How to Fight Back When Your Photo is Stolen—

[Bongo Shrimp]

Here everyone, this is a service I have been looking into which invisibly embeds a watermark in a photo. Much harder to remove IF you even know it's there.

 

http://www.digimarc.com/digimarc-for-images

[hooligan_78]

Bongo, I believe you were going to show/tell us how to check if our photos were being used?

[Bongo Shrimp]

Bongo, I believe you were going to show/tell us how to check if our photos were being used?

 

Yes, sorry. There's some minor distractions around here.

 

I used Google Search by Image. What it does is, you give google a direct link to an image and it finds all instances PLUS lookalikes all over the net.

 

This link explains how to do it. It's extremely easy and effective.

 

How to use Google Search by Image

[Spirofucci]

Thanks for the thread, great info!

 

Seems like the goofball population on NR is increasing.

[bizzarro]

Yes, sorry. There's some minor distractions around here.

 

I used Google Search by Image. What it does is, you give google a direct link to an image and it finds all instances PLUS lookalikes all over the net.

 

This link explains how to do it. It's extremely easy and effective.

 

How to use Google Search by Image

 

How often and how many pictures do you search at any given time?

 

If you upload hundreds and when you search nothing comes up who's to say they won't steal it after and does tha tmean you search it again each month?

 

If you're in to photography for profit then watermark them otherwise this is a huge waste of time due to its inefficiency!

 

Where's your photo, I have to see what it looks like for all the trouble you go through online to protect it.

[Euphyllia]

 

tl;dr

 

I usually would say that, and I'm totes with you, but I actually read it word for word and I enjoyed the story. I just wish more had happened to the company... Like completely obliterate the company, take all they have, ect. for using your picture lol...

[herranton]

Where's your photo, I have to see what it looks like for all the trouble you go through online to protect it.

I still want to see this photo, I bet it is truly epic and like the best shot ever. I asked in the other thread, but the op has not delivered yet.

 

 

I bet it looks like this:

 

(I do not own this pic and yes, I will remove this if the owner of the pic wishes. Just pm me and I will take it down)

[Salty_Snack]

You're so wrong.

 

First of all I did it because I could.

Second, by United States law if you took the picture, you automatically own all rights associated with it. I own the copyright for the picture. If you do not own the copyright you can have it removed using the law. The only thing you can't do is sue for damages. Owning a copyright allows you to do this.

 

What kind of argument are you even making? "why would you care?" lol. I'm sure everyone else understands. .

 

I'm posting from my phone right now but later I'll tell you all how to easily find you pics around the web.

 

I'm so wrong??? As someone with experience with both registered and unregistered copyrighted literary works I can assure you that I'm well aware of this whole process an what you are and are not entitled to in terms of ownership and damages.

 

You still have not answered the question of whether or not the copyright of this picture was registered. My assumption is that the picture was unregistered even though it seems to be so precious to you. So if it's not registered here is where your at... You do own the rights to the picture but you cannot sue for statutory damages or the costs associated with proving your damages for a non-registered image. So even if you could get a thousand dollars out of him for stealing your picture that's only going to get you a few hours of a good lawyers time. Basically you get nothing and the case would never make it into a court.

 

If you do have images that you want protected either 1. Don't post them online. or 2. Register them before posting online. it only costs maybe $40, it's been a while since I've done it myself.

 

And if it's not important enough to register then maybe you shouldn't p*ss and moan about it when someone takes it. Are you really that suprised that there are people that would take your image without asking you first?

[Salty_Snack]

I still want to see this photo, I bet it is truly epic and like the best shot ever. I asked in the other thread, but the op has not delivered yet.

 

 

I bet it looks like this:

 

(I do not own this pic and yes, I will remove this if the owner of the pic wishes. Just pm me and I will take it down)

 

 

Hahahahahaha!!! Buddy, you had better take this down or it's owner may find it on google images and your going to lose your entire livelyhood!!!

 

But seriously, see how easy misuse is.

[MrAnderson]

i have received formal notification via carrier pigeon that there are people in this thread being... um waitasecond... ah yes here it is ... "disrespectful goofball trolls".

 

there is no joking allowed on NR. don't you all know that the internet is very, very serious business?

[wombat]

So then why ever ban anybody at all? Or get upset when they make alts to circumvent the ban? Hey man, it's just the internet, they're just joking around, don't take it so seriously.

