ALERT: Copyrights are being violated

[antoniobassiphotography]

Paul

 

I became photonet member to share experiences with other photographers, not to sell my images, I already have who buys my photos and they are private collectors. Now that I realized that most of you guys are just searching for visibility and don't care much about other people's work I am convinced to cancel my membership and bring my friends with me. If no one cares, what do I care? Bye bye Paul.

[joshroot]

<i>"If no one cares, what do I care?"</i>

<p>

Yes, nobody cares. You have figured me out. That's why I have wasted hours reading and posting to this thread on my weekend.

<p>

Gosh, imagine what I could get done if I did actually care about photo.net! [/sarcasm]

[WJT]

Some of us won't be upset about what has happened, others will be furious; we should all have the right to decide for ourselves how we feel about this wihout anyone deprecating our individual points of view. For myself, I am PO'd but I realize that it ain't PhotoNet's fault and I believe that they are trying to resolve the problem. Come Monday, more should be known.<br><br>

I am bothered by the image theft, but I also realize that there probably will not be any personal financial impact from it, good or bad. Nevertheless, it is my intention to pursue this matter as well as I can. I am not going to lose any sleep over it but I am also not going to just ignore it.<br><br>

<b>Joshua Szulecki</b>, concerning the elctronic signature requirement of GoDaddy, I am assuming that it is the typical Digital Signature that one would apply to any PDF in Adobe Acrobat. It is simply a method of digitally signing your name to the document. Regards.

[WJT]

Josh, be cool, we care buddy. Regards.

[joshroot]

<i>"Josh, be cool, we care buddy. Regards."</i>

<p>

I know, I know.

<p>

That's just me getting a little hot under the collar. I'm human like everyone else here. My apologies.

[aepelbacher]

Josh - we love you and appreciate your work. Well, at least I appreciate your work. I definitely know you care about photo.net.

 

I typically don't get into these rows ... but, Antonio, really? You are going to MAKE all of your friends cancel their memberships and they are going to MAKE all of their friends cancel their memberships? I have never had an acquaintance who I could MAKE do anything ... I'm super-impressed at the power you have over people. Your personality must be extremely charismatic. I'm jealous.

 

I'm really calm about this (I wasn't at first....) They picked a couple of my favorite photos. So now they have 800px versions of a couple of my favorite photos. So what? I put them here to share and discuss and learn ... so now hopefully someone else is appreciating them. And if I'm credited and they find me, great!

 

By the way, Antonio - how wonderful that you have your work in private collections and don't need to advertise at all. I'm even more impressed.

[dennis jones]

A real stupid question.... has anyone heard from Google or BitComet? I know I haven't<p>Yeah, I know, stupid question, but just fishin'

[paulstenquist]

We are all very impressed with Antonio's work. Very few of us can claim such exalted credentials. But I'm much more impressed with Josh's work here. He has been a tireless proponent of our work; Many thanks are due.

Paul

[aepelbacher]

Okay, I have another comment already. This time without the sarcasm. Like I said, I don't usually get involved in these things. Maybe I should have just continued to follow the conversation without making the other comment. But now that I've started, I need to finish.

 

Josh - you'll probably need to delete this comment because it is "off topic". At least the subscribers to the thread will be able to read it...

 

I used to try to loosely follow the conversation and site admin forums, just to keep informed. But the frequent bickering really wasn't worth my time, and the constant jabs at the admin really got to me. Are we all adults here?

 

I understand that some of you are bothered by your work appearing elsewhere from here. How tough a concept is this: your work on the internet is thus a free-for-all. I apologize that I am not also bent out of shape about my work being copied onto another site.

 

But anyone who feels the need to keep insisting that this site is lacking in quality hasn't been reading the forums for very long. Let's look at the facts to keep in mind. Photo.net was started in 1993 with then-current coding and technology.

 

That was 15 years ago. How many of these other photo sites have been around and so widely used for 15 years. It has been stated (over and over again, by the way!) that one of the reason that they don't simply do an all-encompassing software overhaul is because they want to find a way to do so while maintaining everyone's images, file structures, comments and ratings (etc.) that were received over FIFTEEN years. Perhaps Mr. Bassi does not value the comments/ratings/portfolio that he has developed over the past seven months. I know that he's an old timer.

