Let's talk theft of images...

[MLeeK]

So, according to you discussing the fact that the Williams Case only ended in Community service being an outrage would be taboo too.

 

[StillCapture]

Taboo, I can see that, but it was how that guy in SanFran in 2011 never once showed any remorse or care in the world to fixing the issue that caused the uproar. This other guy seems like he recognized he f'd up and resolved it, definetly not as quick as we all would hope, and he could do without being an ass, but he did do as all us photographers demanded, get our work off your page and site.

 

[Steve5D]

All of that is well and good but, bottom line? You can't get blood from a stone.

If Photographer A loses a lawsuit in which he's been sued for $150,000.00 by Photographer B, and Photographer A doesn't have $150,000.00, Photographer B doesn't get much beyond bragging rights...

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Yeah a thief is a thief, but focusing on one, it's a waste to me. 37? What about the Williams case from last year, 200 (dont recall the number, but 200+) artists work, but he was taken to court and was given community service. Followed that story as it happened right here in SanFran sad to say. That guy, he never gave a hint to be sorry about any of it. Kept pictures up and all. We were all appaulted here in the local industry. Well, I just don’t agree, but that’s me. Sounded to me like the reality hit him, and seemed to me sorry. I'm sure he's punishing himself as of now as he lost his page on facebook it looks like. But you're right a thief is a thief, I just don’t agree with pummeling him.

Oh, so he lost his Facebook page, and he probably feels weally weally bad, so we should just leave him alone cuz he's weeeeeeallly sorry....

This isn't the playground Stillcapture. Adult's make adult choices in an adult world. He chose to rip off the hard work of other artists for his own advancement. When confronted, he even had the audacity to accuse the artists of stealing HIS work. Now you're going to sit here and play Devil's advocate to a scumbag, no-brain, thief. Oddly enough, you've just joined the site to become involved in this thread. Something doesn't add up.

You're convincing NOBODY that he shouldn't be pursued to the full extent of the law for his crimes.

Taboo, I can see that, but it was how that guy in SanFran in 2011 never once showed any remorse or care in the world to fixing the issue that caused the uproar. This other guy seems like he recognized he f'd up and resolved it, definetly not as quick as we all would hope, and he could do without being an ass, but he did do as all us photographers demanded, get our work off your page and site.

Oh really StillCapture? Good to know-- by this line of logic, I can commit any crime, and in the court of StillCapture, so long as when I get caught I set things "right" that absolves me from the crime. Do you realize how stupid this sounds? It doesn't matter that he got the work off his page and site. What matters is that it was there in the first place. You can't really be that dense.

 

[IByte]

Yeah a thief is a thief, but focusing on one, it's a waste to me. 37? What about the Williams case from last year, 200 (dont recall the number, but 200+) artists work, but he was taken to court and was given community service. Followed that story as it happened right here in SanFran sad to say. That guy, he never gave a hint to be sorry about any of it. Kept pictures up and all. We were all appaulted here in the local industry. Well, I just don’t agree, but that’s me. Sounded to me like the reality hit him, and seemed to me sorry. I'm sure he's punishing himself as of now as he lost his page on facebook it looks like. But you're right a thief is a thief, I just don’t agree with pummeling him.

Nah I believe in pummeling him, some people like this here can't be reasoned with. You got to use oldschool methods with these kind of thrieves. If you try to use bunny hugging methods like community service it will not sink in! Two thumbs up for Gary. I would make hime go bankrupt, money or no money his credibility is scarred..a nice constant reminder why stealing is wrong.

 

[rexbobcat]

Oh, so he lost his Facebook page, and he probably feels weally weally bad, so we should just leave him alone cuz he's weeeeeeallly sorry....

This isn't the playground Stillcapture. Adult's make adult choices in an adult world. He chose to rip off the hard work of other artists for his own advancement. When confronted, he even had the audacity to accuse the artists of stealing HIS work. Now you're going to sit here and play Devil's advocate to a scumbag, no-brain, thief. Oddly enough, you've just joined the site to become involved in this thread. Something doesn't add up.

You're convincing NOBODY that he shouldn't be pursued to the full extent of the law for his crimes.

Oh really StillCapture? Good to know-- by this line of logic, I can commit any crime, and in the court of StillCapture, so long as when I get caught I set things "right" that absolves me from the crime. Do you realize how stupid this sounds? It doesn't matter that he got the work off his page and site. What matters is that it was there in the first place. You can't really be that dense.

Dude - he just needs a time out. Spankings are too emotionally damaging nowadays you know.

 

[StillCapture]

Oh, so he lost his Facebook page, and he probably feels weally weally bad, so we should just leave him alone cuz he's weeeeeeallly sorry....

