more image theft @ http://www.xiongdudu.com

I found a bunch of links from http://www.xiongdudu.com tonight in the stats for my web site.

Doing a google search of the site I found a lot of my images from both my web site and my photo blog: Eurasian Wigeon, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Curve-billed Thrasher, Greater Roadrunner, Lesser Goldfinch, Least Bittern, Black-throated Sparrow, bobcat, Gila Woodpecker, Red-winged Blackbird, various cats, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Black Phoebe, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Lesser Nighthawk, Loggerhead Shrike, Burrowing Owl, Northern Mockingbird, Song Sparrow, Canada Goose.

After sending my first two takedown emails I got a reply saying they had been removed, and a second message saying all my shots had been taken down from both sources.

In viewing some of my shots I also saw images from Terry Sohl, Glen Bartley, and EJ Peiker so I recommend to everyone a quick google search.

Thanks for the info Richard. Wow...pretty much every species they list, if I have a photo on my own website, it's on their website as well. They must have some automated search thing that does this, because even the species range maps I have on my site show up.

I've almost become scared to look around on the web anymore, seeing how often this seems to happen. At least this one is a LITTLE better than some sites, in that they link back to the website where the photo came from. Seems like most of the time when you find a site like this, there's not a link back, and sometimes not even acknowledgement of where the photo came from. My favorite...where someone actually goes to the trouble to clone out the name/copyright stuff I put in the corner of each of my photos online.

Argh.

There are quite a few NPN photographers whose photos are there. Terry Sohl seems to have been hit especially hard. Many of the photos are pulled directly from the web sites where the yare hosted; that doesn't seem to be the case with NPN.

Jim E., a few photos appear as big stolen photo badges instead. I didn't look as the source, but that would be a pretty good trick.

Lastly, there are advertisers on the site, including Big Pockets Vests. I don't now if they are paid or not. Can we organize a boycott?

Perhaps we should inform the advertisers what is going on. My guess is that they would not want to be associated with that kind of thing.

After stealing the photos, I especially like this line:

"You must obtain the appropriate permissions to use any image linked to from xiongdudu from the owner(s) of the material."

If you read the lines at the bottom of each page you can request that your photos be taken down. The "Submit a Takedown Request" is a link.
"All images on the xiongdudu.com site remain copyright of their respective owners.Under the conditions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act you may Submit a Takedown Request if you find an image on xiongdudu.com for which you are the copyright holder, and we will Endeavour to investigate your request and take appropriate action.
You must obtain the appropriate permissions to use any image linked to from xiongdudu from the owner(s) of the material.
Copyright © 2010 xiongdudu "

Yes, there is a line about a "takedown request". The issue though is that the photos were used without permission in the first place. Taking the photos without permission, and then leaving any responsibility for "takedown" to the photo owner isn't exactly the most upfront and honest way to run a website.

Not to so dumb, but how do you track this stuff down about your images on other sites? I have not been doing this internet for long, about one and a half years.

What can I (we) do to help safeguard our images?

Dave

What can I (we) do to help safeguard our images?

Realize that anything you post on the internet can be stolen by other web visitors. Whatever steps you take to safeguard a posted image can be defeated (including the popular "right click block" and the transparent gif overlay used at NPN). At best these safeguards reduce image theft from by those who don't yet know the workaround or don't want to go to the extra bother.

Be sure your image displays a copyright notice with your name, and include your copyright notice in the file's EXIF. Many thieves are too lazy to clone out the copyright notice, and many don't bother to strip EXIF from a stolen image. Other people who discover your branded image unexpectedly on the web may alert you to the theft (as with the three photographers I noted in the original post). The embedded name in the EXIF may be discovered in a web search. Both the visible copyright and the embedded EXIF make the ownership of a stolen image obvious and can help in any takedown process.

Set up Google alerts on your name (Richard Ditch, Rich Ditch), your web site (www.richditch.com), and your blog (richditch.wordpress.com). These have found stolen images for me.

Review the logs of your website server for suspicious links. I found http://www.xiongdudu.com when it showed up in my server log - following one of the links took my to my Chestnut-sided Warbler image as seen in the attached screen grab.

Occasionally use tineye on your best (most popular) images to see what might turn up. I've found a couple of my hijacked images that way.

When you find any stolen image follow up with takedown notices. This can be fairly straightforward, or complicated and very frustrating.

Sorry - forgot to include this with my comment.

Just found more of my stuff (pocket gopher, Gila Woodpecker, Little Blue Heron, and Chestnut-sided Warbler) at picsdigger.com and have requested takedown.