Online Image Theft

[Wolfeye]

Not sure how many of you browse photo.net but there's a new thread today which you might want to take a peek at:

http://photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00W132

Apparently there's been a very large and blatant theft of wedding photography images by some schmuck in California.

[ic-racer]

Well I left my car in the driveway with the door open and the keys in it last week before I went on vacation. Now the car is gone.

Similarly, it may be illegal to re-use those images (I don't know), but if you post you coveted pictures on the internet, its impossible for anyone to see them without downloading them to thier own computer. Where they go from there...who knows

[JBrunner]

Well I left my car in the driveway with the door open and the keys in it last week before I went on vacation. Now the car is gone.

Similarly, it may be illegal to re-use those images (I don't know), but if you post you coveted pictures on the internet, its impossible for anyone to see them without downloading them to thier own computer. Where they go from there...who knows

Not at all. It is clear copyright infringement, and if proven substantially, clearly blatantly both illegal, and a civil tort case as well. Wedding photographers must use the net for advertising, there really isn't any other option, and the analogy to leaving the keys in the car isn't a very good one. It attempts to shift the blame from the criminal perpetrator to the victim. That's B.S. One should be free to advertise with images when one is in the image making business without fear of being censured when one is robbed by a criminal.

[SilverGlow]

There are ways of preventing theft from one's web site of pictures one displays there, although not 100% effective...the site can disable the ability to rip jpgs to the local PC, or water mark the image, or hide the images's addresses, or embed searchable information via GOOGLE, so finding stolen images can be easy...this idea doesn't prevent ripping but can make it relatively easy to find stolen property.

Posting images on Photo dot net is like leaving your car door open and the keys in it....I think the car analogy is not BS...it is very accurate in fact....

The guy that did the theft is a piece of sheet and deserves to be destroyed by the plaintiff's lawyers!

[nick mulder]

wow,

the graphic behind his name at his site looks like a technicolor asshole

[Rudeofus]

Since this is APUG, I for a second assumed someone was burglarized and his prints stolen ...

As far as the methods descibed above are concerned: these prevent only the most blatant and trivial forms of copyright infringement. You can easily remove embedded info by format converting the image, you can not really prevent anyone from getting the image data as long as you display the image in your browser (browser cache anyone?), hidden image links won't save you either (view page source anyone?). Water marks are either so obstrusive that they spoil the image or so harmless that they can be removed with little image processing or just cropping.

For further prove just take a look at the music and film industry: they have tried all kinds of schemes for copy protection, all of them have failed miserably despite the substantial amounts of money wasted on them, despite massive corporate lobbying, and despite the considerable discomfort (including root kits) caused by them to honest buyers of these goods. If for some reason one finds it necessary to publish his/her shots on the WWW, one must basically accept they are free for grabs. Try to enforce your copyright claims across country borders, especially in certain (very large) regions of this world, if you want to see what I mean.

[JBrunner]

There are ways of preventing theft from one's web site of pictures one displays there, although not 100% effective...the site can disable the ability to rip jpgs to the local PC, or water mark the image, or hide the images's addresses, or embed searchable information via GOOGLE, so finding stolen images can be easy...this idea doesn't prevent ripping but can make it relatively easy to find stolen property.

Posting images on Photo dot net is like leaving your car door open and the keys in it....I think the car analogy is not BS...it is very accurate in fact....

The guy that did the theft is a piece of sheet and deserves to be destroyed by the plaintiff's lawyers!

Because a crime is convenient, it doesn't make it less criminal. It is wrong to blame the victim. Files can be and are stolen off of all kinds of websites, regardless of the paper thin schemes used to protect them. The thieves usually aren't stupid enough to use them in public for a commercial purpose.

How bout that girl in the short skirt? She was just beggin for it! Get real.

[Photo Engineer]

Has anyone considered an alternative approach?

He has stolen photos but now is representing them as his own. This is misrepresentation of a fact and can be proven in court. This can then reduce to that one misrepresentation and can spin of into several other legal arguments that can get him in a lot of trouble.

PE

[Worker 11811]

If for some reason one finds it necessary to publish his/her shots on the WWW, one must basically accept they are free for grabs.

"WWW" essentially equates to "Wild Wild West." That's pretty much what the internet is. The Wild West. Almost anybody can do just about anything and there isn't much you can do to stop them.

If it can be displayed on my computer I can copy it. PERIOD.
Regardless of watermarks or copy protection schemes, I can copy virtually anything I want. There are some schemes which will slow me down but I have yet to be stopped. This isn't a boast or a dare. It's just a fact of life on the internet.