[MrAnderson]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showforum=20

[Builder Anthony]

Well bongo this is how things turned out.This is the very first page when one of your pictures hits in the slideshow

then i go to the gallery link its just got one non roatateing image box and your name doesnt appear here or abouve in the first one

 

this is when they click on the text that takes them to the page i discussed with you....oh this is the very top the next part you would see if you scrolled down thats below

 

top of page

bottom of page.If you think you want to tadd anyhting let me know.I think it looks cool so far.now there will be corals sold there but your pictures wont be there becasue it wysiwyg.......<---------lots of letters lol,anywyas thats on a totaly differnt page not listed here but would be under aquacultured corals yada yada you can also notice the little magnifing glass in last photo if you click the photo it blows up the photo and is kinda cool becuase its like instantly on the same page.you just double click it to close it

[adinsxq]

BA, it's probably easier to take a screen shot, man.

 

in other news...

 

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS...n5xsiWxYdN0Qf7_

[ericm1205]

fyi.

also some of the online pic hosting sites namely photobucket specifically states that if you post a pic online you loose all rights to it and anyone can use it.

but it is a D-bag move to not ask permission to use something that doesnt belong to you if you using that pic for financial gain, not from the pic but for what the pic represents.

i love this thread. need more of them. i would love to water mark my pics without paying alot for photoshop. any other programs to watermark pics that are affordable?

[patback]

fyi.

also some of the online pic hosting sites namely photobucket specifically states that if you post a pic online you loose all rights to it and anyone can use it.

but it is a D-bag move to not ask permission to use something that doesnt belong to you if you using that pic for financial gain, not from the pic but for what the pic represents.

i love this thread. need more of them. i would love to water mark my pics without paying alot for photoshop. any other programs to watermark pics that are affordable?

Poor mans version of photoshop... Tiny piece of paper hidden in pics that has your name on it

[HecticDialectics]

fyi.

also some of the online pic hosting sites namely photobucket specifically states that if you post a pic online you loose all rights to it and anyone can use it.

but it is a D-bag move to not ask permission to use something that doesnt belong to you if you using that pic for financial gain, not from the pic but for what the pic represents.

i love this thread. need more of them. i would love to water mark my pics without paying alot for photoshop. any other programs to watermark pics that are affordable?

 

Gimp is a free photoshop

[JamesHL88]

He really offered his forst born? How biblical.

[revaltion131]

Bongo,

 

Thanks for the informative post. I'll come at it from both sides, I am a web designer/developer so I deal a ton with the licensing of online materials.

 

I had one of my pics of my old pyle's fairy male show up on a local forum being used by an LFS to sell one at their shop. The pic is also, or was also (old thread) on WWM so I didn't get worked up over it, but even as a non-professional it felt strange.

 

For the couple of people (trolls) that don't seem to get it, it's not just pure pictures that this sort of thing happens with. People will copy designs from logos, textures created for websites, icons, graphics, and quite a bit more. It's annoying to deal with, both protecting your work and hunting down proper license information on work you wish to utilize in your designs, but it's necessary. If nothing else, you can give the client/company you're working for a bad name if you don't respect these types of copyrights. There's very little out there that can be used freely, especially without attribution (can be detrimental to providing a professional feel), that's of usable quality. If copyrights, even misunderstood or incorrectly created ones, are ignored, the little bit of truly free things that are usable in a professional design could go away altogether.

 

As a disclaimer: There's loads and loads of purchasable, high quality stock available, but most companies, especially some of the start-ups and individuals I've done work for, can't afford any such services in a quantity enough to be useful.

[herranton]

i have received formal notification via carrier pigeon that there are people in this thread being... um waitasecond... ah yes here it is ... "disrespectful goofball trolls".

 

Seriously?

 

If you create two threads about how butthurt you are because someone stole your pic, you should at least have the decency to post said pic.

 

...

 

 

Thanks adin

 

 

[edit]

OP, don't get all bent out of shape, I read your story and think you handled it properly.

[Builder Anthony]

so does it look ok?

[Bongo Shrimp]

so does it look ok?

 

Yes it looks great Anthony.

 

IDK why some people are like against this. It's kinda funny to try to imagine reasons.

 

@Salty Snack- For someone who knows so much about copyrights you might want to check the price... (It's $35) lol.

 

Oh and where did you see me upset about the pics being stolen? Rather than posting a thread complaining I took action, won, and am telling others how to do it too.

