Author Topic: Massive stolen image redistribution back in business (Read 18674 times)

helix7 · « **on:** February 03, 2009, 14:26 »

This was mentioned a while back, and the site was temporarily shut down. But it looks like http://www.heroturko.com/photostock/ is back in force. They have some pretty significant collections being distributed for free, including some Getty discs, and stuff from just about every microstock site out there. SS is aware, and I sitemailed istock. Hopefully they can get something done. This is by far the largest redistribution of illegally redistributed images that I've ever come across.

anton9 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2009, 14:31 »

Blimey I never seen that before. Something definately needs to be done about that

null · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2009, 14:37 »

Quote from: helix7 on February 03, 2009, 14:26

SS is aware, and I sitemailed istock. Hopefully they can get something done. This is by far the largest redistribution of illegally redistributed images that I've ever come across.

Nah, everything you can dream of is available on rapidshare. They call it sharing. Admit, the name alone gives such a warm feeling

One of the sharers complained on their forum:

Quote

good share, shame the kids look so dated. why do they dress these american kids up in such old and bad fashions...I know most Americans get clothes from Walmart, but these fake stock kids would be a last resort for any client job....thanks for upload....but I need REAL pictures of REAL people.not just badly dressed models....I see a gap in the market!!!Stock Photographers - any balls, ??!!??

bittersweet · « **Reply #3 on:** February 03, 2009, 16:20 »

You'd think that Warner Bros. or Disney would be all over it.

helix7 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 05, 2009, 11:35 »

FYI, if you have files on the Hero Turko website that you want removed, write to RapidShare to get your content removed from their servers. You can report copyright violations here: http://rapidshare.com/abuse.html

They took down my stuff that Hero Turko was giving away, and it took less than 24 hours for them to do it.

sharpshot · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2009, 12:09 »

Might be worth leaving some comments to make sure people know these are stolen and they shouldn't use them. The problem with the file sharing sites is he can just keep changing the links. His site needs to be closed down.

yingyang0 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2009, 12:19 »

Wow awesome site, thanks for sharing.

"It's not really stealing right? I mean you still have it and I'm just copying it, so it's not like stealing....I'll give it back to you."
-A Teenager (during discussion about music downloading)

null · « **Reply #7 on:** February 05, 2009, 12:58 »

Quote from: sharpshot on February 05, 2009, 12:09

Might be worth leaving some comments to make sure people know these are stolen and they shouldn't use them. The problem with the file sharing sites is he can just keep changing the links. His site needs to be closed down.

Heroturko removes all comments. All users there know he distributes warez, they would smile at you. Rapidshare is very quick in removing links when they get noticed. Do you mean shutting Heroturko down? Impossible since he's in a country that allows links to warez. Rapidshare can't be taken down since it's in Kuwait or in Russia somewhere and they always respond promptly to IP violations.

Perry · « **Reply #8 on:** February 05, 2009, 13:10 »

I think the fastest way to remove the content would be to contact rapidshare.

The main reason agencies aren't protecting our properties is because there isn't real money to be made: you could sue heroturko guys for millions, but why - they wouldn's have any money...

Microbius · « **Reply #9 on:** February 05, 2009, 13:21 »

has anyone reported him to paypal and moneybookers yet?

weknow · « **Reply #10 on:** February 05, 2009, 13:42 »

I don't understand that if our files are on this stealing (uh sorry: "sharing"...like somebody shared my car and is sharing my home

) website...we as copyright-owners can contact Rapidshare....

Why can't the companies who sell our stuff contact Rapidshare, even try to make the free sharing at least more difficult?
That would make more sence... Our/my files are a few..... Their files are a lot.

In practice it might be a cat and mouse game...but isn't it a task for the stock-companies to try to protect our and their property? Even if it's not possible to stop it all and completely? Being very active in this matter could be a concurrency-argument for all: theirselfs, the buyers and us as contributers....?!

What do you think? And what do they..the agencies..think??

thesentinel · « **Reply #11 on:** February 05, 2009, 13:51 »

This has been going on since the internet started, any digital file can be 'shared', why should anyone here think that imagery would be any different from software, music, film etc. The music industry, considerably larger than microstock, has been totally unable to stop this, what chance do we have.

null · « **Reply #12 on:** February 05, 2009, 14:10 »

Quote from: weknow on February 05, 2009, 13:42

What do you think? And what do they..the agencies..think??

