Photograph Theft Definition

This includes photographs that have been digitally edited with professional photo editing software such as Photoshop as well as raw photos that have been scanned or transfered via a digital camera.

Stock Photos

Some popular free stock photo websites are:

• stock.xchng: http://www.sxc.hu/
• Free Images: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
• FreeStockPhotos: http://freestockphotos.com/
• FreePhotosBank: http://www.freephotosbank.com/

Non-free stock photo websites:

• istockphoto: http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php
• Stock Photo: http://www.stockphoto.com/
• Big Stock Photo: http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

You can take and use stock photos without needing to credit the person who took them. Just make sure this is from a free stock photo site.
Often, if stock photos are offered for money, they will make you sign up to the website and only offer previews which are not to be taken.

Restrictions

Some sites offering free stock photos request that you follow some rules when you take the images. These can include not changing the image file name, linking back to the site you got them from and not modifying the images. Always make sure you follow the site's rules.

Stealing Locations

Common places where people steal and/or host photographs from are:

• Search engine image searches: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista
  
• Photography.com: http://www.photography.com/
• Photo.net: http://photo.net/
• Photography - Gallery: http://www.photography-gallery.com/
• Photobucket: http://photobucket.com/
• deviantART: http://www.deviantart.com/
• Putfile: http://www.putfile.com/
• Sheezy Art: http://www.sheezyart.com/
• Their own websites and hosts
• Any Message board in avatars, signatures and threads

Any website can contain commonly contain photographs. Online photo gallery portfolios especially.

Remember: Just because an image is on Photobucket or deviantART etc. does not mean you can just take it without asking permission from the artist.

Theft Prevention

Example with Photoshop:

Disable Right-Clicking

If you host a photo gallery on a website, you can add the following code to the page to stop people from right-clicking the mouse and saving images.

Follow this free tutorial and don't forget to keep the credits intact:

Lissa Explains it All - How do I disable the right click?

Anti-Theft Messages

Make it known you do not want your photographs stolen by writing messages somewhere near the them or even on them, like a Watermark.

Tutorials On Reporting Stolen Photographs

One way you can give adequate proof is to take a picture of your photograph. To explain this better here is an example of a photograph in a photo book:

[Click to expand.]

If the stolen photos are valuable (for example you generate money from them as part of your website) then going to this length to provide evidence is a good idea. If you took the photographs digitally, you can get them developed by taking them to a photo store. Most of the larger stores have a machine whereby you to insert your cameras memory card which allows it to print your photographs. Depending on how many you want to be printed this can be a little costly.

You can then provide this picture within such reports given in the examples below.

The following tutorials will tell you how to contact the thief and then how to submit a report.

Photography.com Tutorial

If such a thing happens on the forum, register an account and make a post to report it in one of the sections such as this:

http://photography.com/forum/index.php?action=vtopic&forum=15

Photo.net Tutorial

Photography - Gallery Tutorial

Google Images Tutorial

Take the following action if you see your photograph(s) in a Search engine image search and the location is not where it should be:

1. Click on the image.
2. Follow the link back to where it came from. For instance on Google, this is: "Below is the image in its original context on the page: [Link appears here]".

(If the image leads to a dead link then it means the image in its full size no longer exists in the stolen location thus, cannot be stolen from that location again anyway.)

3. If the link works, try to find a way to contact the author of the page. This is most likely by an email provided.
4. Politely email/contact the webmaster to ask of them to remove your photograph(s).

Photobucket Tutorial

If you find that some of your photo images are being hosted in a Photobucket album without your permission and you wish for them to be removed, you are required to send Photobucket an email with specific information, as stated here:

http://photobucket.com/copyright

For your convenience, here is a template of an email you can use:

=========================================

One/some of my photo images was/were stolen from me and hosted on Photobucket without my permission.

Link to the original image's location: (Link here)
Link to the stolen image's location in the album: (Link here)

Name:
Home address:
Phone number:
My email address: (Address here)

I hereby state that I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (e.g., as a fair use).

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

5. Signed,

(Sign your name/username here.)