 

On the otherhand, I have been a member of photo.net for five years and three months. And yet, I don't feel like I've been around long enough to be SO CRITICAL of the management. All I DO know is that I HIGHLY value the comments, critiques, and (gasp!) ratings that I have received on my photos. This is a portfolio into which I have put MUCH work and have learned many, many invaluable lessons.

 

My images may not be shown in private collections. I guess that I'll have to stop advertising for that to happen. (oops - sarcasm again, sorry!) But if you're going to complain, why don't you follow the forum rules which clearly state that you should start by searching for the topic of your forum post to see if it's already been discussed. These conversations have happened before ... it has merely been different websites.

 

Okay, yeah, it would be nice if they eventually came up with better protection for our photos. But if you think that you're going to put your photos anywhere (by the way, I have found several of my photos that were only on Flickr stolen!) on the internet and think that they're not susceptible to copying, then you know a LOT more than I do.

 

Rrrrrr ... before I slip into the sarcasm again, I'll stop. No more Lou Ann in this thread.

[neild]

The got one of mine (heck, I've only got one up here!). I'm just glad the left my name on it; for me, it is basically free advertising, and the photo is not that large anyway (it would make a lousy print for anyone).

[papasan]

They have 7 of my pix on the site. Like many others, i'm neither happy nor distressed about it, just a bit miffed i guess because i didnt' give authorisation for this publication (however flatering). At least they give me credit for my pictures. Just on principle i would like to register my objection with Google or GoDady but i have no idea how to proceed about this can anyone clue me in pls. thanks

PS> I want to commend PN for all action taken so far. Great work Josh and Bob

[reprint]

Michel: For Google follow Bobs instructions in this thread. Look for the post above marked Bob Atkins Feb 09, 2008; 01:56 p.m.

 

For GoDaddy:

File a DMCA at CopyrightClaims@godaddy.com. It should include the following. Replace capitals with your info.

 

NAME ADDRESS DATE.

 

GoDaddy.com, Inc

14455 N. Hayden Rd.

Suite 219

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

1. The copyrighted work at issue is the photo that appears on http://pic.playcomet.com/EXACT ADDRESS

 

2. A public WHOIS resolves playcomet.com to be hosted at GoDaddy.com as shown at http://who.godaddy.com/WhoIsVerify.aspx?domain=playcomet.com&prog_id=godaddy

 

3. My Contact Information: YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

 

4. Infringer?s Contact Information:

Administrative Contact:

Private, Registration PLAYCOMET.COM@domainsbyproxy.com

Domains by Proxy, Inc.

DomainsByProxy.com

15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353

Scottsdale, Arizona 85260

United States

(480) 624-2599 Fax -- (480) 624-2599

 

 

5. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

 

6. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

 

Sincerely,

 

YOUR NAME

 

NAME EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE NUMBER

 

Email that and you are done.

[paulstenquist]

Thanks Barry. I already posted a notice in my own clunky way, but I will do it again in this manner.

Paul

[kennycoots]

yep, got one of mine.

[geoffm]

God, they've even got two of mine - they must really be scraping the barrel! I shall put it on my resume!

[lptem]

Yep, they have 5 of mine, and 10 of a friends. No accounting for taste. Being in the furniture business, which has literally been destroyed by the Chinese, I am unfortunately used to it. We haven't been able to stop it in furniture design. A sad state of the times.

[cfimages]

They have a few of mine, but interestingly, they have one of the shots I took of the Dalai Lama. AFAIK, the Chinese govt bans Dalai Lama photos and has pretty strict penalties, so does anyone have a contact in the Chinese govt?

[someoneelse]

I did get an e-mail from another PN member, about this, (otherwise I would have never know about this), I did try to read everything on site feed back, as Josh did say: ALL THE WAY THROUGH, but that is too much, poof.....

But okay, they put about 18 pictures of me and I don't like it, but also it is not a realy BIG thing for me, and it is funny also a little bit because of my nick name... I never find photos when I google "someone else" photography ;D, I get endless pages hahahaha

 

Els from the Netherlands

[aginbyte]

To Antonio Bassi ...

 

This theft by GoDaddy was not directed at you personally; they didn't single you out

among all the wonderful photographers in the universe and steal your pictures. You were

part of a sweep where they took good, bad and indifferent. I have shots from other sites

that were also lifted and placed on display, some without credit. It is a fact of internet life.

