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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: madelaide on August 23, 2008, 23:03

Title: Suspicious or not?
Post by: madelaide on August 23, 2008, 23:03
So, I often check information of downloads in FT, trying to see my images in action.  I do that googling the buyers name or company name.

I have just searched for my latest dld, a subs ( >:( ).  The buyer's name, Gad Zamir, is associated with software piracy:

Quote
Riverside County sheriff’s investigators on Tuesday arrested a man on suspicion of computer software piracy, and confiscated $238,000 of alleged counterfeit software, 15 computers and $13,000 in cash, authorities said.

County prosecutors are reviewing the case against Gad Zamir, 64, of Menifee.

The eight-month investigation was spurred by complaints to Microsoft and Adobe corporations about defective software beginning in 2002 by buyers who bought Zamir’s software on online auction sites.

Zamir is accused of selling pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Server SQL Enterprise, which at the time retailed for about $25,000, for one-half to one-quarter of the retail price.

I guess this is a very uncommon name to be a coincidence, so I suspect the buyer is either this man himself or someone who is playing about his infamous past.  Quite frankly, possibly someone buying images cheap to redistribute them, like this guy did with software.

I hate subscriptions!!

Regards,
Adelaide
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: digiology on August 23, 2008, 23:31
I had this happen once too.  :o

When I googled the buyer's name, the sites that came up in the search results may have put me on a US "NO FLY" list just by having my IP associated with the search!   :-\

It was a bit freaky and I shut the browser window right away.
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: vonkara on August 25, 2008, 07:49
I hate subscriptions!!
I hope it's not this type of buyers the micros try to attract with subscriptions
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: peep on August 25, 2008, 10:21
I hope it's not this type of buyers the micros try to attract with subscriptions
[/quote]

I am very much afraid it IS. :-(
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: madelaide on August 25, 2008, 17:41
Given the reported problems of images being uploaded by people other than the authors, this may well be the case.

Regards,
Adelaide
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: sharpshot on August 25, 2008, 18:08
So, I often check information of downloads in FT, trying to see my images in action.  I do that googling the buyers name or company name.

I have just searched for my latest dld, a subs ( >:( ).  The buyer's name, Gad Zamir, is associated with software piracy:

Quote
Riverside County sheriff’s investigators on Tuesday arrested a man on suspicion of computer software piracy, and confiscated $238,000 of alleged counterfeit software, 15 computers and $13,000 in cash, authorities said.

County prosecutors are reviewing the case against Gad Zamir, 64, of Menifee.

The eight-month investigation was spurred by complaints to Microsoft and Adobe corporations about defective software beginning in 2002 by buyers who bought Zamir’s software on online auction sites.

Zamir is accused of selling pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Server SQL Enterprise, which at the time retailed for about $25,000, for one-half to one-quarter of the retail price.

I guess this is a very uncommon name to be a coincidence, so I suspect the buyer is either this man himself or someone who is playing about his infamous past.  Quite frankly, possibly someone buying images cheap to redistribute them, like this guy did with software.

I hate subscriptions!!

Regards,
Adelaide

Did you report this to FT?  I can't see how it is in their interest to have people like this as their customers.
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: jsolie on August 25, 2008, 19:38
Did you report this to FT?  I can't see how it is in their interest to have people like this as their customers.

I don't know if reporting it is going to do much good--about all they could do would be to verify the authenticity of the sale, and possibly check the purchasing patterns of the account holder.  I "google'd" the article and found it--mainly because I don't live too far from Menifee.  This date on the article is in February of 2007, so I'm not too sure about the likelihood that the purchaser is the same as the person in the article.
Title: Re: Suspicious or not?
Post by: madelaide on August 25, 2008, 21:33
I posted this in FT forum, and the topic mysteriously disappeared.   :-\

I'm not saying it's the same guy, although the name sounds quite peculiar to be a coincidence.  If someone is using his name, however, it is suspicious as well. 

Regards,
Adelaide