MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Image Sleuth => Topic started by: mantonino on March 10, 2010, 11:43
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http://gsm-kartinki.com/categories.php?cat_id=20 (http://gsm-kartinki.com/categories.php?cat_id=20)
I see mine on there - I see a lot of familiar stuff.
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Looks like small sized images for cell phones.
Try to find out the web hosting company and write a DMCA notice to them. They will ask the owner to remove the content.
In many cases you will waste your time asking the site owner to remove the stuff.
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Tons of nudes, lots of fractals, illustrations and 3D models. Didn't see too many actual photographs, though I didn't go through all 600+ pages.
Send a copyright infringement notice to the site owner, web hosting company AND your microstock sites that rep you...they might intervene also.
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That was hard! I contacted the site that hosts them but the "verification code" was a question about Bulgaria! what?! lol
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Yes, it's Bulgarian language...Hmmm....
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That was hard! I contacted the site that hosts them but the "verification code" was a question about Bulgaria! what?! lol
If you actually find your own work there, you as the copyright owner should contact the Google Ads people and tell them the site is running your images without your permission. The only way to get these sites shut down is to cut off their revenue stream. As you may have seen, Google Ads are running on this site.
First though, ensure that this isn't one of those bizarre third party Dreamstime sites, so you might want to contact DT first.
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hey have tens of thousands of images, and all are just thumbnails. I would say all of them are from microstock. There are no any links to buy images, so they are not anyones partner. I guess someone stole thumbnails from some website, and distributing them as cellphone wallpapers. Let me check some more...
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So, not all images are from microstock, but most of them are. All of them are in thumb size. Images don't have any IPTC data, and there are no links to any other website, except the website who illegally distributes flash games. They are obviously from Bulgaria, as well as the website that distributes flash games, and they obviously found a way to rip-off only thumbnails from some microstock website, because only crazy person would do it manually. There are literally several hundreds of thousands images, and anyone can download them freely. I guess they live of google adds. I am afraid that everyones images are there...not only yours
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Whois info from www.netsol.com (http://www.netsol.com):
This domain is registered by: Host.bg
Domain Name: GSM-KARTINKI.COM
Registrant:
Nikolaj Nikolov
Nikolaj Nikolov ([email protected])
none
Sofiya
Sofija,1000
BG
Tel. +359.1234567
Creation Date: 12-Mar-2009
Expiration Date: 12-Mar-2010
Domain servers in listed order:
redirns2.bgdns.net
redirns1.bgdns.net
Administrative Contact:
Nikolaj Nikolov
Nikolaj Nikolov ([email protected])
none
Sofiya
Sofija,1000
BG
Tel. +359.1234567
Technical Contact:
Nikolaj Nikolov
Nikolaj Nikolov ([email protected])
none
Sofiya
Sofija,1000
BG
Tel. +359.1234567
Status:ACTIVE
I can't make a claim as I couldn't find any of my images.
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Lol - the domain is expiring in 2 days.
Don't even bother. If they let it expire the content will soon pop up on another domain...
Nasty stuff.
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Ok, I found it. Images are from 123RF because names on the website, and names of images on 123RF are the same, with 123RF serial number.
123RF is not guilty. This could happen to any agency, and it's only saying that people can still download our thumbnails and earn some money using them. This should be reported.
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Lol - the domain is expiring in 2 days.
Don't even bother. If they let it expire the content will soon pop up on another domain...
Nasty stuff.
But maybe we could inform Google. It will be the same google user even if it pops-up somewhere else.
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But maybe we could inform Google. It will be the same google user even if it pops-up somewhere else.
That would be the right thing to do, but I still didn't find any of my images so I can't make a claim.
In any case, if the domain is not being renewed, Google won't be able to verify all that as the domain is gone...
I'm not sure if they check their site cache for things like that.
In any case, someone who is affected should take action sooner than later!
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maybe if you search some category that is smaller you could find some of yours. There are images of hundreds or maybe thousands of photographers.
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I contacted Google, MyPage site that hosts it and BGDNS (who I don't think will help). Google was a good idea - I just did that one now.
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Also sent to 123RF
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Well, I just found one of my images...
Good we have the phone number :) maybe we could send him an sms :)
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Page not loading. Maybe we got em!
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Page not loading. Maybe we got em!
I can still get them easily.
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The domain is renewed to 12 Mar 2011.
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Here is some info on what to do when you find stolen content
http://blog.microstockgroup.com/help-my-image-has-been-stolen-what-next/ (http://blog.microstockgroup.com/help-my-image-has-been-stolen-what-next/)
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Did anyone tried to send an email to this guy? Maybe the email address is real. Do you think I should write him an email?
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Did anyone tried to send an email to this guy? Maybe the email address is real. Do you think I should write him an email?
Are you prepared to search and pay a lawyer in Bulgaria?