No agency will take the heath for an independent contributor. That's the price you'll have to pay for uploading to multiple agencies. You can't simply prove that your image was downloaded from agency A when you also upload to B..Z. If you are exclusive on one agency, they will take action. Dreamstime does, for instance. I guess iStock does it too.

Let's not exaggerate warez and pirated IP. Almost never, the downloaders would have bought the real product. As to images, what can a "sharer" do with it? Use it as a screensaver? Legitimate businesses need the guarantee that an image is properly licensed, and the possible gain of 50$ (best case) doesn't balance the loss they would suffer when they would use pirated images and they were exposed. Microstock is not a consumer product, but a business product.

helix7 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 05, 2009, 15:57 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on February 05, 2009, 14:10

...No agency will take the heath for an independent contributor. That's the price you'll have to pay for uploading to multiple agencies. You can't simply prove that your image was downloaded from agency A when you also upload to B..Z. If you are exclusive on one agency, they will take action. Dreamstime does, for instance. I guess iStock does it too...

Ordinarily that would be true, except in this case the guy actually specifically mentions the sites where he gets each set of images from. He even puts the SS and istock logos on his preview graphics to let everyone know for sure exactly where the images came from. Which, to me, makes it seem more likely that in this case the agencies would really take action. It's not some random guy giving away a few photos on Flickr, and we don't know which site he got them from. This is a massive site with thousands of images, and they are clearly identified as being from whatever microstock site or other site (like GoMedia) they were downloaded at. Just the fact that he has the company logos on there would make me think that SS and istock might be a little more pro-active on this one.

Magnum · « **Reply #14 on:** February 09, 2009, 16:48 »

Quote from: thesentinel on February 05, 2009, 13:51

This has been going on since the internet started, any digital file can be 'shared', why should anyone here think that imagery would be any different from software, music, film etc. The music industry, considerably larger than microstock, has been totally unable to stop this, what chance do we have.

So true !!! The bad guys are always ahead, let´s just lay down and die...

icefront · « **Reply #15 on:** February 09, 2009, 17:53 »

Hi, guys, see the bright side of the things. Anybody finds their image on Heroturko, it means, that image is good enough to enter the top of the underground...

About sharing... Anybody collecting stuff from heroturko can have it but that's all, usually real users don't just collect and then use it, they simply buy what they need. Just because they don't have time to surf the net all the day 'lets see, somebody shared free "kids jumping on green field" images'...

Exclusivity and the protection of rights is too small to beat the selling potential with multiple agencies. This is why I don't understand exclusivity. Is security more important than the fact that you just started this business to sell? Forget the things that you lose. I'm talking about good photos. I'm talking about a healthy fighting against piracy.

helix7 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 09, 2009, 23:59 »

Quote from: icefront on February 09, 2009, 17:53

...Forget the things that you lose. I'm talking about good photos. I'm talking about a healthy fighting against piracy.

Absolutely, it's more healthy to let things go and not worry about the small stuff. In this case, microstock images are so mass-downloaded that some misuse is inevitable. So any energy put into protecting against piracy is better spent protecting the truly valuable stuff. I'm with you on that. But it's not all that hard to put a stop to seeing my images on sites like Hero Turko, so it's not all that time or energy consuming to protect my microstock images. As long as it's as easy as shooting an email over to RapidShare to get them to drop the files, I will happily continue to keep doing so.

But I do have to admit, if it was a more laborious task or required more time to manage, I would just let these things go. As you mentioned, these guys aren't downloading for professional use, and they don't represent any lost sales because of their theft.

vuefan · « **Reply #17 on:** February 10, 2009, 02:03 »

about a month ago, i emailed istock, dreamstime, shutterstock about this. i spent a long time providing all the rapidshare links, file names, everything. All emails were recieved, didn't even get a thanks back.

Won't do it again.

Dreamframer · « **Reply #18 on:** February 10, 2009, 03:56 »

Even without services like Rapidshare there would still be P2P sharing

helix7 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 10, 2009, 11:31 »

Quote from: whitechild on February 10, 2009, 03:56

Even without services like Rapidshare there would still be P2P sharing

Absolutely. I wonder if microstock collections would show up on P2Ps like Limewire. I wouldn't be surprised. Or maybe Torrent sites.

