joshroot Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Photo.net user Paul Marbs made a post in this thread that would indicate godaddy suspended playcomet's hosting account: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OM9C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshroot Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Also: <p> <b>***Please try to keep all discussion on the playcomet/bitcomet issue in this thread. It's an important enough issue that we should attempt to keep the info all in one place if possible.***</b> <p> Thanks everyone for all their efforts so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrygilroy Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I've only had 8 snaffled so at least I'm not John G's most despised member. piracy will always exist and at least we are getting the credit for our work albeit not financially but I don't post for financial reasons just in the hope that folks will enjoy looking at my piccies. Why not stroll into ypor local friendly CIA office and inform them that the dastardly Chinese have hijacked photos that might contain information of strategic value :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenwood Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 As it stands right now, I cannot connect to their servers. Maybe you all managed to shut it down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aginbyte Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 From the other thread, it looks as if GoDaddy has shut them off. It looks like concerted action did some good here, at least for the day. They'll be back and we'll go after them again, I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorilafs Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Here is the response I got from AdSense: Hello, Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (thetext of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website:http://www.copyright.gov/) and other applicable intellectual property laws. In this case, this means that if we receive proper notice of infringement, we will forward that notice to the responsible web site publisher. To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may beliable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs andattorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item whenyou in fact do not. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether you have the right to request removal from our service, we suggest that you first contact an attorney. To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following format (including section numbers): 1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon. For example, "The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html." 2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above. You must identify each page that allegedly contains infringing material by providing its URL. 3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred). 4. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that useof the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing webpages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law." 5. Include the following statement: "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 anexclusive right that is allegedly infringed." 6. Sign the paper. 7. 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 Regards, The Google AdSense Team Evidently it's writing to Go.Daddy that gets us the desired results, as evidenced by the letter Paul M. received. Thanks, again, Paul! Should we all keep writing in to Go.Daddy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oofoto Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Lori, I was only doing as I was told using Barry Goggin's draft! But yes it looks as if it stirred enough of us into action to send emails and provoke action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonebearimages Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I just want to say to all of you who worked so hard over the weekend on this issue; 'Thank you!' It looks like the concerted and cooperative effort was successful; at least, for the time being. I am a pragmatist, and realize that any image I've posted here or on any other site could potentially end up anywhere anytime. Fortunately, for me, I ain't quittin' my day-job anytime soon; and my fairly mundane photography is just an extraordinarily satisfying hobby. What makes PN so worth it for me is the interaction I have with all of you regarding my work, your work, and the techniques we utilize. Losing my images periodically to nefarious scoundrels is well worth the price of admission. In closing; Josh, a big 'atta-boy' to you for all the time you put in on this. Now, let us all get back to doin' what we all enjoy so much! Cheers! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photis santamouris Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm sure the FBI and the CIA are doing a good job on servers,either Chinese or not.Let us be more careful in future. <p>Two months ago,I've been telling Josh,that a lot are downloading our job here to serve their clients, make CDs and DVDs for tour operators and the like and asked him not to allow right click on our images. He answered that this useless and that HE can download any image where right click is not allowed.I can't.And this is where communication stops.Period(quoting Dennis). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papasan Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I received the exact same reply as Paul M. from GoDaddy. And i cannot access the site anymnore so i assume it's been shut down at least temporarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reprint Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I also received the notice of suspension of the site from GoDaddy. Hopefully people understand the steps that can be taken. It wont always be successful but sometimes it is. You have to decide if it is worth the effort. Prevention of theft is another story and one that does not have a good remedy. Disabling right click affects critiques and the odd copy made by people who do not know better but it wont stop people like we encountered here at all. You can reduce the size of the photo you up load but often this doesn't dissuade thieves unless they are printing your material. Watermarking can help you trace your image but it doesn't stop people copying. I believe someone said their watermarked photo was copied along with the rest here. Registering with the Library of Congress allows you to claim major damages. If you are a pro or have valuable photos, registering them allows you to pursue the offenders for damages in court. In summary you can take action if you like against blatant violators as seen here. In the end though, it shouldn't stop you enjoying your hobby or profession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshroot Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 <i>"He answered that this useless and that HE can download any image where right click is not allowed.I can't."