Author Topic: have you seen this? shutterstock stealing "ai" + "modern slavery statement" (Read 1690 times)

SuperPhoto · « **on:** January 22, 2023, 13:30 »

So the AI thing is interesting - if done ethically... (And, also - its not true "AI" of course, but rather doing mashups with computer algorithms from actual contributor creators)... But anyways...

Yes, "everyone" knows shutterstock is "bad" - but I didn't realize just HOW bad...! So... shutterstock has no problem stealing from contributors - and saying 'oh no! they can't use/submit AI'... BUT... if it is THEM doing it, then apparently 100% okay? And - "they" (shutterstock) wants to make sure that SHUTTERSTOCK gets paid, for using people's "trained" (stolen) content? See below...

And, if contributors have the option of opting in/or out of the 'training data', are told up front what they would be compensated for their work - and then have the CHOICE... that is one thing... But... the way SS is doing things, very bad. (And - it CAN be done retroactively too - despite what they may "claim" - programatically it is very easy to 'remove' contributors who don't wish to be included in the "training data" - and retrain based on the remaining data set...)

So here: http://shutterstock.com/generate

In the "All your AI-generated image questions answered." near the bottom, it says:

Does the main Shutterstock library of images contain AI-generated content?

We do not have AI-generated images in our core library today. AI-generated content may not be uploaded to Shutterstock because, per our Contributor Terms of Service (Section 13d and 13f), contributors must have proven IP ownership of all content that is submitted. Because AI content generation models leverage the IP of many artists and their content, AI-generated content ownership cannot be assigned to an individual and must instead compensate all artists who were involved in the creation of each new piece of content. (cough cough bullsh_t, first of all not an effective way of checking that without a little bit of work, secondly, probably a lot of contributors that used it weren't aware of this clause, no really even read it/etc)... But let's assume that is the case..

Anyways...

I then find it super amusing (and evil too, of course) that shutterstock then expects someone using their "free ai" tool - to signup/subscribe to their service?
https://www.shutterstock.com/signup?site=image&landing_page=%2Fgenerate

Shutterstock:
(a) Misleads. Says "oh get a free image!"...
(b) You try and get so called free image - then they prompt you to sign up for a subscription if you click on download (apparently you need to click 'try' to access it - but psychologically most people with be expecting the highlighted red 'download' button to be the one they use)... AND - it seems they only give you one "watermark free" image (it seems every image after that has a BIG 'ol shutterstock watermark, and you need to "pay" to get rid of it)...
(and if you generate one - they want you to pay for it - big watermarks with any "free" versions - so no "free trial" there)...
to pay for "free images" from "ai content", and/or "enhanced" images that go $1000's of dollars... which - I'm pretty sure contributors see "0" from...

And charges anywhere from $2 all the way up to $1000's of dollars, depending on your license... Pretty sure the way SS has structured it, the contributors don't see any of that...

Also - it turns out their "free tool" - they only let you use once or twice before being prompted to pay $50/month to continue using - and they proudly say "you can use OUR AI"... - no... it's based off of contributors work that they are trying to not pay at all...

Then, as I was reading their terms, I found this peculiar/interesting - never noticed this on their website before:
https://www.shutterstock.com/modern-slavery-statement

"Modern Slavery Statement"? Basically - that shutterstock is "committed" to not supporting slavery? haha <erm> with the "prices" they pay contributors and the amount the "investors" keep to themselves... not sure how on track they are to this "goal"... just pretty funny an "image" website has that on their main page... Bottom right hand corner, small print. I also find this very funny in that statement too: "Our internal Code of Conduct and Business Ethics reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing" Mmm hmm... "good news! we take more of your money, and give you less, but try and repackage a good thing and hope you are desperate enough to accept the crumbs will throw your way!"

Anyways. Interesting. Your thoughts?

I think there is a very strong case for contributors to go after SS, because they are not being fairly compensated (and in some cases, not compensated at all)...

