MicrostockGroup

UnFreakingReal.  Not sure if this has been discussed or people have heard about this site but...This site appears to be ripping off images from many photographers and agencies around the world and allowing members to sign up and download them for free.  Our reviewers and I just stumbled on it. I just want to give people a heads up to make sure that you check to make sure that your images are not on there.  I have emailed most of the people on our site who we saw had images put up there but couldn't check them all or identify them all.  No idea how they got there but take a look at this site and send them an email or their ISP if they are ripping off your images.

http://www.heroturko.com/photostock/

This is what they say at the bottom "If you have any doubts about legality of content or you have another suspicions,feel free to contact us directly by email heroturko(at)gmail.com. Heroturko.com does not store any files listed on its server."

[email protected]

ahhhh suspicions.  All the stock content appears to be stolen.

And here is a link to their DMCA statement. 

http://www.heroturko.com/dmca.html

This is absolutely unreal and needs your attention to be stopped.  I hope that you guys will make sure that none of your images are on there so we can put an end to this. This type of thing kills our industry and makes people who sign up there think it is ok to steal images and use them for free. I am here to help as much as I can but this is my first dealing with seeing a site like this.  Hope this helps.

John, what can be done legaly to stop these thiefs from ripping off anyone's photos, do you know?...I try going into the site to check if any of mine where there but it would not allowed me to.

I didn't need to download them.. they were right in front of me.

Patrick H.

I LOVE IT.  THE POWER OF THE INTERNET.  Looks like we got it pulled down.  We need to organize a list of "to-dos" if you see your content stolen online.  I am sure there is a good resource or list of what to do but would be nice to have one handy in case sites like this pop up again.

tan510, even though I agree with you in part, I think, we all should gang up on scum like the people that runned that site and others like it. The only way we can survive in this business is by watching each others backs (no one else does).

No but I notice anonymous creeps registering now and then spilling their jealousy-inspired unsubstantiated rants.

amen to that - it's ignorant bile like that gets my goat ... I am going to go sign-up for Cutcaster now - thank you JG.

No, it has not been shut down. The site is up and running today. I can see loads of files I recognize from the stock sites.

It works but sometime with page load error. It seems that they refreshing the contents. I'll follow up for stolen images . Thanks Jhon..

And even I find my images there, then what? It is better not to know, if I cant do anything. I would just get nervous amd angry.

Crap. Ok, back to the previous discussion then. My advice is to contact RapidShare (or whichever file sharing site), to get your files removed.

@ microbius. i like that idea a lot.  that will def hit him where it hurts. do you know how to alert google to this?

@tan510jomast   i have tried to reach out to the owner of the site to say that we are aware of him and that i was contacting people who had their work on the site.  i have probably emailed a few people on this forum privately to tell them about it.  i'll post the response if i get one and can others do the same.

@all  i dont have contacts for a lot of the other sites owners but it would be good if you guys told them that their collections are being ripped off and to alert them.  Cleaning up crap like this is important for everyone in the industry and helps us all sell more images.  Thanks for letting the other sites know about this by emailing them the link.

and i love this

"have you ever noticed that J G from CutCaster always try to be the white Knight of Microstock group ? "
hahahahaha  I've never been called a white knight.  I love it. Thanks S-s-s-s-super

hahaha  so true.  i have to think of a good theme song for the site just after i pass one of the big six in sales..  until then its focus focus focus on getting more buyers.