As I said before. Write article for something like Petapixel. Bad publicity always help. Especially now, with their "We're not stock, we're Shutterstock", when they are trying to bbuild up brand. That kind of publicity sure wouldn't help.

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 19, 2019, 15:35

QuoteThere will be some potentially embarrassing questions asked including exactly how many infringing images are in the database, why existing technology wasn't enabled which could easily ferret out these images, as well as perhaps the most embarrassing one - where did the sales revenue from these stolen images actually go? Was any effort ever made after the discovery of suspect images and deleted accounts to identify and contact the original copyright owners and at the very least turn over any sales revenue? Depending on the findings it  could answer the question many of us are naturally asking ourselves - is Shutterstock actually complicit at this point or not?

Great points above.

As a publicly-listed company this goes to the very heart of corporate responsibility and directors' duties. Stakeholders rely on corporate information to make investment decisions. There are currently 440,000 active accounts generating quarterly sales of $165.46 million (source: https://www.fairfieldcurrent.com/news/2019/02/14/165-46-million-in-sales-expected-for-shutterstock-inc-sstk-this-quarter.html). Can someone guarantee that 5% of those contributor accounts are NOT fraudulent and an unspecified amount generated from those accounts is NOT a "proceed of crime"? If 5% were proved to be fraudulent, how would this affect their reputation and stock price?

SS are of course regularly audited. These past few weeks myself and others have provided auditors with more than enough evidence of the scale of the fraud going on almost unimpeded. SS will probably just do enough to cover themselves until something huge, as stated by DavidK above, occurs. Plaintiffs may find difficultly in claiming for lost profits as I doubt that any of these fraudulent accounts generate much since they're so badly captioned/keyworded, however, there may be other types of claims available. 

I should probably keep going to maintain the momentum so it's brought (again) to the forefront of their attention or at the very least, well-known sources. Just need to find the time and motivation - I've spent about 20 mins on this today and already flagged some 15 accounts, with the help of others. I'm sure if SS devoted 10,000 hours of manpower they would be able to flag at least 44,000 suspicious accounts, which would be equal to at least 1% of their total number of contributors. Simply hire interns based in India, which ironically is where most of the fraudulent accounts are based.

That's so racist.

/s

QuoteThat's so racist.

Out of the 450 moles identified, aprox. 70% are based in India, followed by Pakistan, then Thailand...China...Ukraine...Russia. Need bigger sample though.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Quote from: Dumc on February 19, 2019, 18:14

That's so racist.

/s

No, its a basic statement of facts.

I was being sarcastic. Some members here will immideately point a finger at you as being a racist, when you say, that most thieves come from eastern countries. Like Zero-talent for example.

Quote from: Dumc on February 20, 2019, 14:00
I was being sarcastic. Some members here will immideately point a finger at you as being a racist, when you say, that most thieves come from eastern countries. Like Zero-talent for example.

I figured you were I recall the earlier discussion.

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 19, 2019, 19:37

QuoteThat's so racist.

Out of the 450 moles identified, aprox. 70% are based in India, followed by Pakistan, then Thailand...China...Ukraine...Russia. Need bigger sample though.

Don't shoot the messenger.

So, basically, ranked by GDP per capita, factor in population and the ease to access internet. Gotcha

Factor in economic disparity. Factor out race. Period.

Quote from: DavidK on February 20, 2019, 15:43
Factor in economic disparity. Factor out race. Period.

I don't see where race was mentioned, only locations.

Quote from: cathyslife on February 20, 2019, 17:55

Quote from: DavidK on February 20, 2019, 15:43
Factor in economic disparity. Factor out race. Period.

I don't see where race was mentioned, only locations.

Nor do I. Just commenting on the comments.

It's the mindset.

Glad to report that SS have recently wacked 77 out of 111 remaining moles!

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 20, 2019, 20:16
Glad to report that SS have recently wacked 77 out of 111 remaining moles!

And now it seems they've publicly warned you not to do it on the forum anymore. Looks like you've touched a nerve. Really starting to resent SS in an actionable way.