This isn't the playground Stillcapture. Adult's make adult choices in an adult world. He chose to rip off the hard work of other artists for his own advancement. When confronted, he even had the audacity to accuse the artists of stealing HIS work. Now you're going to sit here and play Devil's advocate to a scumbag, no-brain, thief. Oddly enough, you've just joined the site to become involved in this thread. Something doesn't add up.

You're convincing NOBODY that he shouldn't be pursued to the full extent of the law for his crimes.

Oh really StillCapture? Good to know-- by this line of logic, I can commit any crime, and in the court of StillCapture, so long as when I get caught I set things "right" that absolves me from the crime. Do you realize how stupid this sounds? It doesn't matter that he got the work off his page and site. What matters is that it was there in the first place. You can't really be that dense.

Dude - he just needs a time out. Spankings are too emotionally damaging nowadays you know.

I'm with you Rexbobcat. That guy knows he did wrong, you can see it in his messages on that 'stopstealing' post. I reread that 'stopstealing' post over and over, I didn't read it like Rotanimod did. Doesn't say he's 'suing' anyone. Guy was trying to fix his wrong doings, and said he was going to file for a court order for having that stuff removed. Also, my girlfriend Samantha read it with me, and we're confused where it says others stole from him...never saw anything about that, but can see how someone could read it like that though. Maybe it was his arrogance? IDK. What I know is the guy seems sorry, or as Rotanimod says "weeeeally sorry" (cute), and appears or at least appeared to try and make things as best he could by repenting and taking images off. That's how I read it at least and it's what my gut tells me. Steve5D is also right, you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Gary Fong is great, but to encourage idea to try and bleed someone after watching videos he's made is so contradictory I'm a bit taken back. I agree the guy is an ass, results to image removal took a day longer than hoped for, but mission accomplished, he took them off, he's having to deal without his page anymore on facebook etc. which as you know is king at sharing work.

 

[MTVision]

I'm with you Rexbobcat. That guy knows he did wrong, you can see it in his messages on that 'stopstealing' post. I reread that 'stopstealing' post over and over, I didn't read it like Rotanimod did. Doesn't say he's 'suing' anyone. Guy was trying to fix his wrong doings, and said he was going to file for a court order for having that stuff removed. Also, my girlfriend Samantha read it with me, and we're confused where it says others stole from him...never saw anything about that, but can see how someone could read it like that though. Maybe it was his arrogance? IDK. What I know is the guy seems sorry, or as Rotanimod says "weeeeally sorry" (cute), and appears or at least appeared to try and make things as best he could by repenting and taking images off. That's how I read it at least and it's what my gut tells me. Steve5D is also right, you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Gary Fong is great, but to encourage idea to try and bleed someone after watching videos he's made is so contradictory I'm a bit taken back. I agree the guy is an ass, results to image removal took a day longer than hoped for, but mission accomplished, he took them off, he's having to deal without his page anymore on facebook etc. which as you know is king at sharing work.

Did you actually read everything?? He may feel bad he got caught now but when it first went public he was all "oh haters want to hate cus their jealous". Then it changed to something like he works with tons of photographers....then he stole people's work to fill space - used google to find images. Didn't you know Lightroom automatically erases people's watermarks and adds their own??

And who cares about FB? Poor guy doesn't have a FB page anymore. Boo-freakin-hoo. King at sharing OTHER PEOPLE'S work.

I've seen so many cases like this recently and this dude is the ONLY one who didn't just apologize and take the photos down. Nope he denied denied denied and made up a ton of ridiculous excuses. There is absolutely no excuse. None at all. He is/was a photographer so he damn well knew what he was doing. Just the fact that he edited out people's watermarks proves he knew exactly what he was doing.

The stop stealing website did nothing wrong except out some guy who was stealing and profiting off other peoples work. Yet this ass wants to sue her to get the truth taken down.

I just don't see where you are seeing that he is weally sorry. I didn't see that. I see an arrogant thief who got caught and didn't want to admit any wrongdoings.

 

[StillCapture]

I'm with you Rexbobcat. That guy knows he did wrong, you can see it in his messages on that 'stopstealing' post. I reread that 'stopstealing' post over and over, I didn't read it like Rotanimod did. Doesn't say he's 'suing' anyone. Guy was trying to fix his wrong doings, and said he was going to file for a court order for having that stuff removed. Also, my girlfriend Samantha read it with me, and we're confused where it says others stole from him...never saw anything about that, but can see how someone could read it like that though. Maybe it was his arrogance? IDK. What I know is the guy seems sorry, or as Rotanimod says "weeeeally sorry" (cute), and appears or at least appeared to try and make things as best he could by repenting and taking images off. That's how I read it at least and it's what my gut tells me. Steve5D is also right, you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Gary Fong is great, but to encourage idea to try and bleed someone after watching videos he's made is so contradictory I'm a bit taken back. I agree the guy is an ass, results to image removal took a day longer than hoped for, but mission accomplished, he took them off, he's having to deal without his page anymore on facebook etc. which as you know is king at sharing work.