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I think you should email the person too. Give them a chance to comply. Then I think you should report it to the ISP, your microstock agency, and anyone else who cares. I didn't see any of my images, or any of my creative networks, so I don't think it would be useful for me to jump in but there must be other people's on there as well and you could email/sitemail them and let them know too (if you know who they are).
I don't think the answer is to just give up. I know it's a daunting task and as soon as one is gone, 10 more will pop up (kind of like drug dealers) but if you're going to sell to make a profit, I think it's something you should just do. Like painting out the graffiti on the side of your business building. You know it's coming back, but you have to show the bast*rds that somebody is watching.
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Page not loading. Maybe we got em!
I can still get them easily.
Yeah - unfortunately the page came back up. I was hoping it was down because we got it ... guess not.
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Yeah - unfortunately the page came back up. I was hoping it was down because we got it ... guess not.
The real point is whether it's worth your time and energy. Those sites don't really pose a threat to your sales. Those are kids wanting a cellphone background for free. I don't even understand why the Bulgarian puts his time in it. He is probably bored. You can plan shoots in that time, market your wedding shoots, research uncovered concepts. We can only hit the guy by attacking his money source, Google Ads. But that should be a collective effort.
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Did anyone tried to send an email to this guy? Maybe the email address is real. Do you think I should write him an email?
Are you prepared to search and pay a lawyer in Bulgaria?
I think it would be enough to write to him that we found him. Maybe we could just tell him that we are gonna sue him and he will stop doing this.
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I think it would be enough to write to him that we found him. Maybe we could just tell him that we are gonna sue him and he will stop doing this.
I think this should be done in Bulgarian - usually these people know it's almost impossible to sue someone over this from another country without spending a lot of money on a lawyer.
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The real point is whether it's worth your time and energy. Those sites don't really pose a threat to your sales.
I agree - but the more we let people just get away with it because they can, the more they will. Someone stealing a $0.50 cent candy bar doesn't pose a threat to the bottom line of the gas station either but they want to stop them so it doesn't happen again and again, no? I was actually hoping to hand it off to someone more bored than I. I posted and wanted to get back to work but ended up me doing it.
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There is nothing wrong with standing up for yourself.
When people do that, mostly they don't get compensated for that time anyway.
After doing things like this a few times you will find your happy medium and know how much time it is worth to you pursuing thieves.
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Someone stealing a $0.50 cent candy bar doesn't pose a threat to the bottom line of the gas station either but they want to stop them so it doesn't happen again and again, no?
Exactly. And once Billy knows he can get away with stealing a 50 cent candy bar, he tells his 10 friends, they tell their 10 friends, and the next thing you know, the gas station is out thousands of dollars.
Anytime anyone needs a collective action to take place (like was mentioned with google ads) let me know, I'm there.
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dam.n it my image is showing in the first page (the cyborg guy)
hmmm I hate these kind of things, although he's giving for free just thumbnails... well it still bothers me.
I'm gonna drop a few lines to that guy if I get to understand where the heck is the email address... my knowledge of Bulgarian is equal to zero.
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dam.n it my image is showing in the first page (the cyborg guy)
hmmm I hate these kind of things, although he's giving for free just thumbnails... well it still bothers me.
I'm gonna drop a few lines to that guy if I get to understand where the heck is the email address... my knowledge of Bulgarian is equal to zero.
I posted all his contact info on the first page of this thread:
Email: [email protected]
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I posted all his contact info on the first page of this thread:
Email: [email protected]
I noticed it my friend, thank you for the reminder. i wrote to him but I think my words will be wasted into the wind...
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I noticed it my friend, thank you for the reminder. i wrote to him but I think my words will be wasted into the wind...
This guy might not take his web site down because of your email but if more and more people write him he will understand that they know what he is doing.
It's a matter of making him feel bad about that and he still has to live with himself knowing that he upset a lot of people.
The web hosting company should be cooperative, especially if 123RF would contact them and make them aware of what's happening.
I still haven't found any of my images on there so I can't make a claim to either one of them but everyone who finds his or her images there should write to the web host.
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I'm gonna write him too
OK, I just did...in Bulgarian. Google translate is doing really good job.
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The real point is whether it's worth your time and energy. Those sites don't really pose a threat to your sales.
I agree - but the more we let people just get away with it because they can, the more they will. Someone stealing a $0.50 cent candy bar doesn't pose a threat to the bottom line of the gas station either but they want to stop them so it doesn't happen again and again, no? I was actually hoping to hand it off to someone more bored than I. I posted and wanted to get back to work but ended up me doing it.
I had a very interesting discussion with some kids (I guess you could say they don't have completely white wool) about theft. They didn't see the problem with taking a bit of candy, a few beers, some tobacco etc. The worst thing that would happen was that the shop owners banned them. They never got reported to the police, and often the shop clerks didn't bother to stop them at all. Since they didn't see any immidate consequences for themselves, they really couldn't understand why they should stop shop lifting. Of course; they agreed that stealing was wrong. But since nobody really tried to stop them, why should they?