Posted by Bill Chambers on March 13, 2006 at 11:58 AM
Beware - Stumbleupon.com - Evidently this is another site that is willingly stealing images without even giving recognition as to the artist. I saw a warning on another forum and pulled it up and sure enough there was a Marc Adumus image on one of the first pages I saw. Of course it didn't give Marc credit, but there was a link to Photonet where Marc was listed as the artist.
Anyway, y'all may already know about this place but I thought I would mention it. I didn't see anyone else's name I recognized but I was only there for 2-3 minutes max.
Between this and the recent uproar about orphan works, I finally decided to stamp a copyright on my web images (which I never liked and still don't) and disable hot linking on my site.
Guy
Posted by Marc Adamus on March 13, 2006 at 12:54 PM
Won't be the last time that happens. Seriously, of all my images that get stolen for web use (dozens of them all the time) 75% come from my PNet galleries. I'd say beware of PNet if you're afraid of unlicesed image use online. Something about that site really attracts image theft. Personally, I'm not going to make a big deal over it unless it's being used commercially.
Marc, I even have a screenshot of a member there who put together a page of images that when someone clicked on one of the thumbnails/images, they get paid for it!
Want to see it, let me know and I will e-mail it to you. One of yours could even be on there!
There is plenty of hotlinking on that site too, ...... a huge amount of hotlinking!
Actually there is not only credit given, but the whole NPN page for the critique on it.
All you have to do is click on the "Display Photo" link at the top.
Also, it doesn't look like the site is taking the image. It looks like the guy from Italy that posted it is.
I just checked my logs and see that stumbleupon is a referrer. I've tried to find any links or images within that site to no avail. What a mess that place is, but I guess if you're used to the blogging thing it might make better sense. Any ideas on how to search for yourself within that site?
Marc, you can go to this page here to see some of your images. In fact, there are plenty of your images all over that site. Popular guy you are!
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/30/
A few below your set of images, there is a image of mine of a hoverfly.
Michael, some of the image's names that they lift from other sites may remain the same, while other images are renamed.
Most of the ones that I found of mine, and of other individuals, were found as I "StumbleUpon" them.
That name really fits the site!!
There are thousands of images on that site that have been lifted. Many, many sites that are hotlinked.
Some members have well over 1000 images and links on their personal page, and virtually all images do not belong to those members!
Again, about the only way that you will find any that belong to you is to luck up while you are browsing one's personal page.
I don't think you could see them all in a years worth of searching!!!
Nature images, in particular landscapes, are quite popular!
WOW
There are some absolutely incredable images on that site!!!!!!
Check out these two page,,,,,,
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/40/
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/80/
I don't know who posted most of them, but the ones that do have IDs all went to the photographers web site, and I have not seen a single one that tried to promote something else. One page went to a bunch of sayings and quotes, and had "borrowed" images to go with the writing, but again, not to sell or promote anything. Not that that is still not stealing if you want to call it that.
Some images are renamed, some images have been cropped and the copyright removed, and still, a whole bunch of hotlinking.
And again, "ectoplasma" has created a "pay per click" page, with mine and some other photographers images as well.
How many other members are doing it is beyond me. Far to many to search!!
Does not matter if someone is simply showing sites/links and/or images that they like.
With this thing about "Orphan Works" on the horizon, I would not want anybody to be posting my images somewhere and removing any valuable information about that image.
This could easily allow those who would use the "Orphan Works" bull to have themselves a virtual field day!!
Posted by Walter Rowe on March 15, 2006 at 12:41 PM
Hotlinking is very easy to stop via the .htaccess file. This topic has been discussed numerous times. This is part of what is in my .htaccess file. Change the list of URL's to suit your own site and desires and place a copy in the root directory of your web site. It is that simple.
Note in the last two lines I reference a file called "nohotlinks.gif". This is an image file I created that gets displayed in place of the image the thief tried to hotlink to. I have attached my nohotlinks.gif to this message so you can see what I put in it. It has a transparent background with text. Feel free to use it or create one of your own.
I support your decision but for my own images I find this approach to be a bit extreme. If you start with the assumption that people hot-link your images because they like them and that in fact there's some added exposure value to you, then the approach of stamping your site URL on the image seems more effective to me. Whether someone found my image on my own site or elsewhere - the important thing (to me) is they did find it and they know to associate it with my name and where to find more if they are interested.
