Re: previous posts on stolen images

[Jack Cook]

I noted some really pissed of people (Chuck G. for example ) who are tired of getting their photos highjacked. Well count me in has one of them. I like many of you have a webshots account. I only have this so I can share my photos with others having the same interest. I just got a email from webshots saying many images have been downloaded almost 1000 times! Well I mean what the f*ck??!! Having a couple websites and having had to threaten people who were selling my photos on ebay or using them to promote their items I can offer only 2 suggestions. #1 don't post any photos and #2 if you do, use a very low resolution which makes for crappy printing but still good viewing. A few like Steve P. have said that once they post an image they consider it everyones. But maybe not so if they were being sold or used for profit?! I've decided to delete some of my webshot albums all together and remove photos from others. It sucks having to do that but welcome to the real world.

[Archie]

Jack, I have also had images and material stolen from my websites and used by others for their own gain and profit. It seriously annoys me. Most recently several photographs have been published in a book overseas and are credited to someone else totally. I'm not impressed. I have been temped recently to pull my websites totally because of this type of abuse and theft but I don't want to do that as it spoils it for the majority of people who enjoy visiting them.

I'm looking into an alternative to pulling the websites and would be interested to hear what others do to prevent this sort of thing happening to them.

[C170BDan]

Have you thought about marking/copyrighting the photos with your name?

I have noticed some of my pictures now posted on other web sites. At this point those using them have not asked my persmission but it has prompted me to mark (copyright) my photos. It will take me a couple of nights to do it but I am going to mark my name on the photos, in a way that very well may detract from the photo, of what I have posted on my sites.

My goal is to have a permission email and the photos marked by their owner before I use them on my web sites.

I thank Eric D., Mike H., Jim Church, Mr. Larkins and others for allowing me to use your photos on my reference/survivor sites!!

[Mike]

Unfortunately, it happens all the time over on FlyPast. One particular member just LOVES to steal all the Spitfire photos and re-post them without even bothering to credit them.

[Archie]

Every page on my site is marked with copyright and each photograph has the credit beside it but I guess you're right, I may have to go further and actually mark each photograph. What a pain, it will take me more than a few hours though, more like a few weeks!

[RMAllnutt]

Archie... if you have photoshop, you can simply create an "action" to automatically put your name (or whatever else you want) onto each photograph without having to go through each one individually. It isn't hard to do. If you need help, let me know.

Cheers,
Richard

[peter]

Thanks for the tips.. I havent had trouble with the pics I have on webshots but I have had some of my pics used from one of my sites for personal gain...

I Have Adobe Photoshop and if you can PM me regarding the action that you mention that would be great..

[Archie]

Richard, thanks for that. I do have Adobe Photoshop. I'll take a look at it and see if I can figure that out. Currently I'm waiting for my PC to be returned, it had a HD failure less than 3 months after I bought it so I sent it back. I won't be able to do anything about the photos until I get everything loaded back onto it again, probably in about a weeks time.

[DaveM2]

I notice some websites have the 'save picture ' option disabled, no idea if that is hard to set up or not.

Dave

[O.P.]

Having the Save picture option disabled, means little and is easily defeated. The best things to do is, labeling the picture, as described, and using a lower resolution and a smaller picture size.

[Archie]

What gets me with this image/info theft is that generally there is a contact e-mail address on the websites so all someone needs to do if they wish to use one of the images or info is to get in touch and ask. If the image/info in question is mine then I can advise them yes or no and state any conditions (I don't think I've ever refused, or certainly not without good reason) or I contact who ever has permitted me to use the image/info and seek their permission for its use by someone else.

It's not rocket science. The people who steal such material are ignorants and most of them know exactly what they are doing and that it is wrong. I hope the same happens to them sometime so they know how tough it is to have your hard work and efforts stolen.

[AIRIC]

That is why I post all my images 4x6 and 80dpi. Most photos I see posted on webshots are full res with not even a copyright stamped on them. I'm amazed at the size some people post images at. This also makes for faster page loading on my website. If you post on the web you have to expect people to copy and download and even try to make money off your images. Print your name on them and use very low res files.

Eric

[Chuck Gardner]

Suing is not feasible for me or worth it either. It is just a slap in the face as a photographer who makes a huge effort to get good photos to have them stolen.
I also post some pictures on webshots. I want to make some of my work available and I do like sharing. I see that many people have downloaded my pictures in that public forum. I have no problem with that and have downloaded other people’s pictures for myself. Yeah, my own personal use. That is what its there for, not to profit off of. From now on I will put my name all over the pictures I post.
I obviously work for the new warbird magazine, so submitting pictures to Warbirds International would be a conflict of interest. I did send the picture that was used in the magazine out to a few close friends insisting on that they not forward it to anyone. I guess that I have learned my lesson the hard way. I don’t need this aggravation.

[Robbo]

I agree that it's pretty galling to see your work used without credit, but it's also a back-handed compliment that someone thought it was good enough to pinch. I generally only post at 700 or 750 pixels wide so the images won't print that well and they're usually marked with my name and the web address of the Collection where I'm a volunteer.

I haven't refused anyone who's asked for permission to use any of my photos, but when I find that people have linked to photos on my webspace it takes the biscuit. They're using my bandwidth without my permission and without the courtesy of asking me. On the occasions where I've noticed this happening I usually replace the file with a blank background and the words "Why not try asking before stealing?". I've got into some ping-pong conversations with people who've done this and they all tend to regard anything posted on the web as public property. Whilst I appreciate that there's little I can do about this, there's still room for courtesy.

These people rarely have the talent to create any content of their own.

Rob

[Scott Rose]

I once had this entire site stolen, sort of. Some numbnuts copied the front page of the Luftwaffe Resource Center, renamed it and changed some text and installed it on his site. Linking all subfiles and images directly from my site. I was made away of it by a visitor and e-mailed the thief and he dropped the site immediately.

BTW, I try to give credit where it is due, if you ever see one of your pictures miscredited or lacking a credit then let me know immediately.