 

You're too funny.

 

If you don't care enough about your photos... uh, ok? The rest of us will carry on.

 

Here's the pic. I made this version up just for nr.

 

As for searching your pics with google, the longer they are online, the more likelihood of people having used them. The particular one in my case was up for years. And yeah I'm pretty sure you have to search one at a time.

 

(I posted this in the photography forum but am trying to let as many people as possible know so I'm posting it here as well. It's some pretty useful and important info)

 

I recently found that my photograph of a Pearlscale Butterfly fish was being used for retail sales on Getahugetank.com without my permission. It had been taken from my Flickr Portfolio. This happens from time to time and when it does, my lawyer or I contact the culprit to notify them that they are using my photo without permission and that they must stop using the photo without permission or pay for its use. Usually, people are polite, apologize and remove the photo from their site. But this is what happened with Getahugetank.com. In response to my lawyer’s call, the representative first said that he was not connected to the company and the people from that company were friends who were on vacation for the next few months with calls only being forwarded to him so he could not do anything about the photograph. When challenged on how orders for fish would be processed over the next months, he then said that he would provide information on how my attorney could go get these guys. When my lawyer laughed that he didn’t sound like a good friend, he said that he wasn’t taking the photo down from his site and that there was nothing she could do about it. He then hung up and within minutes called her back screaming that it was his picture, and the lawyer could “go do whatever you have to do but I’m not taking it down and you can even come to my house and kill my first born and I won’t take it down!” He then hung up again.

 

So here’s what my lawyer and I did. We filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint with the appropriate web hosting company requesting the removal of the copyrighted material effective immediately. This is easy to do and does not require you to have a copyrighted photograph, only the true ownership of the photograph, although I do have a copyright. I used DMCA.com to guide me through the process. Within 4 days, I received a response from the Getahugetank.com ‘s representative stating, “I paid for the photo I dont [sic] think I am at fault but I took it down anyways...” When I went to verify that it had been removed, I found that it still was present on two pages of the website. So his representation that it had been removed from the website was false. Using DMCA.com, I resent the Complaint to the web hosting company and to him stating that my photograph was still on the site and listing the URL’s where the infringing content was located. About two days later, the content was fully removed from the site.

 

I understand that people use photographs for their own personal purposes all the time. Students need them for book reports. Nature lovers want a photograph for their room. I have no problem with that. But when a business takes a photograph for a business purpose without permission or compensation it is a misappropriation. It is wrong.

I was taught that when you do something wrong you apologize and take steps to correct your mistake. Apparently these are not the values at Getahugetank.com. So this is a company I would never do business with. Ask yourself: Is this a company you want to be dealing with if something goes wrong in your interaction? In any event, know that if someone takes your photograph and puts it on their website you can fight back and have it removed.

 

@Salty snack- you must not have even read the whole post!

 

If you read the whole thread you (not @ anyone in particular) will see that many people are grateful that I shared this info.

 

 

 

Where's your photo, I have to see what it looks like for all the trouble you go through online to protect it.

 

I would go through the trouble (which isn't much) for any of my photos.

 

Not bent out of shape. Just having fun here. I posted this on a bunch of other forums and it has been very well received.

[sjnovakovich]

It amazes me how many people think that using that picture was no big deal. I've been involved in a number of hobbies throughout my years, but the aquarium hobby, more than than any other of my hobbies is filled with people/businesses who think nothing of ripping people off, providing lousy customer service, and yet have people who blindly support them. I am thrilled that you fought this moron and won! Don't let people step on your rights; that's how rights get lost.

[Bongo Shrimp]

It amazes me how many people think that using that picture was no big deal. I've been involved in a number of hobbies throughout my years, but the aquarium hobby, more than than any other of my hobbies is filled with people/businesses who think nothing of ripping people off, providing lousy customer service, and yet have people who blindly support them. I am thrilled that you fought this moron and won! Don't let people step on your rights; that's how rights get lost.

 

Thanks! Hopefully more people will follow knowing it is easy and doable!

[aIIan]

Kudos for getting your work back. Some people are clueless and really think that if they can find it through a Google image search it's theirs.

 

FYI, it isn't $35 per image. You can send them a jump drive full for the same price.

 

My wife & I are going through the same mess. She shoots weddings among other things and some one stole a bunch of watermarked photos from her site, cropped the WM out and used them as their own.