Author Topic: Google giving photos away free for commercial use and iStock agrees (Read 258776 times)

Pixart · « **Reply #1150 on:** January 29, 2013, 14:16 »

I couldn't wait until Saturday and just deactivated everything but one. My blackberry is sitting on my desk going Ping Ping Ping.....

I am kicking myself that I didn't leave my shot of the snake pit live for a bit of symbolism, it was too late when I thought of it - but I left the grasshopper shot. In this part of the world grasshoppers are more hated than snakes anyway.

I took screenshots of everything and of thinkstock and photos.com first.

It's a relief. I am so lucky I never depended on this income. I really feel for you guys that do. I know that many readers will say "Do you think Getty gives a rat's a$s?" The answer is No, I don't - but I do.

cathyslife · « **Reply #1151 on:** January 29, 2013, 14:22 »

Quote from: Pixart on January 29, 2013, 14:16

I couldn't wait until Saturday and just deactivated everything but one. My blackberry is sitting on my desk going Ping Ping Ping.....

I am kicking myself that I didn't leave my shot of the snake pit live for a bit of symbolism, it was too late when I thought of it - but I left the grasshopper shot. In this part of the world grasshoppers are more hated than snakes anyway.

I took screenshots of everything and of thinkstock and photos.com first.

It's a relief. I am so lucky I never depended on this income. I really feel for you guys that do. I know that many readers will say "Do you think Getty gives a rat's a$s?" The answer is No, I don't - but I do.

Well said.

sharpshot · « **Reply #1152 on:** January 29, 2013, 17:30 »

Quote from: Pixart on January 29, 2013, 14:16

...I am kicking myself that I didn't leave my shot of the snake pit live for a bit of symbolism...

You could reactivate it. Having seen the post complaining that reactivation takes up admins time, I think it would be another good way to protest.

sdeva · « **Reply #1153 on:** January 30, 2013, 04:42 »

Saw post this morning, tweeted..

https://twitter.com/sdeva/status/296553319369936896

michaeldb · « **Reply #1154 on:** January 30, 2013, 13:50 »

Quote from: sharpshot on January 29, 2013, 17:30

Quote from: Pixart on January 29, 2013, 14:16
...I am kicking myself that I didn't leave my shot of the snake pit live for a bit of symbolism...
You could reactivate it. Having seen the post complaining that reactivation takes up admins time, I think it would be another good way to protest.

Clever idea. I never thought of that.

And speaking of another way to protest, you know those emails IS sends you to notify you of deactivation? If everyone marked them as spam, would a wave of tens of thousands of IS emails tagged as spam maybe cause spam filters to raise IS's spammer score?

cybernesco · « **Reply #1155 on:** January 31, 2013, 00:55 »

Interestingly, iStock is looking for a new Client Relations Representative:

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-jobs-customer-service-Client-Relations-Representative-Getty-Images-iStockphoto-W0QQAdIdZ452458308

sdeva · « **Reply #1156 on:** January 31, 2013, 09:38 »

Getty tweeted today, under WANTED that they want images of people enjoying walk on a beach. All ages and all locations.

Wonder where these images would go? And for what price?

cybernesco · « **Reply #1157 on:** January 31, 2013, 12:58 »

According to Lobo we should get another response soon

Posted By koi88:

Are they even trying to stop this? Has anybody officially said something like: "Oops, this whole Google thing has not turned out the way we wanted. Sorry! We'll try to find a way out."

Lobo:

We will have a follow up to this discussion very soon.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350613&messageid=6833817

ShadySue · « **Reply #1158 on:** January 31, 2013, 13:23 »

Well might Mike Dabell ask if that's iStock soon.

On Monday, Lobo posted:
" How about I see what we can do to start a discussion with exclusives directly. We know the proverbial fence is getting awfully crowded. I know we have been working on a number of comms for the Exclusives. I think we are going to have a news heavy week. "
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350685&messageid=6830907 (Exclusive forum)
And since then ... nada.

Phil · « **Reply #1159 on:** January 31, 2013, 14:25 »

Quote from: cybernesco on January 31, 2013, 12:58

According to Lobo we should get another response soon

Posted By koi88:

Are they even trying to stop this? Has anybody officially said something like: "Oops, this whole Google thing has not turned out the way we wanted. Sorry! We'll try to find a way out."

Lobo:

We will have a follow up to this discussion very soon.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350613&messageid=6833817

friday night dump and run? new communication regime, same as the old...

rimglow · « **Reply #1160 on:** January 31, 2013, 15:54 »

Quote from: Phil on January 31, 2013, 14:25

friday night dump and run? new communication regime, same as the old...

From Lobo: "As we know how people hate the Friday announcements we are going to work on some things this weekend and be prepared for a Monday/Tuesday Newsletter."

ShadySue · « **Reply #1161 on:** January 31, 2013, 15:57 »

Quote from: rimglow on January 31, 2013, 15:54

Quote from: Phil on January 31, 2013, 14:25

friday night dump and run? new communication regime, same as the old...

From Lobo: "As we know how people hate the Friday announcements we are going to work on some things this weekend and be prepared for a Monday/Tuesday Newsletter."

So, clearly they're going to tough it out.
They're not going to offer any assurances about the future, and now they're going to see how many go ahead with deletions.
So far, the queue and the Total Files haven't really decreased, so it's probably only a small minority of people who have stopped uploading and/or are deactivating files.
The only significant thing will be how many big hitters have stopped and how many good-sellers will be deactivated.
People deactivating a few low/no sellers (as I have done) will have no effect.
People deleting slow ports will have no effect.

