My images have been stolen- what should I do?

[Overread]

Yahoo! UK Terms Centre

Read point 8 on the list:
8. PUBLIC CONTENT POSTED TO YAHOO!

(a) For purposes of the TOS, "publicly accessible areas" of the Services are those accessible by the general public. By way of example, a publicly accessible area of the Services would include public Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Message Boards, but would not include unlisted Yahoo! Groups or private Yahoo! communication services such as Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any personal data or information that you choose to disclose and make publicly accessible via the Services, and that under no circumstances will Yahoo! be liable in any way for the disclosure and public accessibility of such personal data or information. You acknowledge that any personal data or information (or any other Content) posted to publicly accessible areas may remain publicly accessible indefinitely.

(b) With respect to Content you elect to post for inclusion in publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups or that consists of photos or other graphics you elect to post to any other publicly accessible area of the Services, you grant Yahoo! a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish such Content on the Services solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted, or, in the case of photos or graphics, solely for the purpose for which such photo or graphic was submitted to the Services. This licence exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Services and shall be terminated at the time you delete such Content from the Services.

(c) With respect to all other Content you elect to post to other publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Yahoo! the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sub-licensable right and licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.




In short - point B deals with the use of images on flickr and only grants the royalty free licence to Yahoo alone in order only to provide the images as agree for under the service provided (ie to host them online for you the owner).

 

[quiddity]

that site is an active RC car forum.

Are you sure it isn't something benign like a kid found one of your images (any hot girlie pics?) to his liking and linked to it and a whole slew of hits ensued?

 

[v3nom]

Legally you don't have a leg to stand on as you have agree to the T&C's giving anyone and everyone complete access to do whatever they want with the images you have uploaded.

So you really have only 2 options..

#1 Leave as it is and think of it as a compliment that someone likes your work so much that he/she has placed a link in another forum/website.

#2 Delete the images.

I know they are pretty crappy options, sorry.

If you post a link to one of the images that has been 'used' i would be happy to help you track it down.

 

[Overread]

that site is an active RC car forum.

Are you sure it isn't something benign like a kid found one of your images (any hot girlie pics?) to his liking and linked to it and a whole slew of hits ensued?

This happens a heck of a lot - its one reason that watermarks (small ones not big ones) with a reference to your website/name are a good idea since when images are (innocently) posted like in the above example, you have a chance for the image to give you some free publicity.

I'm not defending the action, but its a practice that happens all over the internet and most people are totally unaware that there is anything wrong in it at all (in fact I recall one time that advice was you should always copy and host an image yourself before linking so that it would not overburden someone else with their monthly bandwidth usage).

 

[Snakeguy101]

Here is a link to one of them that has been viewed 422 times from the site RunRyder.com. That is the only information I am given from photobucket...

Model planes :: DSC_1162.jpg picture by snakeguy101 - Photobucket

 

[Snakeguy101]

that site is an active RC car forum.

Are you sure it isn't something benign like a kid found one of your images (any hot girlie pics?) to his liking and linked to it and a whole slew of hits ensued?

This happens a heck of a lot - its one reason that watermarks (small ones not big ones) with a reference to your website/name are a good idea since when images are (innocently) posted like in the above example, you have a chance for the image to give you some free publicity.

I'm not defending the action, but its a practice that happens all over the internet and most people are totally unaware that there is anything wrong in it at all (in fact I recall one time that advice was you should always copy and host an image yourself before linking so that it would not overburden someone else with their monthly bandwidth usage).

I am working on making a logo to use as a watermark but I have not finished it yet. I will get on that sooner than later now.

 

[e.rose]

Pro tip - move to flickr where they don't keep such terms and conditions

Flikr has similar terms and conditions.

Yahoo's Terms and Conditions. (only pertinant infomation posted)

CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE YAHOO! SERVICES:

With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services other than Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Yahoo! Services and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Yahoo! Services.

"Publicly accessible" areas of the Yahoo! Services are those areas of the Yahoo! network of properties that are intended by Yahoo! to be available to the general public. By way of example, publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services would include Yahoo! Message Boards and portions of Yahoo! Groups and Flickr that are open to both members and visitors

The difference there is that you're granting *Yahoo Services* that right and only Yahoo Services. The Photobucket terms state that you're granting "Photobucket and other users" those rights.

And under number 26 it states:

NOTICE AND PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT

Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may be repeat infringers. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent the following information:

an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;

a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;

a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;

your address, telephone number, and email address;

a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.