=========================================

Once you have finished, send it to this address:

abuse@photobucket.com

Please note: You will not be able to submit a report on behalf of someone else. If you find stolen images on Photobucket, you must find the original location and artist and contact them first. Only they can get the images removed.

deviantART Tutorial

Take the following action if you see a member of deviantART has stolen and submitted your work to their own gallery:

Contact the thief:

If the user has not been active lately it is better to submit a report.
If the user's last activity is "Invisible" check around the page to get an idea when they were last active. For example, when did they last submit art or write a journal?

Submit a report:

1. Go to the page where the stolen deviation is being hosted.
2. Click on the Report Policy Violation link in the "Details" section undeaneath the deviation.
3. On this report form, choose "Ripped Or Stolen Artwork".
4. In the "Comments" text box, explain the situation and say you request it to be removed and submit it.

You can use and edit the following template if you are not sure what to write:

Template
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This deviation is my work and has been submitted here without my permission.

It belongs here (link of where it appears on your deviantART account/wherever it was stolen from.)

Please can it be removed from this member's gallery. Thank you for your time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You must be a member of deviantART to use the report system. Registration is free.

Putfile Tutorial

Follow the instructions on this page:

http://www.putfile.com/dmca.php#writing_notice

Reporting A Video

In order to report a video which contains the image(s) of a stolen photograph(s), you must be a member of Put-File. Registration is free.

On the page of the video, press on the 'Report Media' link under the video and follow the instructions from there.

If no action has been taken after a reasonable time e.g one week, then you could join the forums and either send a private message to one of the staff or start a topic on the matter.

Reporting An Image

Pictures have no report link like with videos however you can leave comments underneath the image. Leave one explaining the situation.
If this does not get the image removed, consider contacting the person who uploaded it. To do this:

Click on the link to their home page, which will just be their username underlined.
On this page, to contact the user, look for where it says:

'Contacting (name of user)

Send Message'

And press the Send Message link.

Sheezy Art Tutorial

1. Go to the page where the stolen photograph is being hosted.
2. Look to the right where it says 'Tools' and click on 'Report'.
3. Type a description of why you are reporting it and click send.

Example template for reporting:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am reporting this image because it belongs to me. This member took it without my permission and submitted it to their account.

It belongs here (link of where it was stolen from)

Please can it be removed from this member's gallery. Thank you for your time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How You Can Help

Link To Us

You can use one of the free banners provided at the end of this page and use them in places to link back to this website.

Example code to use the micro bar in a message board:

[url=http://www.freewebs.com/act-now/photos.htm][img]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/Phantom_phoenix2/act/photoad.gif[/img][/url]

<a href="http://www.freewebs.com/act-now/photos.htm"><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/Phantom_phoenix2/act/photoad2.gif"></a>

Spread The Word

Tell people about this website. Friends, family, whoever. We appreciate anyone who helps advertise and in turn every visitor we get.

Direct Stealers Here

If you see any cases of stolen photographs and it is easy to contact the thief, you can inform them what they are doing is wrong and link them to this site. If they have any sense, a trip to this site will be a worthwhile experience for them.
Example: You see a photograph in an online gallery site that someone posted on a photo-rating forum. In this case, you can tell them it belongs to the original artist by using the comments system. You can also link them here if they do not understand what they are doing.

Submit Your Own Content

If you see anything you believe could be improved or added to this page please let us know, or feel free to write/re-write some of the content.

To submit content or give us your general opinion, please fill out the following form and we will consider adding it to the site:

http://www.freewebs.com/act-now/form.htm

We appreciate all useful additions received.

Warehousing

Photo Ripping

Examples:

1. Cropping the photo and uploading it online.
2. Cutting parts of the photograph out and/or adding other images to them.
3. Using a photo-editing program such as Photoshop to add other elements like backgrounds and texts.

Full Ad Banner (486 x 60 px):

Micro Bar (88 x 31 px):

Please upload these to your own hosts before using them. Suggested hosts:

Photobucket: http://photobucket.com/
Image Shack: http://imageshack.us/