</i> <p> If you can't download an image from a site that disables right-click, that just means you don't know how. The scammers do know how. Many of the methods have been discussed in this thread: disable Javascript, use "page info" in Firefox, screen capture, etc. <p> As I have said, it is worth looking into ways to make it harder for places like playcomet to download images off of photo.net. But I am not going to waste site resources, slow site performance, or spend programmer time on "solutions" that do not do anything to stop this kind of theft. That is a waste of time and I will just have to keep answering the same questions when the efforts aren't successful. <p> I keep saying this, but I'll say it again. The only way to guarantee that your images won't end up on another website is to not put them on the web anywhere. Not on photo.net. Not on Flickr. Not on your own website. If your images are online, they can be stolen if someone wants them badly enough. If they are not online they cannot. Each photographer needs to look at the risk and reward of having images online and decide if the reward is worth the risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phule Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 That last paragraph should be a part of the new user sign-up page. It's very well said, Josh. Thanks to everyone for their efforts on this, b.t.w. I wish I had seen the thread earlier to see if any of my images were "honored" like this. But it's good to know the site is down. Hopefully now it will be for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fldawson Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Just curious, but has anyone sent them a bill for use of the pix? It's probably useless, but the might get the message if we all did that! Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petemillis Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Josh...something that would be really useful..... A lot of us have uploaded images that do not have any watermark on them (most of us probably). We can add watermarks in post processing, but what about images we have uploaded already? Well, you know that you have some wonderful software engineers...and they did this wonderful thing whereby we can reorganise photos and folders. Well, is there any way that we could add a personalised watermark to out already uploaded images? That would be so cool - click a button to add a watermark to them all at once! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorilafs Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I don't think anyone has done this yet, and I've been following this thread from the beginning. Paul, you started a phenominal thread here...may be the, or one of the longest and most read threads ever! More importantly, it affected and concerned so many of us here. Our numbers alone may have been what got GoDaddy to shut down the pilferring website. I commend you for being so aware and caring enough about all of our collective works, to post this alert. Thank You very kindly, from all of us Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan_piller Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Yes - many thanks to Paul for alerting us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshroot Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 <i>"Has photo.net sent a letter/email to Google or the Go Daddy owners regarding this issue?"</i> <p> Our lawyer knows about the issue. However, it turns out that we had a company-wide meeting that took up most of the afternoon. So I was unable to make phone contact with her to find out what action she was able to take. <p> Photo.net does not want to support image-theft any more than any of you do. (the multiple responses from Bob and myself on this thread should make that fairly clear). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I don't know if photo.net has/will take any official action or what that action might be. Josh can probably answer that better. However I can comment that only the copyright owner can file a DMCA complaint as far as I know. To file an official complaint you must own the rights to the image. Photo.net doesn't own the rights to the images, the photographer does, so I think it really has to be the photographer (copyright owner) who files any DMCA complaint. Photo.net can certainly make it's views known of course, but I'm not sure how much legal standing it has in this case. Stealing images off photo.net violates the photo.net terms of use, but that's probably not as actionable as a copyright violation is. I'm pretty sure the action so far will mean that the stolen images will be removed if the site comes back on line, but each photographer might have to contact the company to get that done. I think the basic liability is to remove images about which there have been complaints. Of course if they just shift the server to somewhere in Russia, then it would be hard to force them to do anything. I'm not quite sure what the situation would be with a server in China. I think they exectute people for intenet pornography there, but I'd guess the punishment for copyright violation is somewhat less severe! Russia seems to have little, if any, regulation of websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lake_photography Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I have tried three times this evening to log on to their site but nothing happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l_t6 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I am "new" to PN (actually have joined way back when, but I think my login was removed due to inactivity plus I don't remember what login/email I used back then...long time ago when Phil started the site) so have never posted any images, but I have images on snapfish.com. So, reading through this thread has me wondering: a) were they able to poach from sites like snapfish that requires authentication to view shared images? - I can't verify this since the site has been suspended b) perhaps PN, through the collective brain power of this site and possible access to the brain power of MIT (since Phil is/was affiliated with that fine institution), figure out ways to make it more difficult to poach. This may be involve slight inconveniences such as access authentication, etc. I don't think that there will be a single solution, but a combo of techniques that could be use to make it more difficult (I highly doubt we can make it bullet proof depending on what the community requirements and site mission are). Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aepelbacher Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 LT, I appreciate your idea ... your 2 cents, but for my 2 cents, I have to add that I would be very upset if PN began to require some sort of authentication in order to view my photos. I use my photo.net portfolio folders as "galleries" and link to them from my own personal websites. I have even gotten a couple of image sales from people who link through from my other websites. Requiring them to authenticate would be somewhat of a problem for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulstenquist Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I agree with Lou Ann. If the Photo.net galleries aren't easily accessible they would be of little value to many of us. Photos are meant to be seen. I wouldn't even want to lose the right click download capability. I've exchanged post processing ideas with many PN members via work on each others desktops. That could, of course, be handled bia e-mail, but it would involve extra steps. I like things the way they are now. No one suffered from the display of their photos on that obscure site. And it's unlikely that they ever would. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan_piller Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I agree with Paul I love the ability to be able to post process/crop etc and have other members do the same for me. As for me, I've leanred a very valuable lesson and will watermark from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnathanbass Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I don't know if this means anything or not, but I've tried accessing that website today and the site is down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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