Did you actually read everything?? He may feel bad he got caught now but when it first went public he was all "oh haters want to hate cus their jealous". Then it changed to something like he works with tons of photographers....then he stole people's work to fill space - used google to find images. Didn't you know Lightroom automatically erases people's watermarks and adds their own??

And who cares about FB? Poor guy doesn't have a FB page anymore. Boo-freakin-hoo. King at sharing OTHER PEOPLE'S work.

I've seen so many cases like this recently and this dude is the ONLY one who didn't just apologize and take the photos down. Nope he denied denied denied and made up a ton of ridiculous excuses. There is absolutely no excuse. None at all. He is/was a photographer so he damn well knew what he was doing. Just the fact that he edited out people's watermarks proves he knew exactly what he was doing.

The stop stealing website did nothing wrong except out some guy who was stealing and profiting off other peoples work. Yet this ass wants to sue her to get the truth taken down.

I just don't see where you are seeing that he is weally sorry. I didn't see that. I see an arrogant thief who got caught and didn't want to admit any wrongdoings.

Hi Megan, what I see, personally, and a few of us here in the office, that this guy was an arrogant ass, but within 2 days, realized he f'd up, and took action by taking images down and gave a public announcement of his wrong doing. This isn't anyone I support, but he did take action. Also, how do we know he profited anything, reading a few other site forums, sounds like he or they didn't even perform any photo shoots, as they were new. But outting him off FB is HUGE in my book. As this is KING at rounding business up. Without it, he's left with craigslist...does that even get photographers calls? Marsha (friend that works in accounting here) does part-time photography as well, she said she posted over and over in craigslist but never a call (well, she said 2 were made but that's over 2 months).

 

[MLeeK]

Oh, so he lost his Facebook page, and he probably feels weally weally bad, so we should just leave him alone cuz he's weeeeeeallly sorry....

This isn't the playground Stillcapture. Adult's make adult choices in an adult world. He chose to rip off the hard work of other artists for his own advancement. When confronted, he even had the audacity to accuse the artists of stealing HIS work. Now you're going to sit here and play Devil's advocate to a scumbag, no-brain, thief. Oddly enough, you've just joined the site to become involved in this thread. Something doesn't add up.

You're convincing NOBODY that he shouldn't be pursued to the full extent of the law for his crimes.

Oh really StillCapture? Good to know-- by this line of logic, I can commit any crime, and in the court of StillCapture, so long as when I get caught I set things "right" that absolves me from the crime. Do you realize how stupid this sounds? It doesn't matter that he got the work off his page and site. What matters is that it was there in the first place. You can't really be that dense.

Dude - he just needs a time out. Spankings are too emotionally damaging nowadays you know.

I'm with you Rexbobcat. That guy knows he did wrong, you can see it in his messages on that 'stopstealing' post. I reread that 'stopstealing' post over and over, I didn't read it like Rotanimod did. Doesn't say he's 'suing' anyone. Guy was trying to fix his wrong doings, and said he was going to file for a court order for having that stuff removed. Also, my girlfriend Samantha read it with me, and we're confused where it says others stole from him...never saw anything about that, but can see how someone could read it like that though. Maybe it was his arrogance? IDK. What I know is the guy seems sorry, or as Rotanimod says "weeeeally sorry" (cute), and appears or at least appeared to try and make things as best he could by repenting and taking images off. That's how I read it at least and it's what my gut tells me. Steve5D is also right, you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Gary Fong is great, but to encourage idea to try and bleed someone after watching videos he's made is so contradictory I'm a bit taken back. I agree the guy is an ass, results to image removal took a day longer than hoped for, but mission accomplished, he took them off, he's having to deal without his page anymore on facebook etc. which as you know is king at sharing work.

I think you missed the sarcasm there...

Having to deal without a facebook. WAAH. He can use any email and just start a new facebook. Pretty simple. No big loss there!

