Theft Of Images

but where are they getting the images from? wouldn't they need the large image?

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Good point, Mike, they need large images for acceptance on Alamy
Most likely, those images were bought on subscription from Shutterstock or pirated somehow from the other sites

The age of the super pirates. These folks are so brazen as they know that considering the cost of a court case the artist will more than likely only ask them to take it down. Holy run on sentence batman!

The chances of this pirate ever getting any treasure are zero. The pages will likely be down Monday if not sooner. Any licenses sold would be revoked. I would guess that the pirate is an employee or ex employee of a large design firm that had licensed the images and the he had access or hacked in.

"I would guess that the pirate is an employee or ex employee of a large design firm that had licensed the images and the he had access or hacked in."

Holy Speculation, Batman! This has got the Penguin's flipper prints all over it.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

More logic than speculation, Dan.

They are large images, Alamy need to shut this guy down as it looks like a few of the photographers have submitted DMCA's.

I wouldn't trust Alamy as far as I could throw them. I've been speaking to a few photographers about their work ethics. Not good.

There is thread about it on SS already. People are already sending DMCA. Lets hope that SS will do something about it too.

The irony is that the original photographers receive only 15-30% royalty on their images at SS, IS and other microstock agencies, whereas the thief pockets 50% of the proceeds from the stolen images at Alamy.

this place is full of "stolen" images offered as "free" stockphotos.
http://www.mystockphoto.com/photo

found some of mine there today, check for yours, take action.
they had backlinks to the original site, in this case FAA, but still.

it would be odd to hack something and not take credit card stuff. images for the most part are kind of worthless. and so easily trackable. i kind of wonder if alamy already had these in the collection and this is one of their fake accounts and are selling it under their own name. otherwise how did one person get full sized images of so many different people?

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Menega, thanks for the tip.
I just checked that site, and they have many Shutterstock images online, even with Shutterstock name and image number.
Did they remove your images after you notified them?

@ Mike Savad
"how did one person get full sized images of so many different people?"

As Martin mentioned, it could be that somebody got access to a design agency's image library (either ex-employee, contractor or a hacker)

@les: just found them today, haven't heard back yet.

Apparently, mystockphotos.com is a legit site, they work on referral basis. If you click on an image, you are redirected to shutterstock.
I don't know how it works with their free photos.

Les Palenik
advantica.wordpress.com

that's just it though. if your a thief and you break into a house, your looking for jewels and money. not the ceramic collectible kitties collection. while the images might have a worth, people wouldn't steel that, it has no real street value.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

After Alamy shuts him down, most likely the guy will try the same thing at other sites. Amazing people think they can get away with this. Its a highly interconnected industry.

re mystockphotos i don't know what legit means in this context. they have my faa 900x preview image up there complete with faa watermark offered as free stock without my permission. that is not legit in my book. and so far i haven't heard back.

that is strange and definitely not legal.
FAA should follow up on it as well, otherwise such infractions will recur and once the pictures spread on Internet, it will be impossible to delete them all.
In this case, at least the FAA watermark can point out to the source.