Agency Based Discussion > Shutterstock.com
Shutterstock suspicious accounts "wackamoles" update
stockastic:
A few years ago SS was talking grandly about how they were a "technology" company with a big R&D group.
I think they built a system so automated and so complicated that they can't manage it anymore; and some employees, partners and other 'insiders' have figured out how to play it. People with access are bringing in other people's stolen portfolios for a price, direct, no 'upload' and no inspection, thousands of images at a time. They've probably lost enough key development people by now that they're afraid to touch the code, can't take the risk of breaking things, and don't have enough monitoring hooks in place.
Its too late, the ship has sailed... they can't afford to pay new people to look back at 100 million images and decide what's real anymore. Even if they did, how many of those poorly paid 'inspectors' could they trust?
noodle:
--- Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 08:54 ---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...
--- End quote ---
You are amazing doing this
Were it not for your persistence and outspokenness, SS would have ignored this whole matter and just carried on status quo
You should be offered some kind of compensation from SS for what you’ve done and are continuing to do
So many have bitched and complained about this problem, but until you came along SS did nothing about it
You sir, deserve much kudos !
Brasilnut:
--- Quote from: noodle on January 27, 2019, 13:11 ---
--- Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 08:54 ---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...
--- End quote ---
So many have bitched and complained about this problem
--- End quote ---
Thanks!
I think you hit the nail in the head there. Most people just complain but don't do anything about it.
What I've done, with the help of others, is not rocket science. Simply created a list with links and updated regularly. There were already numerous links in various threads, all I did was consolidated into one thread and post.
Time consuming: fk yea, but so is bitching with no purpose.
Not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up though as the weather/light will be improving soon and I much rather be out shooting than wacking moles!
--- Quote ---You should be offered some kind of compensation from SS for what you’ve done and are continuing to do
--- End quote ---
Not expecting anything, but someone from their management has recently contacted me directly to assist them on improving their anti-fraud processes.
Uncle Pete:
--- Quote from: noodle on January 27, 2019, 13:11 ---
--- Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 08:54 ---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...
--- End quote ---
You are amazing doing this
Were it not for your persistence and outspokenness, SS would have ignored this whole matter and just carried on status quo
You should be offered some kind of compensation from SS for what you’ve done and are continuing to do
So many have bitched and complained about this problem, but until you came along SS did nothing about it
You sir, deserve much kudos !
--- End quote ---
Many of us reported and reported and got back "we'll look into it" or how to file a DMCA if we were the owner. I think bringing the problem to the forum there for everyone to see, not one here and there, but the whole big list of hundreds, got someones attention. Bringing this to the forum was a good way to finally break down the lip service and never actually doing anything.
Exposing how large the problem is, did it. As long as there was an email here and there and a complaint on the forum, we got ignored. I doubt that the threats of exposing this or a class action suit had anything to do with the change. Showing everything about how big the problem is, to everyone, anyone can read the forum right? That's what worked.
I think it was Alex's big list that did the trick.
DavidK:
Absolutely spot on. With Alexandre' s initiative and the hard work of all those involved SS has been effectively manoeuvred into a position where they can no longer simply ostrich the problem. I think it has also exposed for all to see an embarrassing hole in their infrastructure which if left unchecked would undoubtedly leave them highly exposed in terms of litigation. One glaring example that comes to mind is the "berries" shot in one of the threads over there. A shot which returns nothing but the same image multiple times in the "similars" grid in search results. Unbelievable how tenuous their platform really is. Either that or the extent of collusion at some level.
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