 

[IByte]

Hi Megan, what I see, personally, and a few of us here in the office, that this guy was an arrogant ass, but within 2 days, realized he f'd up, and took action by taking images down and gave a public announcement of his wrong doing. This isn't anyone I support, but he did take action. Also, how do we know he profited anything, reading a few other site forums, sounds like he or they didn't even perform any photo shoots, as they were new. But outting him off FB is HUGE in my book. As this is KING at rounding business up. Without it, he's left with craigslist...does that even get photographers calls? Marsha (friend that works in accounting here) does part-time photography as well, she said she posted over and over in craigslist but never a call (well, she said 2 were made but that's over 2 months).

He should have ballsed up and took it down earlier or better yet don't freaking do it in the first place!

 

[MTVision]

Hi Megan, what I see, personally, and a few of us here in the office, that this guy was an arrogant ass, but within 2 days, realized he f'd up, and took action by taking images down and gave a public announcement of his wrong doing. This isn't anyone I support, but he did take action. Also, how do we know he profited anything, reading a few other site forums, sounds like he or they didn't even perform any photo shoots, as they were new. But outting him off FB is HUGE in my book. As this is KING at rounding business up. Without it, he's left with craigslist...does that even get photographers calls? Marsha (friend that works in accounting here) does part-time photography as well, she said she posted over and over in craigslist but never a call (well, she said 2 were made but that's over 2 months).

So how do you know he didn't profit off of others works? Just because he was new doesn't mean he never took money for shoots. Why would he have a FB business page and a website business page with full galleries if he wasn't in business and doing shoots? Oh and can't forget all the Craigslist ads

And, if, as you believe, he hadn't had any paid shoots then outing him on FB wouldn't hurt him. He doesn't need to round up business if he isn't in business. Right?

I don't believe that he should be insulted, threatened, etc. but I don't think there was anything wrong with outing him - on FB or anywheres else. With his attitude he probably wouldn't have taken anything down without a little public humiliation. Plus he obviously has no respect for the profession otherwise he wouldn't have done what he did so who cares if he gets business - i don't.

He took action after 2 days - but for those 2 days he was making every excuse possible. And his FB outing wasn't half as bad as this other photographers - her name was Megan - cant remember the name of her business. She only stole from a few photographers and she was blasted all over the Internet and on the local news. She was threatened and called every name in the book. She posted a public apology - never once did she blame it on anyone/thing but herself. But this guy on the other hand stole from 36 photographers and it took 2 days for him to actually admit to some of it.

None of this would even be an issue if the guy didn't lie and steal in the first place. I have no sympathy for him or his "business".

 

[StillCapture]

Dude - he just needs a time out. Spankings are too emotionally damaging nowadays you know.

I'm with you Rexbobcat. That guy knows he did wrong, you can see it in his messages on that 'stopstealing' post. I reread that 'stopstealing' post over and over, I didn't read it like Rotanimod did. Doesn't say he's 'suing' anyone. Guy was trying to fix his wrong doings, and said he was going to file for a court order for having that stuff removed. Also, my girlfriend Samantha read it with me, and we're confused where it says others stole from him...never saw anything about that, but can see how someone could read it like that though. Maybe it was his arrogance? IDK. What I know is the guy seems sorry, or as Rotanimod says "weeeeally sorry" (cute), and appears or at least appeared to try and make things as best he could by repenting and taking images off. That's how I read it at least and it's what my gut tells me. Steve5D is also right, you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Gary Fong is great, but to encourage idea to try and bleed someone after watching videos he's made is so contradictory I'm a bit taken back. I agree the guy is an ass, results to image removal took a day longer than hoped for, but mission accomplished, he took them off, he's having to deal without his page anymore on facebook etc. which as you know is king at sharing work.

I think you missed the sarcasm there...

Having to deal without a facebook. WAAH. He can use any email and just start a new facebook. Pretty simple. No big loss there!

Yeah, you're probably right. Unless Facebook supports IP detection, which I would think they would. If they do, no fan page can be made as it won't pass through their servers. But now he'll or they'll know not to use or even think about using images he or they find on google or wherever. I like the comment by IByte too, I agree, should never have done it, but we have to understand so many people, and ironically photographers, dont realize the value and legalities of copyright and such. People save pictures they find online all day, everyday, and email them, post to facebook because it's 'funny' or whatever the case may be. The watermark issue, IDK, that one is above me, but we don't know if he was trying to claim it as his or their own work, although it does look like it, but that's off assumption and this always is a deadend. If this guy is broke like I've read in other forums, it's a deadend, and we have to just keep vigilant eyes on the industry as a whole.

 

[MLeeK]

IP detection would do no good. We have 5 facebook accounts in my house. They all log in on the same IP.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but all I can is if he stole my work and was displaying it in his portfolio as his own work, I go after him with extreme prejudice. $150,000 per image, for every image.

I hope these other photogs take the same approach.