Arnie just happened upon the latest example of what might be deemed the ultimate in Scumbaggery, Pilfered, an online magazine/blog that says on its About page:
“PILFERED is a place where artists, photographers, designers, and the inspired can submit their favorite visuals pilfered from the web to share with one another. Founded on the spirit of web democracy, and built to aid in communicating ideas and concepts, PILFERED Magazine aims to assist in speaking the thousand words – visually.”
Remember the article I recently wrote called © is for Copyright? Now you know why I think our copyright is so important.
It would appear that Pilfered pays lip service to giving credit. CREDIT? What about prior permission? What about payment? And you wonder why a lot of us are paranoid about our copyright?
In what I would take to be glossing over outright support of piracy, they write, in part, on their Credits page:
“Hey we need your help. We want to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of quality submissions! PILFERED aims to showcase new and legendary artists to the people. In order to do this, we need to give credit were credit is due. This page is about giving submissions with no credit proper attention. Please help us by letting us know if you know who the artist/photographer/designer is that has not been credited in any issue…this way we can all be informed and continue to be inspired.”
Isn’t that sweet? Yeah, right!
Now, do you want the final coffin nail? Check out their disclaimer — not on any legal page, rather tucked into their Privacy Policy — that says, in small part:
“You understand and agree that you use the Site and Services at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damages that arise from such use. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL PILFERED MAGAZINE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING BY NEGLIGENCE), INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RELATED TO USE, MISUSE, RELIANCE ON, INABILITY TO USE AND INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR…blah, blah, blah…”
One one hand, it would seem they encourage people to pilfer off the web, then give lip service to giving credit “where credit is due,” then disclaiming all responsibility. That is absolute bull–it, to use a very polite expression for what I feel is a heinous disregard for the rights of creators. Where do these people come from?
Encouraging pilfering is good? Using work without prior permission of the author is good? Using other people’s work for one’s own gain is good?
I wonder how they would feel if I jumped into their Porsche, Bimmer, Vette, or whatever on and used it without permission? I could go on…
Yes, my storm clouds have gathered.
So, take ACTION. Call/write your association, camera club, arts organization and mount a campaign against these people. Pass the word. Pass on this blog with its links, so others can see for themselves and not take my interpretation of what I believe is going on.
I have started by doing just that. Before I wrote this blog, I e-mailed the national office of ASMP, some of our officers, my chapter board. I’ll let you know what I hear from our national board.
To be continued…
Meanwhile, be sure to register your photographs with the Copyright Office (see that article for more details), be vigilant, and use a respected service such as Digimarc to digitally embed an invisible copyright notice/reference on each of your images, through Photoshop or other imaging programs. I’ve been doing it since 1998!
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Just went to the site.
It’s shut down.
I wonder if there is any reason such as someone sued.
Thanks,
Paul
Paul,
I also used social media to get the word out and warn others. Facebook, LinkedIn, of course, and Twitter were perfect for getting this kind of information out. I was in a steady dialogue with Zenfolio whom I found to be less than responsive, claiming total support of Copyright issues while having a policy that allows continued copyright infringement before they’d kick someone out.
Their idea of support of Copyright issues and mine are, shall we say, markedly different!
Take care,
TBC
Their domain is up for sale. There are discussion forums and other people complaining about them too.
And for good reason, may I say! If it looks like a skunk, and it waddles like a skunk, and it smells like a skunk, well, guess what? …
Take care,
TBC
I meant the magazine you mentioned. Click on the about link you gave and the site doesn’t come up.
Pilfered does seem to have changed its website. Do a search on the Internet and see what you find.
Take care,
TBC
Their site is no longer operating. Wonder why? 🙂
Kathie,
When I posted this, it got a lot of attention, especially, since I linked to it from every LinkedIn group of which I am a member, plus Facebook, plus Twitter. This is a case where strength in numbers and negative publicity and outrage really helped to squash them … at least in this iteration.
Take care,
TBC
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also
Passing the word on these types of practices is our only defense.
TBC
Wow. This really makes you wonder about the status of general ethics out there. Thanks to you both for pointing this out. Will have to be sure no large images are posted, and will look into a watermark as you suggest.
Squirrel,
Digimarc is a great program/plug-in. They have a level of “membership” whereby you can track piracy of your images and then you can go after the bast–ds! Again, I was being polite! 😉
Take care,
TBC
These people, on their best days, are footpads of indecency. they seem to be running with the impression that, if they saw it somewhere, they can use it anywhere.
Frankly, I think this is related in part ot the explosion of what I call “easy photography.” My other passions in life include birding and birders have gotten huge into digiscoping, which I (in my personal prejudices) have a hard time considering to be real photography. What I see in that subset is that anyone’s photography is considered everybody’s. I fear that attitude has spread.
And the very name of their scumbag effort, “Pilfered,” says they know exactly what they’re doing and just daring someone to go to the trouble and expense to stop them. My dear departed mother would have grabbed the sub-human running farce by the ear and dragged him out to the woodshed to meet my father, who would have treated him severely with a paddle.
Keep us posted on developments.
Dick
Dick,
Well said. I have a feeling I would have really liked your mother! I added another reminder on the blog about registering copyright to your images and a bit about embedding your copyright via Digimarc. I’ll definitely keep everyone posted.
Thanks for your input, and take care,
TBC
A month in Gitmo or Oz for their sins would be a starter … no matter what they SAY about what they are doing, they don’t have any legal basis for their theft … I would pay for someone to steal their identities!
I am still shaking with anger at the audacity of these creeps. I can’t wait to hear what ASMP’s reaction is on Monday. They’ll have to go through the board, but I am hoping they will make some sort of statement. Thanks for your comments. TBC
Thanks for the warning Margo. I forwarded it to our camera club members. I feel so much better knowing Arnie is out there constantly looking for things like this!
Don,
Things like this scare me, and it’s the reason that I don’t post large images on such great sites as NANPA, etc. If we can make this blog go viral, we can warn a LOT of people out there. Meanwhile, as I wrote another alumna jut now, check out Digimarc and their features. I have been using them for over a decade! Great company, and they have just made some great improvements.
Take care,
TBC
Well I went to the pilfered site and took a look. It doesn’t surprise me, but I would categorize this guy as a felon. How would he like it if I walked in his house and took his furniture, tv, computer. Why not? It’s there, right? Which is his attitude. That’s what he’s doing. Stealing. So, since the Internet is vulnerable for all the taking from interested thieves, can images be better watermarked or distorted more with noise or uploaded a way that the viewer can still appreciate the image, but too difficult to steal?
Pat,
There are program out there such as Digimarc that has just done a major improvement so that their encrypted watermark does not show up as much. I’ve been using them for years, and now they have gotten more affordable. Check them out. One of their services is to let you know when your image appears elsewhere, i.e., it has been filched.
Take care, and thanks for writing.
TBC
Pat,
I missed your message in the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Belize. I think the best defense against this type of approach is to make sure your images are compressed enough so that they won’t print. I used to get comments on NANPA, because I didn’t post large images. Now, I see that they are recommending smaller images, so they’ve come around. There are plug-ins such as Digimarc, and there is developing technology on image recognition.
Meanwhile, put a copyright notice on your image, make sure it is in your metadata, and for god’s sake, register your photos with the Copyright Office!
Hugs,
TBC