What can you really do when someone steals your photo, takes credit for the work and uses it for their own profit? I' ve experienced this with an image of my young son and his friend and here's how I've dealt with it yet still not found a solution to stop the misuse.
The photo shows my son and his friend captured on a pier in Denmark a few years ago. I posted it for showcasing on my photography website and also on my Facebook group page for the same photography website. I just wanted show off what I thought was a lovely photo.
After about a year people I knew started sending me messages and screenshots from the web, mostly Facebook, where my photo went viral with all this kinds of poems written on. The words were cute enough, nothing harmful, however it kind of pisses me off when people don´t even have the decency to ask permission to use it, permission to alter it with text on it, and don´t give me credit for it.
What pissed me off even more was when someone found it on this US health guru's website - Wolfie something - and he's done the exact same thing and also put his photo credits on it. This was medium sized web celebrity who clearly should know better than claiming ownership to something that was not his. I confronted him and asked for a royalty payment for the misuse but was pretty much told to f**k off and he took the photo down.
My intention was never to make money on this image, so that´s not where my reaction is coming from. It's the fact that I put a photo of my son out there and it got totally out of hand. Luckily, this time it wasn't used for anything perverted etc. but the feeling that this could happen makes me sick.
So - what could have been done differently? Is there still something I can do to get in control of it? What would you have done? Do you have similar experiences?
Here's a few facts
- I have not paid any fees to any copyright agencies.
- The first versions put on the internet was without any watermark.
- The people spreading the altered cute poems images are 99%, hence not for any profitable purposes.
- I tried to track a few of the sources, one was isomething called idleclick.com but cannot find any information of the owners of the site.
So, what can I do? Any suggestion is very welcome!
Cute photo; But, I have no idea how to help.
Kodak, along with some competitors I don't recall at the moment, are making a coin and a site to try to combat that.
https://www.kodak.com/kodakone/default.htm
I don't know how successful they will be.
I like the idea, but Kodak's mot the same Kodak anymore I hear. We'll have to waite and see.
Thanks for checking in any way @brandylynne
I've had a look at the Kodak coin but as you, not sure what to make of it yet. Think it will be hype without too much benefits but we will see. Wish you a great day!
Like @brandylynne, I think the photo's great and not sure what can be done about the issue. I haven't started posting on steem yet, but it makes me wonder what the guidelines are for using photos. I'm thinking Creative Commons would be a good source for public photos that are okay to use.
I share your concerns Thomasar. I'm yet to upload on Steemit over these fears. Would be great if there was some kinda image protection on here. Maybe just the Photography blog with right-click disallowed the same way 500px.com implements; the users copyright appears instead of 'save image as'. Here's an informative article on appropriate image size to minimise the thieving scumbags plagiarism! Great photo sir :)
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2014/08/28/size-online-images-uploaded-avoid-theft/
edit: Just found this article on progressive blockchain ICO's. Let's hope for a better future protecting all 'original' artwork. https://medium.com/@davidarianik/blockchain-probably-save-photographers-4459cfcb9535