ms makes these files freely available to anyone on the internet. you do not have to register, sign up or otherwise prove you have ms office:


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=telephone&ex=1#ai:MP900438702%7C

all you have to do is click the download button.

my files were downloaded over 1.3 million times.

there is no copyright name, there is no visible user lkicense. the original announcement on istock was that promotional use of this kind would be limited to personal use only, they would only chose companies who would strictly oversee usage and all files would have names and backlinks to our portfolios.

@sue,

istock promptly had two files removed when somebody uploaded them as their own content on different agencies as sellable stock. They were gone in less than 24hours.

And last year I found content from istock and getty being presented as personal content on flickr and available in large sizes and they got taken down very fast as well.

So yes, I have had very positive experiences with istock support for CE.

I really am a big fan of exclusivity, to me the offset in profits can easily be balanced by less legal costs.

Obviously this was before MS received my "promotional images" and spread them to UNREGISTERED buyers around the globe over 1.3 million times. I mean, did I even mention this before...and I am prepared to mention this over a million times until istock finally gives me a full list of files they have in the Microsoft deal.

It is completely unprofessional that it was contributors that alerted me to the free distribution and not my agent distributor. And it is totally unacceptable that they haven�t provided the affected artist with a full list of their files IMMEDIATLY when asked for. They should have told us years ago, when the deal went wrong and they realized they couldn�t stop what happened.

Unfortunatly, istock has not yet given me a list of files that are in the Microsoft deal. And without Sean and his hard work (again thank you), we wouldn�t know if we are affected by the new Google free redistribution deal.

I have tried to find as many images as possible from the MS site, so here is a lightbox with my files. There seems to be a bug with displaying light boxes (yup another istock bug), so feel free to take a screenshot if you do get the files to load.

I have counted so far 1.3 Million downloads from Microsoft. One of these images, the red bauble with German text has over 655 000 free downloads, but ZERO sales on istock. Basically, these files and their downloads give you real life statistical data of how it affects sales on istock. Obviously - it does not improve them.

1.3 Million downloads is a large enough sample, even if you just have 25 files.

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/lightbox/13103721

Again, there may be more files, I am still waiting for my business partner to give me a full list. especially since the official company lawyer has said that I as a photographer have to watch the internet for a potential abuse of my files.

And for the supposed theoretical new "digital super software" they claim to be developing for following our files for infringement claims - they cannot even get the site to work properly, there are bugs everywhere.

So how are they going to make me believe they have the technological expertise to handle new untested software?

There was a deal in 2006 were a few files were chosen and a small amount was paif for an extended license. But the new deal is all without payment:

To quote the lawyer:

"All of the contributors whose content was licensed to Microsoft were opted in for promotional use. Promotional use includes not only promotional use for a particular contributor but also the istock business, site and files.

A total of approximately 6,000 small and medium files from exclusive contributors were delivered to Microsoft under the Agreement. No content has been provided to Microsoft since early 2010. "

If you are exclusive, you can no longer opt out of this kind of "promotional deal".

I guess most exclusives already know this, in case you haven�t, please check out these two threads.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350291&page=1

And the reply from the istock lawyer today:

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350397&page=1

If you are an istock exclusive, you cannot opt out of this kind of "promotional use". istock also shifts all responsibility in case of image abuse to the artists and we still haven�t been provided with a list of files that are in this "program".

My images have been downloaded over 1.3 Million times. At least those that i have found.

they are freely available on the internet, you don�t need to log in to Microsoft and register to download the file, my copyright name is nowhere visible, the backlink to my portfolio doesn�t work and I was never paid anything for this kind of "free give away to anyone".

Worst of all there is no user agreement to click on before downloading these files.

And commercial use is apparently allowed by the Microsoft EULA (makes sense of course, Microsoft Office is a commercial product)

And going forward there is no opt out for istock exclusives. istock believes they are entitled to do this kind of "promotional use" whenever they like.

I have never heard for any agency in the market acting this way. Ever.

I think the problem is that the photographers don�t sue. That is what the justice system does - it keeps everyone in the business cycle on their toes. If the car manufacturers weren�t suing so aggressively, we would all upload many pictures with cars in them, or any other copyrighted material.

The music industry has done a great job of getting people to pay for their content by buying it online. But they needed court cases to make it painful to go against the law.

The photographers will have to do the same if agencies abuse their images and don�t resolve issues in a timely manner. They don�t own our files, we do.

But court cases and lawyers are so expensive, it also takes up a great amount of your time.

My RCs went up by about 1000 overnight. And here I was thinking it was real

I only had 350 credits missing anway.

Here is your link:

http://www.dreamstime.com/bcritchley_info

Welcome!

It is good for me, because I was about to drop to 30% which would have made me look for the express exit to independence once I got my website done, my files sorted etc...

I will still continue to build my site, but at least I can enjoy Christmas and New Year with family and friends.

My site will anyway drive the traffic to my istock lightboxes for the time being. But from next year on I will actively promote my site to build my brand. I have completly neglected that over the years. But the website can also be used to promote my workshops, or do events at my studio etc...it doesn�t all have to be about stock.

And for many of us this means that they are still interested in keeping their exclusives.

At least for now.

Actually, no, they are not summoned. But as an admin you really live on the site and obviously you want to cheer the other members of the team with whatever it is they work on.

I just registered mine! I hope I can have enough RM content ready in time for your article!

I have thought about Photoshelter but I don�t know how many potential customers would know them in Europe. I could probably customize my website through them as well.

Thank you all. There is a lot to think about and learn.

It is good to know there are well tested options.

For now I am video independent and looking at all my options carefully .

If I really want to move out, there is a lot of work to do. I have seen too many people drop the crown out of emotion with no proper planning what to do next.

Before Rebecca came into the forum and when I thought best match was truly broken, not intentionally working against us, I was very excited about E+ on Getty.

That excitement has cooled off considerably because it is obvious they can dial our content up and down, however it suits them.

The pessimistic attitude towards sales and growth speaks volumes of their intentions. I cannot base my life on whatever "secret expectations" they might have.

So yes, I am looking at options, like I suppose are most exclusives. Unfortunatly not everyone is as talented as Sean. I wish I could build something like accordstock.