It's sad to see there are so many deaf ears here. If any of these people were photographers who had spent their own time and money creating work which was then used by others to profit I think they would change their opinions.
It's also sad that they are getting at least one whale up-voting their misinformed opinions. This only serves to encourage it.
@ned and @dan will need to deal with this sort of thing sooner rather than later or it is likely it will be seen as tacit approval for law breaking. The Feds love going after anyone who breaks copyright law particularly if there is money involved.
That would be a disaster not just for Steemit but for the whole cryptocurrency scene in general. It would generate more bad press and confirm the public perception that these sorts of things are "shady" and used only for crime.