RapidShare just happens to be Hero Turko's sharing service of choice, and they also happen to be very willing to delete files that get reported as copyright infringements, so I keep reporting any of my images that show up on the site. But it is certainly possible that he could switch to another sharing service if he starts to have more trouble keeping RapidShare links active.

null · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2009, 05:38 »

Quote from: helix7 on February 10, 2009, 11:31

Absolutely. I wonder if microstock collections would show up on P2Ps like Limewire. I wouldn't be surprised. Or maybe Torrent sites.

Unlike for music and movies you can actually enjoy yourself without buying the product, stock imagery on "sharing" sites is useless for the downloader since he can not use it legitimately in any commercial project. If he does, he will be catched sooner or later, and the value of his business is worth much more than the few bucks he has to spend for legit images on microstock.

madelaide · « **Reply #21 on:** February 11, 2009, 10:09 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on February 11, 2009, 05:38

If he does, he will be catched sooner or later, and the value of his business is worth much more than the few bucks he has to spend for legit images on microstock.

I am not so sure. I may never know that a store in Russia or a website in Mali is using my images, and then the sites won't probably chase them either if I report them. The best it can happen is that they buy a proper license if approached by a site.

Regards,
Adelaide

Norebbo · « **Reply #22 on:** February 11, 2009, 10:51 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on February 11, 2009, 05:38

Unlike for music and movies you can actually enjoy yourself without buying the product, stock imagery on "sharing" sites is useless for the downloader since he can not use it legitimately in any commercial project. If he does, he will be catched sooner or later, and the value of his business is worth much more than the few bucks he has to spend for legit images on microstock.

This isn't always the case. Whenever I see one of my images on a website or ad somewhere, I have no way of knowing how they obtained the image.

e-person · « **Reply #23 on:** February 11, 2009, 13:01 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on February 11, 2009, 05:38

Quote from: helix7 on February 10, 2009, 11:31
Absolutely. I wonder if microstock collections would show up on P2Ps like Limewire. I wouldn't be surprised. Or maybe Torrent sites.

Unlike for music and movies you can actually enjoy yourself without buying the product, stock imagery on "sharing" sites is useless for the downloader since he can not use it legitimately in any commercial project. If he does, he will be catched sooner or later, and the value of his business is worth much more than the few bucks he has to spend for legit images on microstock.

Unfortunately that applies only to some countries, namely the US.

I live in Italy. I do computer and network maintenance as a freelance consultant for a few graphic art studios. They copy everything they can, from scanning postcards, catalogues, books, magazines, to downloading from the internet, etc, etc. They buy images only if they really can't do otherwise. I woud say they buy just about 1% of what they use. Maybe less.

If your image gets used on a printed catalogue, or any other form of printed material not going to circulate on the internet, I can't see how you would manage to find out.

Plus I did work one year (2001) as content manager for one of Italy's biggest publishers web sites and I did not have a budget for pictures, had to personally get them either free through PR channels or steal them from other sites like Yahoo news and the likes, altering something here and there to make them look a bit different.

And nobody will ever do anything to them, unless Mr Berlusconi will open a stock agency. Then I am sure they will get the capital law, since he's in politics only to protect his personal interests and nobody can mess with him these days, not even Rupert Murdoch.

null · « **Reply #24 on:** February 11, 2009, 14:10 »

Quote from: e-person on February 11, 2009, 13:01

Unfortunately that applies only to some countries, namely the US.

Correct. I know a successful small business in Manila where 2 guys make a living from lifting images from Getty, cloning out the watermarks and reselling them to local publishers and websites. They told me we were "collegues" in producing images. I was too flabbergasted to object. Walk in a mall or any small business and you'll find all possible software (included Windows, Photoshop, Office) for 1$ on a DVD. East of Berlin and West of Hawai, all is free. Don't they call that globalization?

Quote from: e-person on February 11, 2009, 13:01

And nobody will ever do anything to them, unless Mr Berlusconi will open a stock agency. Then I am sure they will get the capital law, since he's in politics only to protect his personal interests and nobody can mess with him these days, not even Rupert Murdoch.

Well the poor guy has to pay all the time for his face lifts and his hair transplants

Si non è vero, è ben trovato

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Author Topic: Massive stolen image redistribution back in business (Read 18674 times)

helix7

anton9

null

bittersweet

helix7

sharpshot

yingyang0

null

Perry

Microbius

weknow

thesentinel

null

helix7

Magnum

icefront

helix7

vuefan

Dreamframer

helix7

null

madelaide

Norebbo

e-person

null

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