Always have it saved somewhere else. For example on an external hardrive or a cloud service.
• Put a logo on your pictures.
• You can make sure your website does not allow anyone to copy the material.

7. What to do, if you have violated someones copyright

Simply, pay the owner.

You have committed a crime and you need to pay for it.

If you do not want to pay, then the owner will probably sue, costing you much more than the original claim. You will also waste a lot of time.

8. How to get amazing pictures without stealing

Since pictures are the most commonly stolen ting on the internet, here are some great ways to get amazing pictures:

1. Take and edit them yourself.
2. Take them and have someone edit them for you.
3. Buy pictures from a stock-site. 
4. Get a photographer to take them.
5. Find royalty free pictures, but it can cost a lot of time, to find the right one. Here is a page, where you can find 73 pages with free pictures.

9. Would you like it if someone stole your work?

Probably not.
So do not steal other peoples work!

– Hafsa

P.S. Sign up for my newsletter about my entrepreneurial journey and let me write to you directly.
Yes, thank you! I would love to follow your journey!

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