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #1 on:** January 22, 2023, 14:18 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on January 22, 2023, 13:30

...Anyways. Interesting. Your thoughts?...

I hadn't seen that page full of PR bollocks about how SS complies with the UK's 2015 modern slavery act. But supposing everything they said there was fantasy - what sort of enforcement mechanisms are there to call them out? I assume nothing of consequence. So they write the honeyed words, feel accomplished and move on to trying to keep the stock price going up.

Having laws with no active enforcement mechanisms is just a PR exercise

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2023, 00:46 »

From a high point in 2018 with SS I can now barely afford the electricity to turn on the PC to check my pathetic earnings with this crowd of "on trend" wankers

In the meantime oringer lives the high life along with his parasitic modern day plantation owners

thx9000 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2023, 07:40 »

So sick of their cringe virtue signaling, any mail from them that is not a payout report goes straight to the trash bin

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2023, 10:40 »

Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

cascoly · « **Reply #5 on:** January 23, 2023, 13:46 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 23, 2023, 10:40

Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

absolutely -and all these claims ignore the fact that they AGREED to let SS use their images, but likely they haven't(can't?) read the TOS

Lowls · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2023, 18:18 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 23, 2023, 10:40

Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

It's not dumb Pete
1. That's why its called modern slavery
2. Old type slavery is rife and is rising particularly thanks to gangs of Eastern Europeans. Worryingly more and more missing people are being found having been trapped in houses for over a decade and forced to clean peoples houses at their masters behest and get given dog food to survive. In fact only today teenagers have been abducted from uk hotels where ... After escaping to the UK these ilegal immigrants... teenagers have been taken in large numbers to run what is called County lines operations.
A teenager will be abducted and given a debt for helping them. The debt will never be paid. Their families are threatened. The teenager will be given clothes matching the area where they will be placed. Once there they find a drug user and force the drug user to house them. From there the drug user is given discounted drugs to.lure all the drug user fiends they know. They in turn lure their friends in. The money all goes back to the teenager. The teenager then transports the money back along county lines to the supplier who then gives them more dugs and so the cycle continues. If they run they go missing. Teenagers are on a different judicial system and expendable.

There are many forms of modern slavery and therefore laws had to be created to provide a legal avenue to prosecute these people when found.

Compare that to Americas laws 🙄. It isnt 'woke' it doesn't even fit in that words context. Woke is virtue signalling against an issue that is misunderstood or doesn't exist. Your statement wad actually woke. How funny lol.

And to anyone who claims that a user accepts the terms and conditions of a company when using them and therefore only has themselves to blame and can leave at any time is not correct. The use of our images has been happening since 2019 where no mention of it was stated for A.I. use. The fact that Getty are bringing a legal case against an A.I. company proves that a legal challenge has been explored by those with more intelligence than ... well others.

cascoly · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2023, 23:08 »

Quote from: Lowls on January 23, 2023, 18:18

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 23, 2023, 10:40
Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

It's not dumb Pete
1. That's why its called modern slavery
2. Old type slavery is rife and is rising particularly thanks to gangs of Eastern Europeans. Worryingly more and more missing people are being found having been trapped in houses for over a decade and forced to clean peoples houses at their masters behest and get given dog food to survive. In fact only today teenagers have been abducted from uk hotels where ... After escaping to the UK these ilegal immigrants... teenagers have been taken in large numbers to run what is called County lines operations.
A teenager will be abducted and given a debt for helping them. The debt will never be paid. Their families are threatened. The teenager will be given clothes matching the area where they will be placed. Once there they find a drug user and force the drug user to house them. From there the drug user is given discounted drugs to.lure all the drug user fiends they know. They in turn lure their friends in. The money all goes back to the teenager. The teenager then transports the money back along county lines to the supplier who then gives them more dugs and so the cycle continues. If they run they go missing. Teenagers are on a different judicial system and expendable.

There are many forms of modern slavery and therefore laws had to be created to provide a legal avenue to prosecute these people when found.