Any image can be taken from any site. Period. If you posted some precious photo that

you didn't ever want to have stolen, but allowed it to be displayed in a public forum, YOU

made the wrong move, not PhotoNet.

 

And now you somehow have decided that I, along with other photographers on this site,

am only interested in "visibility" and not other people's photos. Aside from the clear insult

intended by this statement, you are completely wrong. I AM interested in visibility. Why

else would I, or you (an attention-grabber if ever there was one on this site with your

"provocative" forum posts) post otherwise? However, one of the reasons that I can learn

on this site (which is my other reason for participating) is that I get to see the work of

other photographers ... some horrible, some average, and some superb. Not to mention

an incredible amount of real commentary and criticism. Not just "Great job" or "I like it",

but thoughtful stuff from people who care enough to invest the time in my work.

 

Grow up, Antonio, and do something helpful. Send the letter to Google and to GoDaddy.

Protect your own work if necessary (though they ignore copyright notices and

watermarks). God help me but this is the first attacking post I've done in 18 months of

PN; to the rest of the PN gang, I apologise. And to Antonio and his friends who will blindly

follow his lead and leave PN, it is your loss.

[EricM]

"This theft by GoDaddy..."

 

Godaddy is no more responsible for this than PN is, Dennis.

[reprint]

FYI, I got a reply from Google Adsense asking me to file a DMCA by fax or by mail, not by email. The draft I put above of a DMCA fulfills their criteria.

 

Send the written communication to the following address:

 

Google, Inc.

Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View CA 94043

 

OR Fax to:

 

(650) 618-8507, Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints

[paulstenquist]

I tried to file a copyright claim with GoDaddy via e-mail. I tried to follow their instructions, but probably didn't get it quite right. I received this reply today:

 

Dear Paul Stenquist,

 

Thank you for contacting GoDaddy.com. We do not allow content on our site to infringe on copyrighted materials. We work regularly with both the courts and law enforcement to ensure that this abuse is curtailed.

 

In harmony with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), we have created a Copyright and Trademark dispute policy to help get this matter resolved. Please review GoDaddy's Trademark and Copyright Policy found at http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?se=%2B&pageid=TRADMARK%5FCOPY

 

In order to process a copyright infringement complaint, you will need to submit your copyright claim to the

following address.

 

 

CopyrightClaims@GoDaddy.com

 

 

Please provide all information as described in this document under Copyright Disputes in your email. It would also be very helpful, although it is not necessary, if you include the Copyright Registration Number that is being violated. (This information can be looked up via the Library of Congress at http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohm.html ). This information will enable us to confirm who, if anyone has the copyright. Content that is not registered with the Library of Congress, or the equivalent body in your area, as a copyrighted work is often highly subjective, and may need to be determined by a court of law.

 

If you have any further questions, please let us know.

 

Regards,

 

 

Copyright Department

GoDaddy.com

CopyrightClaims@GoDaddy.com

[papasan]

Barry, thanks for this, I sent my complaint to both to Google by fax and GoDaddy by email.

[aginbyte]

As of 11:15am on Monday, it appears that Playcomet.com and its affiliated link

pic.playcomet.com are not online. I received a message that the server has stopped

responding.

[oofoto]

I did as suggested above and have just recieved this reply..

 

Thank you for contacting Go Daddy. We have suspended the site in question pending a resolution. Please allow up to 30 minutes for these changes to take effect.

 

Please be aware that we are not a court, nor are we required to determine who, if anyone, actually owns the content in question. We have provided the specifics of your infringement claim to the owner of the site, along with your contact information, since the most efficient resolution of this situation comes through mutual communication between the 2 parties involved.

 

If the site owner indicates they are ready to remove the infringing content, we will re-activate the hosting account in order to allow that to happen. If they complete a counter-notification on the work(s) in question, according to the Copyright Dispute Policy, a copy of the notification will be sent to you. The site will then be re-activated 10 days following receipt of the counter-notification by us unless we receive official notice that you have initiated court proceedings. If we do receive such official notice, the website will remain down according to the request of the court(s) at that time.

 

If you have specific questions about the actions we have taken, please let us know.

 

Thank you,

 

Copyright Claims Department GoDaddy.com CopyrightClaims@GoDaddy.com

 

I'm sure they'll just move the site elsewhere though!