Yahoo!'s Agent for Notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:

By mail:
Copyright Agent
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
By phone: (408) 349-5080
By fax: (408) 349-7821
By email: [email protected]

So Flickr isn't giving every Tom, Dick and Harry the right to do what they please with the images... They're (Yahoo Services) are just covering their *own* bases... And the TOS that refer to that specifically state over and over again that your content will only be used in relation to the services in which they were submitted.

It would seem that PHOTOBUCKET, however... is allowing everyone in the universe the rights to your images.

And if that's NOT the case, then it's a very poorly worded TOS.

To the OP:

Like someone stated. Take your image down. If you're getting stats about someone using your image, it's because it's still being hosted through you. If you take it down, it should go down on their site too.

If you're still concerned about it after that, contact a lawyer who can hash through PB's TOS.

 

[e.rose]

Yahoo! UK Terms Centre

Read point 8 on the list:
8. PUBLIC CONTENT POSTED TO YAHOO!

(a) For purposes of the TOS, "publicly accessible areas" of the Services are those accessible by the general public. By way of example, a publicly accessible area of the Services would include public Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! Message Boards, but would not include unlisted Yahoo! Groups or private Yahoo! communication services such as Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any personal data or information that you choose to disclose and make publicly accessible via the Services, and that under no circumstances will Yahoo! be liable in any way for the disclosure and public accessibility of such personal data or information. You acknowledge that any personal data or information (or any other Content) posted to publicly accessible areas may remain publicly accessible indefinitely.

(b) With respect to Content you elect to post for inclusion in publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups or that consists of photos or other graphics you elect to post to any other publicly accessible area of the Services, you grant Yahoo! a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish such Content on the Services solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted, or, in the case of photos or graphics, solely for the purpose for which such photo or graphic was submitted to the Services. This licence exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Services and shall be terminated at the time you delete such Content from the Services.

(c) With respect to all other Content you elect to post to other publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Yahoo! the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sub-licensable right and licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.




In short - point B deals with the use of images on flickr and only grants the royalty free licence to Yahoo alone in order only to provide the images as agree for under the service provided (ie to host them online for you the owner).

Yeah, pretty much. While I was busy reading, you were busy typing and beat me to it. :lol

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

First, if you are recieving page view statistics, your image is linked to, not stolen.

Second, your images will come up in google searches. Anyone can then link to, or copy the file.

Third, if you put your images publicly on the net, you really are essentially giving up your rights to "ownership". Keep that in mind. Argue against it all you want, but when it comes right down to it...you know it's true.


As far as contacting a lawyer...Really? :lmao:

 

[quiddity]

the problem with flickr is that most users who happen to find your image and post it all over gods creation do not know the TOS

 

[mishele]

I'm currently trying to contact someone that has one of my pictures from Flickr as his blog cover. I emailed him nicely about his blog and commented that he was using my picture. He does have the picture labeled w/ my name but he cropped it horribly...lol He hasn't replied yet but it has only been a few hours. (oh and the blog is in spanish ) So I can't read it. lol

 

[~Stella~]

First, if you are recieving page view statistics, your image is linked to, not stolen.

Second, your images will come up in google searches. Anyone can then link to, or copy the file.

Third, if you put your images publicly on the net, you really are essentially giving up your rights to "ownership". Keep that in mind. Argue against it all you want, but when it comes right down to it...you know it's true.


As far as contacting a lawyer...Really? :lmao:

Linked to, yes, but being used without license for commercial purposes is still different than someone posting it on a forum saying "I like this picture!" or whatever. There are penalties for using images you don't own - even if 99% of the internet doesn't care. I wouldn't contact an attorney* over something like this, but I wouldn't tell someone not to - they have legal rights, even if most folks wouldn't exercise them.










*Technically speaking that would be silly since I am one.

 

[e.rose]

I'm currently trying to contact someone that has one of my pictures from Flickr as his blog cover. I emailed him nicely about his blog and commented that he was using my picture. He does have the picture labeled w/ my name but he cropped it horribly...lol He hasn't replied yet but it has only been a few hours. (oh and the blog is in spanish ) So I can't read it. lol

How'd you find out about that?

 

[mishele]

Erose....
go under "You"
click on "popular"
Click on "flickr stats"
Scroll down towards the bottom under "Domain" it will tell you where people are viewing your images from.

 

[e.rose]

Erose....
go under "You"
click on "popular"
Click on "flickr stats"
Scroll down towards the bottom under "Domain" it will tell you where people are viewing your images from.

I don't see "popular" anywhere? If I click on you, I see "Site Stats"... is that what you're talking about?

EDIT:

Just kidding. Wrong "you". I blame it on the germs overtaking my body right now.