If you post something on the internet, you are essentially throwing it to the four winds.

That having been said, there are things you can do.

First, don't post high resolution versions where people can get to them.
If you have a subscription or a membership service, put your high resolution pictures behind a pay wall. Make the membership agreement include language to the effect that the user is not allowed to copy the images except for his own, personal in-home use. If the user plagiarizes your work you now have a hook with which you can haul him into court with. Plus, you can ban him from your site.

Second, learn the practice of Juitsu.
In real lift Jujitsu is a style of martial arts where one forces his opponent to use his own momentum momentum against himself. If somebody tries to throw a punch at you, step aside, grab him by the arm and push him down to the ground. He will fall under his own weight and you simply have to "sit" on him. You can learn to do the same thing on the internet.

Take a look at some internet sites that post pictures of their V.I.P. events. Notice how they are virtually ALL taken in front of some kind of banner with the event's logo on it. How many pictures of stars taken on the red carpet have some kind of sign, poster or logo "casually" located in the background?
That's jujitsu! Any time somebody copies one of those photos, they are unwittingly advertising the original website from which they swiped the picture.

You can do some very subtle things. For instance, every Playboy cover photo since I can always remember has had the Playboy "bunny" logo hidden somewhere in the image. It can also be a trademark style or theme. I once remember a photographer whose trademark was a red umbrella. Almost every image I saw had a red umbrella in the picture. Gosh, it's been so long I don't remember his name but I do remember seeing one of his pictures and thinking, "There's the 'red umbrella' guy!"

Watermarking or Digimarc-ing is probably a good idea if you post a lot of pictures on the net. Yes, they can be removed but it's another obstacle that people have to overcome.

Essentially, there is no stopping anybody from copying from the internet but you can do things to slow them down but the best thing is to make every image lead the viewer back to YOUR website.

That way you can say, "Go ahead and copy my pictures! It's just free advertising for me!"

[JBrunner]

"WWW" essentially equates to "Wild Wild West." That's pretty much what the internet is. The Wild West. Almost anybody can do just about anything and there isn't much you can do to stop them.

If it can be displayed on my computer I can copy it. PERIOD.
Regardless of watermarks or copy protection schemes, I can copy virtually anything I want. There are some schemes which will slow me down but I have yet to be stopped. This isn't a boast or a dare. It's just a fact of life on the internet.

If you post something on the internet, you are essentially throwing it to the four winds.

That having been said, there are things you can do.

First, don't post high resolution versions where people can get to them.
If you have a subscription or a membership service, put your high resolution pictures behind a pay wall. Make the membership agreement include language to the effect that the user is not allowed to copy the images except for his own, personal in-home use. If the user plagiarizes your work you now have a hook with which you can haul him into court with. Plus, you can ban him from your site.

Second, learn the practice of Juitsu.
In real lift Jujitsu is a style of martial arts where one forces his opponent to use his own momentum momentum against himself. If somebody tries to throw a punch at you, step aside, grab him by the arm and push him down to the ground. He will fall under his own weight and you simply have to "sit" on him. You can learn to do the same thing on the internet.

Take a look at some internet sites that post pictures of their V.I.P. events. Notice how they are virtually ALL taken in front of some kind of banner with the event's logo on it. How many pictures of stars taken on the red carpet have some kind of sign, poster or logo "casually" located in the background?
That's jujitsu! Any time somebody copies one of those photos, they are unwittingly advertising the original website from which they swiped the picture.

You can do some very subtle things. For instance, every Playboy cover photo since I can always remember has had the Playboy "bunny" logo hidden somewhere in the image. It can also be a trademark style or theme. I once remember a photographer whose trademark was a red umbrella. Almost every image I saw had a red umbrella in the picture. Gosh, it's been so long I don't remember his name but I do remember seeing one of his pictures and thinking, "There's the 'red umbrella' guy!"

Watermarking or Digimarc-ing is probably a good idea if you post a lot of pictures on the net. Yes, they can be removed but it's another obstacle that people have to overcome.

Essentially, there is no stopping anybody from copying from the internet but you can do things to slow them down but the best thing is to make every image lead the viewer back to YOUR website.

That way you can say, "Go ahead and copy my pictures! It's just free advertising for me!"

All of that applies, and of course casual appropriation is something that you must be prepared to live with, or take advantage of, as you suggest. I know I am and do. The case in point is however far more onerous. Here we have an individual who is alleged to have stolen others (many others it appears) work, and represented it as his own as an example of his work.