KarenH · « **Reply #1162 on:** January 31, 2013, 16:03 »

I wonder if they believe this will delay people's D-Day actions.

tickstock · « **Reply #1163 on:** January 31, 2013, 16:17 »

gostwyck · « **Reply #1164 on:** January 31, 2013, 16:19 »

Quote from: KarenH on January 31, 2013, 16:03

I wonder if they believe this will delay people's D-Day actions.

Hmm. I honestly don't believe they have any cards to play so maybe the best they can do is to bluff it out.

If they could have defused the fury in the forums, over the last couple of weeks, then I'm sure that they would have.

stockastic · « **Reply #1165 on:** January 31, 2013, 16:37 »

Next week they'll sound the trumpets and release a "Full Explanation Of The Terms Of the Licensing Agreement With Google", followed by an "Acknowledgement Of The Need To Communicate Better In The Future". Once those cow pies have landed, there will be a "Let's All Move On" post in the forum, and further discussion will be discouraged.

As D-Day approaches, I'm starting to feel the pain, even though I'm just a tiny minnow in this pond. My tiny portfolio contains 1 Photo+ image that sells frequently, bringing in just enough money that deactivating it would hurt. But I've realized that if it got to Google Docs, that could kill its sales elsewhere. As the Google archive grows, surely many buyers will start looking there first to see if they can get what they want for nothing. The licensing situation will remain so confused that many buyers will feel a sort of herd mentality "safety in numbers" when using it.

cathyslife · « **Reply #1166 on:** January 31, 2013, 17:30 »

Quote from: rimglow on January 31, 2013, 15:54

Quote from: Phil on January 31, 2013, 14:25

friday night dump and run? new communication regime, same as the old...

From Lobo: "As we know how people hate the Friday announcements we are going to work on some things this weekend and be prepared for a Monday/Tuesday Newsletter."

So I can't imagine that they are going to put anything legally binding in print, especially in a newsletter. My guess: "we know you're upset and we're working on some new and exciting and awesome things."

StanRohrer · « **Reply #1167 on:** January 31, 2013, 21:50 »

I opened a new thread at iStock concerning image searches. Let's see if it stays open....

Internet search technology is not a cash cow for image infringement today. Maybe sometime in the future, but certainly not today. iStock/Getty seems to want us to think it will help our income. I am certainly not convinced. Here is my example.

This iStock image of mine:
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-132558-auto-1939-chevrolet-with-flames.php?st=d1ab25f

Was used in the Microsoft giveaway:
office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?ex=2&qu=car#ai:MC900440335%7Cmt:0%7C>

It was downloaded from iStock: 142 times.
It was downloaded from Microsoft: 203,056 times.
For a total of: 203,198 downloads.

So if I check some of the search engines around the internet, I find....
Google (Images): 20 hits (most at iStock sites)
Bing (images 1939 chevrolet flames): 1 (at iStock)
Bing (Yellow classic car with flames): 0
TinEye: 3 (1 at iStock)
Yandex: 0 (in 30 pages)

So a few popular image search engines found a total of 21 hits (many from iStock sites that are not infringements) for a percentage found of 0.01% of the 203, 198 downloads. In my opinion, neither Getty, iStock, nor the contributor, has a chance of using image search technology today to find miss-used images in the wild for the purpose of making money.

Granted, I have not tried PicScout. But unless it finds 20,000 hits (10%), then I don't want to hear how Getty thinks this fancy technology will save the day, today, with recovering funds for miss-used photos.

Has anyone else tried similar searches on different images? On other image search engines? On Pic Scout?

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351107&page=1

eyeidea · « **Reply #1168 on:** January 31, 2013, 23:58 »

Just found one of my images on Google Drive. And it's free! yay!

Time to make more changes.

KarenH · « **Reply #1169 on:** February 01, 2013, 00:25 »

Quote from: StanRohrer on January 31, 2013, 21:50

I opened a new thread at iStock concerning image searches. Let's see if it stays open....

Looks like it's gone.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #1170 on:** February 01, 2013, 00:36 »

Quote from: eyeidea on January 31, 2013, 23:58

Just found one of my images on Google Drive. And it's free! yay!

Time to make more changes.

Sorry to hear you got caught in the net. If you do deactivate files, can you keep tabs on the number to post in the Tally thread

StanRohrer · « **Reply #1171 on:** February 01, 2013, 07:25 »

Quote from: KarenH on February 01, 2013, 00:25

Quote from: StanRohrer on January 31, 2013, 21:50
I opened a new thread at iStock concerning image searches. Let's see if it stays open....

Looks like it's gone.

Via sitemail Lobo said he didn't want that discussion tonight. I figure we will hear more of the side note of Getty working to preserve our image use via internet searches (which I believe are still very flawed).

Noedelhap · « **Reply #1172 on:** February 01, 2013, 14:59 »

Does the Istock/Google deal also affect vector contributors, i.e. are vector contributors at risk too?

tickstock · « **Reply #1173 on:** February 02, 2013, 13:29 »

michaeldb · « **Reply #1174 on:** February 02, 2013, 20:36 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on February 01, 2013, 14:59

Does the Istock/Google deal also affect vector contributors, i.e. are vector contributors at risk too?

One of my IS vectors is in the Google-Drive thing, but as a JPG. I don't think native eps files are available, just raster exports of the vectors.

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Author Topic: Google giving photos away free for commercial use and iStock agrees (Read 258776 times)

Pixart

cathyslife

sharpshot

sdeva

michaeldb

cybernesco

sdeva

cybernesco

ShadySue

Phil

rimglow

ShadySue

KarenH

tickstock

gostwyck

stockastic

cathyslife

StanRohrer

eyeidea

KarenH

Jo Ann Snover

StanRohrer

Noedelhap

tickstock

michaeldb

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