Compare that to Americas laws 🙄. It isnt 'woke' it doesn't even fit in that words context. Woke is virtue signalling against an issue that is misunderstood or doesn't exist. Your statement wad actually woke. How funny lol.

And to anyone who claims that a user accepts the terms and conditions of a company when using them and therefore only has themselves to blame and can leave at any time is not correct. The use of our images has been happening since 2019 where no mention of it was stated for A.I. use. The fact that Getty are bringing a legal case against an A.I. company proves that a legal challenge has been explored by those with more intelligence than ... well others.

to liken anything described here to slavery is disgusting!

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #8 on:** January 24, 2023, 00:36 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 23, 2023, 23:08

Quote from: Lowls on January 23, 2023, 18:18
Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 23, 2023, 10:40
Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

It's not dumb Pete
1. That's why its called modern slavery
2. Old type slavery is rife and is rising particularly thanks to gangs of Eastern Europeans. Worryingly more and more missing people are being found having been trapped in houses for over a decade and forced to clean peoples houses at their masters behest and get given dog food to survive. In fact only today teenagers have been abducted from uk hotels where ... After escaping to the UK these ilegal immigrants... teenagers have been taken in large numbers to run what is called County lines operations.
A teenager will be abducted and given a debt for helping them. The debt will never be paid. Their families are threatened. The teenager will be given clothes matching the area where they will be placed. Once there they find a drug user and force the drug user to house them. From there the drug user is given discounted drugs to.lure all the drug user fiends they know. They in turn lure their friends in. The money all goes back to the teenager. The teenager then transports the money back along county lines to the supplier who then gives them more dugs and so the cycle continues. If they run they go missing. Teenagers are on a different judicial system and expendable.

There are many forms of modern slavery and therefore laws had to be created to provide a legal avenue to prosecute these people when found.

Compare that to Americas laws 🙄. It isnt 'woke' it doesn't even fit in that words context. Woke is virtue signalling against an issue that is misunderstood or doesn't exist. Your statement wad actually woke. How funny lol.

And to anyone who claims that a user accepts the terms and conditions of a company when using them and therefore only has themselves to blame and can leave at any time is not correct. The use of our images has been happening since 2019 where no mention of it was stated for A.I. use. The fact that Getty are bringing a legal case against an A.I. company proves that a legal challenge has been explored by those with more intelligence than ... well others.

to liken anything described here to slavery is disgusting!

Its exploitation no matter how its spun.

And here's an interesting set of facts

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Modern Slavery (by total number of slaves) - Global Slavery Index 2018:

India - 7,989,000
China - 3,864,000
North Korea - 2,640,000
Nigeria - 1,386,000
Iran - 1,289,000
Indonesia - 1,220,000
Congo (Democratic Republic of) - 1,045,000
Russia - 794,000
Philippines - 784,000
Afghanistan - 749,000

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-still-have-slavery

And while certain people like to beat their breast about historical slavery they'll do nothing about the slavery that is rife in the 21st century.

thx9000 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 24, 2023, 12:00 »

Quote from: Mimi the Cat on January 24, 2023, 00:36

Quote from: cascoly on January 23, 2023, 23:08
Quote from: Lowls on January 23, 2023, 18:18
Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 23, 2023, 10:40
Slaves were abducted, bought and sold, and forced into that position.

They didn't willingly sign up to be slaves?

Anyone who thought they could make money at stock photos and is unhappy with the agencies or the pay, can quit or leave and do something else. Slaves didn't have a choice and escaping was difficult and dangerous.

Comparing Microstock to being a slave is an insult to the people who lived as or are now slaves, and who have suffered that inhumanity.

Modern Slavery act of the UK and the forced statement for businesses, is just how dumb our world has become. Or is the word woke? Corporations have to issue statements that they don't support slavery?

