curious:

How did they get them without any watermark!?

How did you find these pics by searching on your name.
(By which I mean, how was your name picked up?)
Oh, or maybe the two I happened to click on weren't yours?

Just found another image.  I should probably stop looking because what's the use of my blood pressure going up further?  Reported is reported.   

Some have Shutterstock numbers on them (some in Spa series) , so I would guess he did purchase them, but I don't think that gives him the right to display them under his name, and allow others to freely download them and use them?

Some have Shutterstock numbers on them (some in Spa series) , so I would guess he did purchase them, but I don't think that gives him the right to display them under his name, and allow others to freely download them and use them?

No, but there's a (moot) difference between misuse and outright theft.
They're not being freely offered: they're marked as copyright all rights reserved, and right clicking is disabled. Of course they can still be screendumped.

Some of them, if you right click to view other size, the other sizes aren't "right click protected" thus they could be downloaded

OY..just clicked on the gallery and saw more of my photos.  There is no image credit and there is absolutely nothing to suggest that the Flickr poster is not taking credit.

I'm not saying what they're doing is right, obviously, but image credits may not always be required; e.g. on iStock they're only required if the photo is used editorially. Over half of those I've found via GIS are not credited: however, I have more pressing misuses I want them to deal with before I start on non-credited images.
And yes, the implication is that the photos are the work of the owner of the photostream.

I just found a few that belong to someone I know. I will notify him.

So, if you guys have Flicker accounts why not just comment "Thief This Is Not Your Image" because that will attract attention if Flickr juts lollygags around in their usual do nothing style. Yet they are quick to suspend accounts of people who have done nothing wrong.

How did you find these pics by searching on your name.
(By which I mean, how was your name picked up?)
Oh, or maybe the two I happened to click on weren't yours?

I have my name in the exif data under the copyright section and when I did my search google it showed 2 links with
(EXIF | Close-up Of Mexican Pork Carnitas | Flickr - Photo Sharing!) as the link title and the same for the other except different title. So I went to the link and it showed my image with all the EXIF data, thought maybe flickr was using it as an example for exif, clicked the image and ended up at the persons stream and found more of my images.

I am figuring they lifted them from my zenfolio site since the exif data was still on the image. I am assuming that shutterstock and the others strip alll data out of the image, I could be wrong here.

here is the link from google...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22lynn%20don%20bendickson%22&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F64445673%40N06%2F6159941104%2Fmeta%2F&ei=m3j-ToStGaPKiQKB4PnvDg&usg=AFQjCNGVvIwjIxpIxxoXFn6lJTBAKlk1Lw&sig2=QP4CAF-7QZx7WwDHZqv8MA&cad=rja

when you click on the link you end up at flickr and you see exif data on the right with all my copyright info. click the image and you go to the persons stream.

-Don

Quote from: zenpix on December 30, 2011, 19:15

curious:

How did they get them without any watermark!?

Is it possible (though unlikely) that they have actually paid for the images rather than simply stolen them?

It looks to me like a designer's archive. It still doesn't give him the right to post them on Flickr. I've notified Shutterstock about both streams (and this one http://www.flickr.com/people/ecoagriculture/ which has one of mine and probably other people's, too)

Yes, I saw that. To be fair, they do have a note on at least some of the shutterstock photos they have there (including mine) saying "copyright restrictions prevent the public use of this image" which makes me wonder why they are publicly using it and why they include it in their "free stock" collection. It's here, and I've left them a little message: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecoagriculture/2414593304/#

It's curious that they have access to my image but not, apparently, to my caption, since they have wrongly placed the scene as being in Malaysia when it's actually Sri Lanka.

Quote from: bendicks on December 30, 2011, 22:02

Quote from: ShadySue on December 30, 2011, 19:59

How did you find these pics by searching on your name.
(By which I mean, how was your name picked up?)
Oh, or maybe the two I happened to click on weren't yours?

I have my name in the exif data under the copyright section and when I did my search google it showed 2 links with
(EXIF | Close-up Of Mexican Pork Carnitas | Flickr - Photo Sharing!) as the link title and the same for the other except different title. So I went to the link and it showed my image with all the EXIF data, thought maybe flickr was using it as an example for exif, clicked the image and ended up at the persons stream and found more of my images.

I am figuring they lifted them from my zenfolio site since the exif data was still on the image. I am assuming that shutterstock and the others strip alll data out of the image, I could be wrong here.

here is the link from google...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22lynn%20don%20bendickson%22&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F64445673%40N06%2F6159941104%2Fmeta%2F&ei=m3j-ToStGaPKiQKB4PnvDg&usg=AFQjCNGVvIwjIxpIxxoXFn6lJTBAKlk1Lw&sig2=QP4CAF-7QZx7WwDHZqv8MA&cad=rja

when you click on the link you end up at flickr and you see exif data on the right with all my copyright info. click the image and you go to the persons stream.

