I just started at pg 793 and worked backwards to pg 777. In those pages I saw packs with photodisc, veerfancyfresh, digital vision getty, getty, shutterstock, inmagine and brandx watermarks. Just incredible.

Do rapidshare et all really care about this?  They surely know they are a repository of illegal material.

I agree that we all need to write when we find our files misused, but it's almost pointless if these hosts continue to allow this kind of abuse.  I think it's only going to stop if/when the agencies put some serious legal muscle into having them shut down.

I agree with both, Lica and Stocastic.
Lisa, I think that one person who would be paid to search for these kind of websites would pay off quickly. It seems that agencies don't really care much about it. Probably because they get tens of thousands of new images every week from us. Pirates can't really follow that tempo.

Pirates can't really follow that tempo.

the sad thing is how much time and energy these guys are spending in order to save what ? a 0.10$ subscription for lowres RF images ?

Edit: yeah, the site is loading really slow today. Maybe all the contributors checking for their work are overloading the servers.

With 400 people here, it's possible to launch a DOS-attack to their servers without too much load on your own PC. 
They aren't that strong since the main bandwidth goes to RapidShare. You can suck them dry. You can report the links to RapidShare with the proper wording and Rapidshare is known to act rapidly. You can't stop them totally but you can make their life miserable.

these guys also spend time photoshopping a cover image !



http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1902686/4651332/


and read the user comments ... "Thank you so much for all your stock photos that you have uploaded!
I am an avid photoshop user, and sxc.hu does not always meet my needs!
Thank you so much for your commitment and hard work!"


... so SXC sucks but paying 1$ on SS or IS is too expensive for them ??

IMPORTANT: the images have not been taken down, the order has just been shifted. I just found my image that was on page 12 is now on page 16.

Well, if the stock sites aren't doing anything about this ,than maybe it is pointless. How can you stop it? I went through the first 10 pages and found a bunch of my images, not about to start emailing everyone, would take forever. They would probably just show me the finger anyway. Best solution is to protect your future and don't sell Subs, or live with it ,because it's not going to stop unless the sites get involved. Not even sure if that will help.

Well, if the stock sites aren't doing anything about this ,than maybe it is pointless. How can you stop it? I went through the first 10 pages and found a bunch of my images, not about to start emailing everyone, would take forever. They would probably just show me the finger anyway. Best solution is to protect your future and don't sell Subs, or live with it ,because it's not going to stop unless the sites get involved. Not even sure if that will help.

I emailed several people, took about 1/2 hour of my time. If you found a bunch of images, think of the lost revenue you are suffering because of this. Sure, they will ALL show us the finger, that's what thieves do.

Please stop pointing the finger at the subs on this! I don't know why everybody is accusing subs...that's not the only problem. There are MANY pages with Getty watermark, brand x watermark, veer watermark, istockphoto watermark...sean locke is, and as far as I know always has been, exclusive with istockphoto. His images can ONLY be downloaded from istock. He is not participating in Thinkstock, as far as I know. Yet his images are there with a shutterstock watermark! This affects every single site and every single contributor!


And the sites ARE involved. And you don't even have to draft the letters! They have been written for you. Many can be found on this forum. All you have to do is provide the link of your stolen image and the link to your copyrighted image.

Do you know the saying "it takes a village to raise a child?" It takes a village to get something to change. We all need to help each other on this. I sound like a cheerleader.  

sean locke is, and as far as I know always has been, exclusive with istockphoto. His images can ONLY be downloaded from istock. He is not participating in Thinkstock, as far as I know. Yet his images are there with a shutterstock watermark!

I can't seem to find this one with an SS mark.  Can you link me to it again?

As the pages of uploads increase every hour, it seems to shift all content around so your images may not be on the same page as they were a while ago. I sent an email to www.getvn.com and got a response back from [email protected]. It is just signed Admin. When you go to the DMCA notice at the bottom of the rapidshare pages and click the link, it takes you to a DCMA policy. There is a link in there that says Send the Written Infringement HERE. That opens up a form that goes to Admin. Apparently getvn is rapidshare.

This is so phony I cannot believe people can get away with this stuff. Very frustrating, that's for sure.

EDIT: After providing a screenshot of my image on the page, I received an email back from the above saying it has been removed. After searching pg 16 and a few before and after, I do not see it. But they are definitely shuffling content all the time. What is on page 1 right now is not what was there this morning. In fact, right now, there is an image pack with Dreamstime's logo on it.

Quote from: FD-amateur on March 28, 2010, 09:27

Quote from: cclapper on March 28, 2010, 08:07

IMPORTANT: the images have not been taken down, the order has just been shifted. I just found my image that was on page 12 is now on page 16.

The Rapidshare link should be the same, so report it to Rapidshare.

yes but it will be a neverending cat & mouse game.

what we need is SS, IS, Getty, Corbis, making some legal move in order to shut down these sites.

besides, what's the point in asking rapidshare to take down the files.
THEY are actually hosting pirated/warezed content, why should they ever get out
as innocent "middleman" ?

Rapidshare is a german based company, in the EU we have clear laws about IP
infringment, and judging from the recent lawsuits against YouTube the ones
hosting illegal contents are even more guilty than the guys simply providing links.

I agree but I feel I must do something rather than nothing at all.

According to whois, the nameserver for this company is www.enom.com (I think). I sent them a DMCA notice, too. It's kind of like shell corporations...you can never really get to the bottom of anything because it all disguised in another phony layer.