but copyright doesn't apply on the internet...

[Alex_B]

as long as you have the high res original, proving that the images are yours is trivial.

but you do not have to prove it in front of him, but in front of the authorities. don't spend more time communicating with him at all (ok, i understand that you stopped that anyway now ), that only might worsen your situation.

 

[Meysha]

I agree with you Alex. I'm not going to waste my time with him any more if he just continues to ignore me.

I posted the letter to their State Operations Manager today. Basically outlining all that has happened so far... and advising him that if he doesn't contact me by Monday or if the photos aren't down by then, then I'm contacting their ISP and taking it further.

Let's see what happens.

hmmm I hope this gets solved quickly... i leave the country in a week. :-(

 

[Meysha]

This is a good idea, but I'd rather use a HIGHLY obscene and offense photograph in place.

tee hee hee... I would soooo do this.... ahh if only they were hotlinking. I've been waiting ever since the net started to do this to someone. hehehe.

Anyways, I can track the ISP down if you provide the domain name.

Basically you do an NSLOOKUP on the domain name to get an IP address, then you run a WHOIS on the IP to find out who the IP block has been assigned to. The person who has been assigned the IP block is the organization who can shut down access to the server/website if they so desire, and more than likely have the server hosted in their facilities. If you do a WHOIS on their (the providers) domain you might find an abuse contact section, or if you visit the providers website find a way to contact abuse.

hmm... ok didn't really understand that... so I'm sending you a PM with the business name. If you could look it up for me and let me know who I should contact I'd be ever so grateful! :hug::

Tell the ISP that you are contacting lawyers currently and that you will begin legal pursuit if the content is not removed and that by hosting the content they are in part liable if they provide no action.

The images are also on www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au our two biggest real estate websites and I contacted them and they basically brushed me off and said they couldn't do anything about it.... even though I read in their ToS that they can. Eventhough I told them that, they still brushed me off... i requested to speak to someone else and the guy I was talking to said yeah I could but they're just gonna say the same thing. GRRR!!!!

I happen to be in charge of handling abuse complaints and giving disciplinary action to customers.

I love you!

At my organization we provide 24 hours for the client to remove content once we notify them, otherwise we disconnect their server(s) at the network level. (Then they call in wanting it back online, and we bring it online if, and only if they comply with our requests shortly thereafter.)

So you take down their entire website? wow.... that would be awesome.

 

[jon_k]

Abuse departments at ISPs handle a variety of issues, and corporate policies vary.

All of our complaints are handled within 24 hours by our abuse team. I happen to be the head of this team and supervise all complaints for the ISP I work for. Basically that means our technicians handle the initial contact/warning and they escalate it to me for disciplinary when the customer fails to acknowledge the complaints. I make the final decision on if it is appropriate to pursue and/or shut the service offline for them.

Although we get to complaints within 24 hours, we forward the complaint on to our clients and await their action/response.

The amount of time they are given to reply varies per the offense, but in all cases if they fail to reply to our E-Mails about the allegations within the specified period then yes, we shut their entire server down at the network level (either by unplugging the network cable, or doing it using our network utilities.)

The type of time clients are given to respond depends on the offense.

If it's SPAM, copyright infringement or something non-urgent we allow 24 hours to respond to the complaints alleged. If it's hacking or online scams its 4 hours. If it's a child pornography or otherwise illegal pornography or participating in network denial of service attacks it's 2 hours.

It's really too bad the website in question isn't hosted in our facility, or by now their server(s) could already be offline awaiting compliance to our request. ;-)

We really try to handle complaints ourself before authorities get involved, because it's always a pain when the FBI shows up with a warrant and walks away with a $10,000 server that a customer leases use of for "evidence collection". We really have to nag these agencies to let us have our hardware back, and it's hardware we could be making money off of in the mean time. If we stop it before it gets to the authorities sights, we contain the problem, keep jerks off our network, and maximize profits.

 

[Meysha]

hehehehehe. Thanks so much Jon for the info you PM'd me. That's sooo helpful. And damn we were so close to being in your facility too... that would've been fun!

Turns out after I wrote an email to the head of state operations the images were removed. I'm not sure if it was that letter or the email I sent to the original agent referring to copyright law that say the images removed.

However, Here is his lovely email he wrote back to me on removing the images.

From: **his name** [mailto:**hisname*@#####.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 30 November 2007 1:02 PM
To: me
Subject: RE: ######



I have change all the sites with an initial photo I have just taken of dry dock with my mobile phone

Can I say that I believe that my shot of the outside is far better than your professional shot!

I will be telling everyone I know about how great your service is and how professional your photography is

- Good luck with your business



Kind Regards

**his name**

 

[Meysha]

Shall I post up a link to my shots and his shots? hehehehehe.

Oh and I sincerely hope that he would tell everyone he knows about how great my service is... and that I am constantly looking out for my paying customers and trying to limit internet piracy.

hehehe.... although somehow I don't think that's what he would say.

 

[jon_k]

I will be telling everyone I know about how great your service is and how professional your photography is

Tell him not to market you too much.

I deal with jerks like this ALL day by phone and E-Mail, who attest to being right even when they're wrong, even if the law can prove them otherwise. Cry me a river, getting caught stealing sucks, but not as bad as this guy.

I hope he sells the house, but with an attitude and honesty like that I wouldn't buy a house through him.

 

[Alex_B]

What a stupid jerk he is.

From: **his name** [mailto:**hisname*@#####.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 30 November 2007 1:02 PM
To: me
Subject: RE: ######

too bad there are so many ##### ;-)

 

[AmberA100]

Wow.. what a jerk. I'm glad that you didn't have to go too far legally into it with them. (Even though I know you would have won, its still a pita!)


Amber

 

[JDS]

Shall I post up a link to my shots and his shots? hehehehehe.

Please do.. Otherwise we'll all be left here thinking Nokia teamed up with Nikon on the new D3. Think phonecamera rather than cameraphone.

Sorry if that's a stupid joke..my mind is shot from my job this week. That's my excuse anyway.

 

[PrincessB]

Personally I'd respond with an email saying something along the lines of:
Thank you so much for the kind offer to spread the word about my photography business, however I maintain quite a bit of clients, and with each of them spreading the word to their friends about how happy they are with my work you can imagine thats a lot to keep up with. So while the offer to help me out is extreamly generous I am not certain that I could take an any more work at this time. Thank you very much anyway. Kindly, sign.

But then my dry wit tends to cause people to call me unflattering names so that may just be my personality type and no one elses!

 

[BlackDog's]

Love that response! Of course, I'd add that since his pictures turned out so well (using a cell phone) that maybe he want's to join in and take more photos himself (then he wouldn't need to steal). Maybe he could pick up some extra money when the market is slow.

Guy's a jerk....and idiot....

 

[RKW3]

I'm happy it worked out Meysha.

 

[Meysha]

Ohhhh I love all those responses!! They're great. I wish I had the balls to write them back. All I did write back was this:

Dear mr so and so,
Thank you for removing the images. Your understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Vicky


hehehehe see... no balls. But I figured I'd keep it purely professional and not get tied up in his petty games. Although that probably just aggrevated him more coz he didn't get a reaction. Child!



Ok Here's a screenshot of their photo. I figured if I'm going to be childish and show you all... I can at least black out their info. hehehe. It's funny though, I do think I actually prefer the comp of his outside shot, but the quality of it is just so bad, and that awufl haze. Anyway.

And some of my shots. the other guys ad who paid for them isn't up still. :-(

 

[RKW3]

Hahaha your shots are definitely way better lol.