-Don

Thanks for the explanation. It's just that I have my name in all my EXIF files in the copyright section, and I can't find any of my own pics in Flickr by Googling my name. After c15 pages (it's an unusual name, but there are two prominent people who share it!) I gave up and tried "my name" Flickr and couldn't find any of my pics that way either, only links to my contacts' pages. I must be doing something wrong!

Hi Sue

I also have always had the copyright info in my files but this is the 1st time I have found them via the EXIF  data.......It may be because I have my portfolio at my Zenfolio acct. and the EXIF data is intact there and the stock agencies most likely strip out that data. Also when I do a google search I put my name in quotes and also search different variations....first name, last name - middle name, last name - first, middle and last.....unfortunately at some agencies I used different variations of my name as I explained for my google search.

Well I am off to the higher elevations of the Sierra's with my dog in search some excellent still and video shots...learning to use my Nikon D7000 that I bought for video and my new Glidecam HD 1000 stabilizer and never without my trusty D700 for the stills.

-Don

Found about 7 more.  They need to shut this guy down.  I'm pretty sure they got them all from SS so I'm  going to alert them.

I'll try to control myself but...

O M G there are stolen pictures on Flickr?  People claiming that our work is theirs? WOW what a surprise.

Not only that, I won't put anything worthwhile on Flickr because it will get stolen. The place is the pits.

I'm surprised that we don't just have a continuing thread with new additions every day for the latest offenders. It never stops.

Hey I know. File a  DMCA claim, that's fun and a worthless waste of energy. I wish someone would create a law that did something to discourage the thieves and photo plagiarism. That would make my New Year Happy.

Lots of recognizable images from other contributors.  Forget the DMCA notice - contact a lawyer and send them a bill.  Folks aren't going to get the message with slaps on the wrist.

I want this thread to hit 100 pages before 2013. And for everyone that gets a lawyer or someone who files a claim, I want to send you an award for doing what needs to be done.

Some day there will be a wake up story on the news and some people, many of them my friends, will discover that "Everything on the internet is free" isn't true. I'm talking about honest people who think that if you can see it and right click, it's supposed to be free.

None of my images that are on the Flickr stream have been uploaded by me to Flickr.  I do not post my micro images on Flickr. 

i'm soooo fed up with these *insult removed*.

99% of the web users are simply clueless about copyright.
web sites don't do anything to discourage theft, even about their own content !
thieves don't give a *, and even if you catch someone what do you do when they're hosted in russia, china, india, turkey, pakistan, indonesia, philippines ?

the issue is always the same : it's just too easy for everybody to publish anything on the web.
it's not a gray area, it's 100% wild west, anarchy ! it's the real "land of free" and it's getting worse ... look at social networks.. look at all the blogs with stolen content encouraging readers to "share" their stole pics and texts anywhere with 1 click.

no wonder people love the internet .. they can watch movies, download mp3s and torrents, read books, steal photos, all for free and the risk of getting caught or sued is basically ZERO.

second thing, HOW these rascals find the pics in the first place ? once again because of the * google images !
take it away and 90% of piracy would instantly disappear but it's not gonna happen, ever, google made it's empire exactly providing stolen content, and don't let me start about youtube ...

Speaking of stolen pictures...I just got the new iPhone 4s and am disgusted to see how they are making image theft even easier...and promoting it as a neat phone feature, even!   

From the iPhone promotional material:  "Save images from the web.  In Safari, touch and hold an image to save it to your Camera Roll or copy it to paste into an MMS or email."

exactly, and it's getting worse and worse.
and users are absolutely completely clueless, i also discussed with a few web devs i know and they were lamenting that google images should be improved so they can find the (stolen) images they need faster !

i also see more and more blogs and forum stealing entire articles and photos from famous news sites, they simply don't give a sh... , they know there's full impunity nowadays.

however, i've the feeling photography is still in a better position than written articles or music or software.

Ohh whim-whimp the whole world is against poor microstockers, even that super trendy apple... or maybe you should have had a clue before you started giving away your images for pennies en masse so any 10 year old can download it with his pocket money, and of course none of the agencies care much guarding the copyright because the penny product  just doesn't justify the expenses. Don't blame flickr etc... blame yourself. If you don't want this, remove your images from the sites that let it get downloaded 500 times by any goatfarmer, or just shut up and quit whining, face the consequences of your own actions.