WOW!! thanks for the heads up, he has 36 of mine >:(
Well, I checked the images he stole from me. The only place I have had these images downloaded from is ShutterStock. I have them other places, but they are new and have not received any downloads. Can others who have had their images stolen look to see where they have been downloaded from? I understand that this may be hard for some of the nicer images he stole. The 2 images he stole from me are not my best, so I understand that they don't get many downloads. This also leads me to believe that this is just some loser with no brain. I have much better images he could have stolen, at least I think so. I do not think this has something to do with GalaStock, but that is my 2 cents.
While searching for my name on google, I found some of my pictures credited to someone else.
How did you manage that, if I may ask? Weren't your stolen pictures under the robber's name? So why did they show up?
| Stolen Image | Galastock |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327304 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFESEVAX |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327293 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFESF1ca |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327295 | http://www.galastock.com/watering_can/flower_21271.html |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327291 | http://www.galastock.com/orange_green/cat_21220.html |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327651 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFASF1EW |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327654 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFASF1EU |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327672 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFASF1AW |
| http://www.fotolia.com/id/1327778 | http://www.galastock.com/?x=fTgTeF4UAzt4FD4eE0V7flFPLPYGFASFlEU |
Has anyone contacted Galastock?
THis maybe an issue with one of their reviewers. From my understanding, most sites download full versions to reviewers computers for them to check. There is then an element of trust with all sites that their reviewers do not keep them on their system.
Dear all!!!
It is really awful incident!!! Deniss Kolesnikovs WAS our employee till today's morning... :'( He had account on galastock as photographer... But after this incident he was fired! It's was of course my fault, as his chief ...
Ohh... what a theatrical mea-culpa :'(
And so what ?
What about our stolen images ?
What about the rest of our submitted images ? Were they stolen too ?
What law suit are you going to take as a stock house owner after such a copyright infringement case ?
Do you really think you'll be done with just a 3 lines answer ?
Come on !
Well, I checked the images he stole from me. The only place I have had these images downloaded from is ShutterStock. I have them other places, but they are new and have not received any downloads. Can others who have had their images stolen look to see where they have been downloaded from? I understand that this may be hard for some of the nicer images he stole. The 2 images he stole from me are not my best, so I understand that they don't get many downloads. This also leads me to believe that this is just some loser with no brain. I have much better images he could have stolen, at least I think so. I do not think this has something to do with GalaStock, but that is my 2 cents.
Well, I checked the images he stole from me. The only place I have had these images downloaded from is ShutterStock. I have them other places, but they are new and have not received any downloads. Can others who have had their images stolen look to see where they have been downloaded from? I understand that this may be hard for some of the nicer images he stole. The 2 images he stole from me are not my best, so I understand that they don't get many downloads. This also leads me to believe that this is just some loser with no brain. I have much better images he could have stolen, at least I think so. I do not think this has something to do with GalaStock, but that is my 2 cents.
Hello, downloads doesn't matter. Galastock has access to all your images regardless if they were downloaded or not. You uploaded your images to them. The site is a scam, I could tell that in less than an hour's research and I warned about them before this even came up. I have over 2000 images on ShutterStock and not a single one turned up in this guys portfolio, ShutterStock is legit
Well, I checked the images he stole from me. The only place I have had these images downloaded from is ShutterStock. I have them other places, but they are new and have not received any downloads. Can others who have had their images stolen look to see where they have been downloaded from? I understand that this may be hard for some of the nicer images he stole. The 2 images he stole from me are not my best, so I understand that they don't get many downloads. This also leads me to believe that this is just some loser with no brain. I have much better images he could have stolen, at least I think so. I do not think this has something to do with GalaStock, but that is my 2 cents.
Hello, downloads doesn't matter. Galastock has access to all your images regardless if they were downloaded or not. You uploaded your images to them. The site is a scam, I could tell that in less than an hour's research and I warned about them before this even came up. I have over 2000 images on ShutterStock and not a single one turned up in this guys portfolio, ShutterStock is legit
Hello nruboc, please do not twist my words. I understand ShutterStock is legit, and I have never believed otherwise. Maybe you just misunderstood what I wrote. I simply stated that is the only place I have had the images downloaded from. This is not something new to stock photography, especially micro stock. Most of the time you find people download the images and then "go crazy" and decide to upload them as their own. In this case, it looks like an inside job.
Now you stated that you found GalaStock to be a scam. I did not find the same information, but then, I did not spend an hour researching this. Can you provide more information? I believed GalaStock was a valid stock house, but now I am not so sure. A 3 line response for such a major offense in this industry does not cut it. If you have more info, please share.
As for GalaStock, I would expect much, much more in response. As a photographer's agent, there are responsibilities. I would expect much more communication from GalaStock to the photographers that were a victim here. I would also expect to see legal actions taken by GalaStock. A quick response from GalaStock is in order. We will see what type of company GalaStock is based on this issue.