It's not dumb Pete
1. That's why its called modern slavery
2. Old type slavery is rife and is rising particularly thanks to gangs of Eastern Europeans. Worryingly more and more missing people are being found having been trapped in houses for over a decade and forced to clean peoples houses at their masters behest and get given dog food to survive. In fact only today teenagers have been abducted from uk hotels where ... After escaping to the UK these ilegal immigrants... teenagers have been taken in large numbers to run what is called County lines operations.
A teenager will be abducted and given a debt for helping them. The debt will never be paid. Their families are threatened. The teenager will be given clothes matching the area where they will be placed. Once there they find a drug user and force the drug user to house them. From there the drug user is given discounted drugs to.lure all the drug user fiends they know. They in turn lure their friends in. The money all goes back to the teenager. The teenager then transports the money back along county lines to the supplier who then gives them more dugs and so the cycle continues. If they run they go missing. Teenagers are on a different judicial system and expendable.

There are many forms of modern slavery and therefore laws had to be created to provide a legal avenue to prosecute these people when found.

Compare that to Americas laws 🙄. It isnt 'woke' it doesn't even fit in that words context. Woke is virtue signalling against an issue that is misunderstood or doesn't exist. Your statement wad actually woke. How funny lol.

And to anyone who claims that a user accepts the terms and conditions of a company when using them and therefore only has themselves to blame and can leave at any time is not correct. The use of our images has been happening since 2019 where no mention of it was stated for A.I. use. The fact that Getty are bringing a legal case against an A.I. company proves that a legal challenge has been explored by those with more intelligence than ... well others.

to liken anything described here to slavery is disgusting!

Its exploitation no matter how its spun.

And here's an interesting set of facts

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Modern Slavery (by total number of slaves) - Global Slavery Index 2018:

India - 7,989,000
China - 3,864,000
North Korea - 2,640,000
Nigeria - 1,386,000
Iran - 1,289,000
Indonesia - 1,220,000
Congo (Democratic Republic of) - 1,045,000
Russia - 794,000
Philippines - 784,000
Afghanistan - 749,000

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-still-have-slavery

And while certain people like to beat their breast about historical slavery they'll do nothing about the slavery that is rife in the 21st century.

I'm really curious how they come with these numbers. Some of their criteria are objective and quantifiable - forced military service, forced prison labor. Others are pretty difficult to put a number on - forced marriage, child labor, forced begging, even sexual slavery. Slavery is a pretty strechable term. To play the devil's advocate - Were WWI and WWII soldiers slaves?

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #10 on:** January 24, 2023, 13:03 »

Quote from: Mimi the Cat on January 24, 2023, 00:36

And while certain people like to beat their breast about historical slavery they'll do nothing about the slavery that is rife in the 21st century.

Or protecting the Rain Forest? Something that can actually be done and is important to the future of the planet!

Seems it's more people would rather protest oil, plastic, climate, whales and participate in ever new food fad and fake health discovery that comes along?

I suppose you are right, but forcing a company in the US, doing business in the UK, to have a anti-slavery disclosure is kind of silly. The places that need to fight the problem are usually the ones that ignore their illegal or immoral activities.

Meanwhile a much simpler point. People in Microstock, have the freedom to make choices, and freedom to join, participate or leave. So we are not slaves in any sense of the word.

I don't live, work or deal with anyone who supports slavery. How do I change what's going on in The Islamic Republic of Mauritania? Do I have the right to dictate how they rule and run their own country?

TonyD · « **Reply #11 on:** January 28, 2023, 06:38 »

Quote from: Mimi the Cat on January 23, 2023, 00:46

From a high point in 2018 with SS I can now barely afford the electricity to turn on the PC to check my pathetic earnings with this crowd of "on trend" wankers

In the meantime oringer lives the high life along with his parasitic modern day plantation owners

Yes, I agree. Oringer used to be v helpful to contributors when SS started in 2003 but after ss went public in 2012, he became 'one of the pigs in the corporate trough' People who say (a huge amount of) money will never change them is lying.