So I, um, er, ripped off a Web site.
Your tale is interesting, since it hilights a very common yet difficult to solve problem -- how does a customer without specialist knowledge tell if their tradespeople are properly skilled?
It's unlikely that the photographers themselves have a good knowledge of computer programming, so they have hired an external party to do the work. From a layperson's standpoint (who knows nothing of javascript, HTML, and computer security) the site looks and feels secure.
This isn't a problem that's restricted to IT. If I hire a tradesperson to install my pumbling, then if water comes out when I turn the taps, I think it's all great. I simply don't have the skills or knowledge to tell if my hot water service will explode because it was installed incorrectly, or that the wrong pipes were used when fitting the shower.
Requiring qualifications can certainly be of help here, but there are still plenty of poorly skilled people who still possess all the required qualifications. Most of them aren't knowingly doing anything wrong -- usually they just don't know anything better.
Given that a customer may not have the skills to critically evaluate a programmer or tradesperson, the only good remaining solutions that I've seen are to seek recommendations from friends, colleagues, or other professionals. Unfortunately if you don't have the right contacts, then hiring the right person can come down to luck. You may not find out that you made a mistake until someone downloads your entire picture gallery, or your shower explodes when guests are visiting.
