Image theft... what do you think?

[hvulin]

If you post it you can reasonably expect that someone will mis-use it, but that is very different from "belongs."

If I leave my car parked overnight in a bad neighborhood with the keys in it, I can reasonably expect that someone will steal it. That does not mean "it belongs to everyone."

If somone steals your car you'll have to walk, if somone copies your picture from the web you won't loose anything. If I want people to pay for my work I'll put them on a password protected page and sell a username/password combination. When they pay they can do whatever they want with MY work!

btw. I give my source code for free...

I'm glad I don't live in the US since your view on ownership is soooo broken to me...
You pay, you get, you own - very simple....

If someone copies a picture from the web and then claims that they did it - that's bad, but it's not about ownership...

Most of you probably won't agree with me but I don't care...

PS in Europe we have to pay a special tax for "possible pirating" of music every time we buy some recording media (dvd media, cd media, hard disk, dvd recorder...) - my view now is: I can copy any music now, since I already paid for it... no more pirating!!!!

 

[justleesa]

my view now is: I can copy any music now, since I already paid for it... no more pirating!!!!

Sorry, but your view isn't the law - check your local copyright laws and see if they are not the same or very similar on this subject. When I was living in Europe there was a website that posted two of the top ten Cd's of the week for you to download and burn, at no other cost than your time. It didn't take long for "them" to notice the heavy traffic the site was getting and closed it down due to copyright infringements.

Although it was never a problem to buy an album (yes I remember albums) and make yourself a tape to listen to in the car, the problem now is people are making multiple copies and selling/sharing them in quality just as good as if you bought an original - the mass of it all is noticeably damaging the industry.

The same would apply to software....when you buy it you are allowed to use it on one, maybe two computers (depending what you bought)....it is not because you buy it you can share it with the world - sure it has a code, but as you know there are ways around everything...and it is just the need of "ways" that tells you that sharing it is illegal.

I'm not saying that it isn't done or that I'm a saint....I'm just saying, as Dr. Phil would, get real.

 

[bladephotog]

When selling an image it should be spelled out what you are selling - one time rights, exlusive rights, web rights, reprint rights, and for how long?

And thanks for the "exactly" explination. I was scrolling up and down trying to find this Ed Zachary to read what he was saying. You'll have to pardon me, I just got back from x-country skiing and it's only 10F here. I guess my brain is a little frozen.

 

[bladephotog]

"If somone steals your car you'll have to walk, if somone copies your picture from the web you won't loose anything. "

This just isn't true. You lose potential sales. You lose a copy of your photo.

 

[justleesa]

And thanks for the "exactly" explination. I was scrolling up and down trying to find this Ed Zachary to read what he was saying.

Thank goodness I'm not alone

 

[bladephotog]

Thank goodness I'm not alone

Yeah, I walk around narced half the time!

 

[Scubatooth]

Copyright and ownership are neat ideas, but they have nothing to do with the interet - if you post it, it belongs to everyone...

wrong, all images are copyrighted to the creator the moment they are taken unless prior contract agreements are made. public domain only happens many years after the creators death.

for example go take a photo off corbis or getty's site and wait for the bill to come in, which in the latest round they where sending out bills inexcess of 5000 for even thumbnail images of unlicensed images, and in one case the bill was over 50K to a small business with payment expected in 15 days or they would be sued. if you can prove me wrong please provide case or federal laws that make it so. Its nice to know that they are protecting the rights of the photographers that have work available for licensing through corbis or gettys

as for the china comment, there are many ways to combat that. one most chinese IPs i have blocked from my server in the first place by my isp. then all of my images on the net that arent protected behind several layers of software are all water marked magnum agency style. www.magnumphoto.com and look at the slide show on the front page thats the type of watermarking i do except for more indepth

If you sell an image to a magazine, they own all the rights and can print posters or anything else they want to.

Why would this not be the same with a painting? Unless there is some contract with the artist...

thats not always the case, it all comes down to the contract terms and conditions and i explain everything detail out as i dont want any gray areas to come up. personally i wont give up the copyright to a image if i feel it has a good resale value if i dont it i still charge a minimum of 5x normal rate for that image/assignment.

for the one instance i have given up the copyright of a image it was given to a charity that i help with, plus i had another frame of the same subject at a slightly different angle (better) i can use for my own purposes.


bladephotog: i have seen that happen, thank goodness i only use pro labs and wont ever pull that; they have bought a copy of mine to display on there wall to show to customers.

ianw2: Amen, most people dont get it unless its fully explained to them


personally i do it the easy i way when i find a violation i DMCA the isp along with the request for the billing information of the violator to send the bill. if they dont comply i simply send them a warning on the day the papers are to be filed in court (small claims for small amounts) and i file them in my county so that they have to come to me. this normally results in quick resolution.

for the most part i dont put alot of my work online because it doesnt due the image any justice, and then a majority of the good stock will never be online. that being said any online are watermarked in a manner that trying to remove them makes it obvious they where stolen, and then i have data embeded in the file that marks it as mine and is traceable.

 

[daniel f aleman]

"Life is hard its lot harder when yor stupid"


Yep.

 

[Scubatooth]

trying to be cute? then try this "Learn from the mistakes of others you don't have time to make them all yourself!"

then answer me this; following your logic would you say its fair for you to work on a project for a year plus and spend a sizeable amount of your own money and then at the end have nothing to show for it or taken from you because its "in the public domain"?

 

[daniel f aleman]

Nice photo.