And I would like to assure you that such awful situation is not possible for us in future!
This his action – posting stolen images on Fotolia – of course is theft! But as result of this awful situation – we revise our staff, we have fired this stupid whipper-snapper who do not understand what is internet, what is serious business there!
We apologise to all victims of it! And I would like to assure you that such awful situation is not possible for us in future!
Well, it won't happen for you in the future if your site goes under.
We apologise to all victims of it! And I would like to assure you that such awful situation is not possible for us in future!
Every image stock site has the people which have an access to the photo’s originals. This people – staff of the photobank , trusted staff. We made mistake with Deniss Kolesnikovs – he betrays our trust.
This his action – posting stolen images on Fotolia – of course is theft! But as result of this awful situation – we revise our staff, we have fired this stupid whipper-snapper who do not understand what is internet, what is serious business there!
We apologise to all victims of it! And I would like to assure you that such awful situation is not possible for us in future!
I honestly don't think we should trust your definition of "theft." The reason I never joined your site is that parts of your user agreement were lifted verbatim from CanStock. Whenever you plagiarize another person's work, as your site did with that user agreement, it is theft.
You have no credibility with me.This his action – posting stolen images on Fotolia – of course is theft! But as result of this awful situation – we revise our staff, we have fired this stupid whipper-snapper who do not understand what is internet, what is serious business there!
We apologise to all victims of it! And I would like to assure you that such awful situation is not possible for us in future!
I think it's time to let this "site" die. We have more than enough evidence that, at the least, there is no image security. At the worst, it's run by outright scammers.
Actually, the people I worry about are the buyers, who may have used credit cards and are now at serious risk of identity and credit theft.
What bothers me isn't so much that it happened, but the response to what happened. :(
giving galastock the benefit of the doubt, i think any site could be victim of the same situation. An employee seeing a basket full of images, and deciding to take a few and try to make a few bucks. I don't think that alone makes them fraudulent. However it doesn't encourage me to upload images either.
More thought, and I may be wading in deep **** here, but maybe taking this thread to the broadcast media might result in the culprit and GalaStock becoming accountable in a legal and/or monetary form. Could save a lot of individual lawsuits for those inclined to take it that far. I just think it's a totally newsworthy event that we have participated in--or, am I living in fantasy land?
P__
More thought, and I may be wading in deep **** here, but maybe taking this thread to the broadcast media might result in the culprit and GalaStock becoming accountable in a legal and/or monetary form. Could save a lot of individual lawsuits for those inclined to take it that far. I just think it's a totally newsworthy event that we have participated in--or, am I living in fantasy land?
P__
Probably fantasy land... ;)
Wasn't thinking about an international lawsuit. I was thinking more in the line of exposure, creating guilt, and letting the world know that such actions will not be tolerated--and that the Internet is a powerful tool in crime busting. Sorting out the international **** was not the purpose of my suggestion--exposure of this incident was the purpose.
P__
I'm not sure of the laws in Latvia, but I doubt that an international lawsuit would come about from all of this. Who would have the money to hire a lawyer for something like this? How much would be gained from the lawsuit (probably nothing)? How does Latvia treat copyright law?
On top of all of that, the photos were submitted to a French site. So in which country does the case reside?
The more I think about this situation, I believe we have all been witness to a remarkable event. Together, as a community, we have managed to expose a thief and a suspect microstock site. It is a tribute to the Internet, Tyler (leaf) as host of this forum, and all the contributers to the link that we have been able to do this. Good detective work by searching the net and ferreting out the culprit have accomplished a valuable result. It may be a link that should be preserved for historical reference. Kuddos to us all.
JMHO.
Pat
The more I think about this situation, I believe we have all been witness to a remarkable event. Together, as a community, we have managed to expose a thief and a suspect microstock site. It is a tribute to the Internet, Tyler (leaf) as host of this forum, and all the contributers to the link that we have been able to do this. Good detective work by searching the net and ferreting out the culprit have accomplished a valuable result. It may be a link that should be preserved for historical reference. Kuddos to us all.
JMHO.
Pat
Kuddos to ALL of us??? Let's see what happened really:
1. Somebody, Deniss Whoteverhisname, was hired as a image reviewer.
2. He, as most reviewers have to do, depending on the system, had to download the pics on his computer to see them at 100%
3. And decided to keep them and resubmit them, under his name, to another site.
4. And now we blame the site he was working for, even if we have no proof that the management of this site was involved...
Justice, I don't know...
SY
PD It was NOT the first time, I know of at least two previous times more... It didn't end up in a witch hunt like this time because, perhaps, the sites involved were all "established" and none of them a newcomer...