Quote from: DavidK on February 20, 2019, 21:15

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 20, 2019, 20:16
Glad to report that SS have recently wacked 77 out of 111 remaining moles!

And now it seems they've publicly warned you not to do it on the forum anymore. Looks like you've touched a nerve. Really starting to resent SS in an actionable way.

Obviously they don't want the extent of the fraud being made public as discussed earlier.

Was fun while it lasted and now I can focus on making money!

Looks like SS locked that thread on their forums

Bad publicity even though they have brought it on themselves

Shameful SS, shameful

Quote from: DavidK on February 20, 2019, 21:15

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 20, 2019, 20:16
Glad to report that SS have recently wacked 77 out of 111 remaining moles!

And now it seems they've publicly warned you not to do it on the forum anymore. Looks like you've touched a nerve. Really starting to resent SS in an actionable way.

Yeah, I'm thinking I am going to close my account there tomorrow, and I've been there since about 2004. Not like I make much money there, anyway, any more. Everything's probably been stolen already. 

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on January 30, 2019, 11:04

Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 13:54
Summary of last week (week ending Jan 27):

Total moles identified: 250

Moles wacked (by SS) from Jan 20 - 26: 120

Moles pending: 130+ (new accounts identified today)

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/01/27/update-why-shutterstocks-copyright-infringement-problems-should-concern-you/

Complete list:

https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96297-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-jan-27-251-so-far-flagged/

Small victory but huge huge challenges ahead...

I don't know how you feel but it looks like Shutterstock stopped deleting the thieves accounts

They probably pay a bit of lip service and carry on their usual head in the sand  approach

Correct.WE......."WE" Have all the Power my Friends. They own Nothing.

So.....what now? Abandon identifying?

Quote from: PZF on February 21, 2019, 14:03
So.....what now? Abandon identifying?

SS have notified me that the crowdsourced "wackamole" model isn't according to their rules and regulations and runs the risk of identifying legitimate accounts which may be shut down mistakenly.

I cant believe people can also get away with tracing others work. This isnt mine but found it whilst looking for an image.

ORIGINAL
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chocolate-egg-exploded-591617762?src=0X4eAC9v_ULTULXheR6jPg-1-0

TRACED
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brown-egg-exploded-1309887166?src=TcFgiEbSAi4-5OUh1ou35Q-1-29

How do you report this?

Quote from: Ink on February 22, 2019, 08:36

I cant believe people can also get away with tracing others work. This isnt mine but found it whilst looking for an image.

ORIGINAL
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chocolate-egg-exploded-591617762?src=0X4eAC9v_ULTULXheR6jPg-1-0

TRACED
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brown-egg-exploded-1309887166?src=TcFgiEbSAi4-5OUh1ou35Q-1-29

How do you report this?

Sadly I can believe it....for a company that claims it has advanced IT it should be a simple matter to use image matching technology.......if they wanted to.

Thats a bad sign to lock a thread.
If they had an effective QC procedure for approving images and if they had a functioning fraud/misuse system allowing people to bulk report fraudulent accounts the entire thread would not be needed.
The current system where you can only report an individual stolen image and MUST be the original copyright holder to complain is completely unsuited and ineffective for the large scale, factory style abuse profiles.

The fact is they have neither of those so these accounts exist and are still being created and the ONLY time they took action is when people put a lot of their own effort in and went public with it.

You'd have thought they'd welcome people doing their work for them and flagging frauds but apparently not.

Its a bad sign for a company to start locking and restricting, especially when its failed to address the issues that allow the problem in the first place.

I think companies call this not

Quotelocking and restricting,

but ...protecting.



Jokes aside, individuals perhaps have to also protect their work and properties instead of (as the mass of people do) exploiting their content for nothing and offering from mediocre to extra good images or videos or audio or whatever for free, for likes, for trends or for "exposure".

An interesting read on how they basically don't give a rats-arse about protecting our content.

How does Shutterstock investigate infringement claims?
https://www.shutterstock.com/contributorsupport/articles/en_US/kbat02/How-does-Shutterstock-investigate-infringement-claims

So they locked the thread?

Well it just about tells us all we need to know about that company