Guy
Posted by Walter Rowe on March 15, 2006 at 4:19 PM
I do stamp all my images with my copyright notice and website URL. If I find entries in my logfile where I would like people to continue hotlinking my images, I add them to my .htaccess file. I have found several places like that. There are several, though, that I absolutely do not support. Those get the ugly remarks in my replacement image.
The majority of image theft I have found are on music fan sites where people have made physical copies of my images and placed them in their gallery. Normally, I contact them and through a few polite messages they get my trust and I allow them to use them in their gallery. I find those through Google Image searches for my filename patterns.
Walter - that makes sense. I guess I just don't have the patience to filter through web logs and handle this on a case by case basis (which is probably the most effective way to go but is pretty labor-intensive).
As long as my legal rights are not geopardized (as in the orphan works proposal) I'm hoping to make the best of a bad situation and at least make sure that when someone does use my work, I at least get the credit and some name recognition.
Discussion
14 repliesAnyway, y'all may already know about this place but I thought I would mention it. I didn't see anyone else's name I recognized but I was only there for 2-3 minutes max.
Between this and the recent uproar about orphan works, I finally decided to stamp a copyright on my web images (which I never liked and still don't) and disable hot linking on my site.
Guy
Want to see it, let me know and I will e-mail it to you. One of yours could even be on there!
There is plenty of hotlinking on that site too, ...... a huge amount of hotlinking!
That site should be took down!
All you have to do is click on the "Display Photo" link at the top.
Also, it doesn't look like the site is taking the image. It looks like the guy from Italy that posted it is.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=4133428
Jim, do you know that this site is using NPN pages????????????
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/30/
A few below your set of images, there is a image of mine of a hoverfly.
Michael, some of the image's names that they lift from other sites may remain the same, while other images are renamed.
Most of the ones that I found of mine, and of other individuals, were found as I "StumbleUpon" them.
That name really fits the site!!
There are thousands of images on that site that have been lifted. Many, many sites that are hotlinked.
Some members have well over 1000 images and links on their personal page, and virtually all images do not belong to those members!
Again, about the only way that you will find any that belong to you is to luck up while you are browsing one's personal page.
I don't think you could see them all in a years worth of searching!!!
Nature images, in particular landscapes, are quite popular!
There are some absolutely incredable images on that site!!!!!!
Check out these two page,,,,,,
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/40/
http://ectoplasma.stumbleupon.com/archive/80/
I don't know who posted most of them, but the ones that do have IDs all went to the photographers web site, and I have not seen a single one that tried to promote something else. One page went to a bunch of sayings and quotes, and had "borrowed" images to go with the writing, but again, not to sell or promote anything. Not that that is still not stealing if you want to call it that.
And again, "ectoplasma" has created a "pay per click" page, with mine and some other photographers images as well.
How many other members are doing it is beyond me. Far to many to search!!
Does not matter if someone is simply showing sites/links and/or images that they like.
With this thing about "Orphan Works" on the horizon, I would not want anybody to be posting my images somewhere and removing any valuable information about that image.
This could easily allow those who would use the "Orphan Works" bull to have themselves a virtual field day!!
http://www.ppa.com/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=543
Guy
Note in the last two lines I reference a file called "nohotlinks.gif". This is an image file I created that gets displayed in place of the image the thief tried to hotlink to. I have attached my nohotlinks.gif to this message so you can see what I put in it. It has a transparent background with text. Feel free to use it or create one of your own.
I support your decision but for my own images I find this approach to be a bit extreme. If you start with the assumption that people hot-link your images because they like them and that in fact there's some added exposure value to you, then the approach of stamping your site URL on the image seems more effective to me. Whether someone found my image on my own site or elsewhere - the important thing (to me) is they did find it and they know to associate it with my name and where to find more if they are interested.
Guy
The majority of image theft I have found are on music fan sites where people have made physical copies of my images and placed them in their gallery. Normally, I contact them and through a few polite messages they get my trust and I allow them to use them in their gallery. I find those through Google Image searches for my filename patterns.
As long as my legal rights are not geopardized (as in the orphan works proposal) I'm hoping to make the best of a bad situation and at least make sure that when someone does use my work, I at least get the credit and some name recognition.
Guy