The other day I got a message from someone on Flickr notifying me that someone had taken one of my pictures and posted it on his site claiming it as his own. I had to sign up for that site (FetLife) to see which image it was. I initially contacted him about it but he blocked me from his account so I couldn't see the photo anymore. I had to sign up for another account to see whether he had removed it or not. He had not so I "reported" him and emailed him directly via the address he had shown on his "page." This was the response I got from him:

"Get a lawyer & sue me......... people do it all the time. Next time, leave your pics off FB. Adios !"

He's right, folks do save other people's photos all the time. Hell, I do it too but what I don't do is try and claim other people's work as my own. I'm wondering what you folks think about this. How do we as photographers prevent our work from being stolen and used by others in this manner? It's a real shame because this irks me so much that I'm thinking about not posting my stuff online anymore. I've shut down my site on Facebook because of this dork.

 

I track people down and stab them in the eyes with a fork. Seems to have been working well for me. Now I can just threaten to do it and save the airfare most of the time.

 

What a pity, I was subscribed to your facebook page. Clearly facebook is not the best way to post your images since when you do it they become the owners of them. I post images of my trips and I am concerned about they owning the rights now, but I don't do it to get any revenue or publicity so I don't care.

You know... the moment something is posted somewhere (mainly internet) is susceptible of being copied.

Two years ago I found a PS montage I did with my name written on it in another page and the poster claimed it was his, even when my name was written on it. I logged to the page and put him in shame on that forum. He said sorry and I ordered him to erase it.

 

Of course it'd be impossible to chase down everyone. Most are cool about removing them but every now and then I get the occasional jerk that don't. I guess is what the RIAA and the movie industry have to deal with every single day as well. They probably spend millions chasing down those that pirate their intellectual properties. It's part of life, people will steal, no matter what you do.

 

How difficult would it be to put a "watermark" on the photo for those you place on public sites?
That would deter the lower than slime types that want to lay claim to your efforts.

 

It's not that difficult to add watermarking but however with photo editing software like Photoshop adding "content aware" tools that makes it easy to remove "unwanted" elements, it'd be just as easy for anyone to remove those watermarks. There's just no way to win, I guess. That's the price one pays for sharing their stuff.

 

That's a shame people are dishonest and do this. Sorry to hear J.

 

Don't post em online if you don't want em copied.
Ez squeezie

 

Reminded me of this

BTW
Copied off of Facebook

 

Those memes have been popping up all over the place lately. Lots are hilarious.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dense, Mark...I know people will take stuff no matter what. Will that stop me from sharing my stuff, nah, because that means they win and the rest of us loses out.