I hate to have to write about this here as I know the vast majority of our community are great people. Our site is being spoiled by a few people in the community who feel it is ok to steal other peoples work and post either as their own, or without permission.
THIS MUST STOP
It's really winding me up now, every week I am deleting peoples accounts because they are infringing copyright and posting other artists work as their own. You can not do this. It is written in Our terms of service, and the law, in almost every country in the world.
STOP IT
I know most people here would never do this, and fortunately we have a great community of photographers on our site, and I intend to keep it that way. From now on, anybody caught posting content that is not their own work will have their account deleted immediately, with no warning, it's taking up too much of my time talking with these people.
This is a hard line to take, but people need to know this activity is not acceptable, not here, not anywhere.
If anybody reading this who has used work on this site without explicit written permission from the copyright owner must NOW go and remove it or risk having their account removed when it is discovered.
If anybody knows of anyone who is using other people work without permission, please email me at ross@365project.org I will be adding features to the site to enable easier reporting of images in the future.
Thanks for your time, and sorry to the truly genuine people using this site, you are our backbone and we love you!
I'd like to see who's doing it so I can harass them for being imbeciles, but then if you're deleting the accounts that wouldn't really be possible anyway! Me so derp.
I couldn't agree more Ross and thanks for taking your time to make sure that these people are not on here. It really turns my stomache to see other people steal other peoples work and take credit for it as if they were the ones who took it. Your awesome Ross, keep up the good work!!!
Most definitely delete them without any notice! Stealing other people's work is WRONG and ILLEGAL. Thank you so much for getting rid of them as soon as you find them. I had no idea people were doing this.
Very glad about this Ross, 365 is an awesome site, but I started to notice that some of the "young" creative in fact just picked photos from ohers. I was wondering how to point it out. Thank you to 365's team.
Sucks that you even have to deal with this - what's the use in posting stolen photos? There's no prize or applause at the end of the day. Some people are really daft.
wow- I had no idea this was happening on this site! But thank you Ross for taking so much time out of your life to keep this site honest and safe for the vast majority on here. To those of you who may be doing this- well, SHAME on you!
Wow. This is great. Thanks, Ross, for spending the time with this! I mean, stealing others' work is not only wrong and illegal, but unfair. Just my thought.
Didn't actually know some members are actually doing it. I don't think a couple of good comments or being popular for a day is worth it. Thanks Ross for raising this.
It sucks that people are doing this and it sucks even more that you have to keep addressing it! Thank you for taking the time to clean this up and for finding easier ways to report it. Hopefully we won't actually need it!
I'm so glad you're on top of this, Ross. I wasn't aware of this as I go along assuming that everyone is good and doing the right thing. What a shame!! Again, thanks for being on the ball!!!
There always has to be someone out there that does something like this. Thank you for posting this as a reminder to watch our work as well. I notice a lot of users put watermarks on their work...usually the bottom. I thought about it, but it seems to take away from the photo and if it's at the bottom, it could easily be cropped out and used anyway. Any thoughts? Thanks again!
I actually didn't know that members were doing this.... @Shawananna I used to put a watermark on the bottom of my photos...but then I stopped mostly out of laziness haha. But I try to post a watermark on my other accounts (dA and flickr).
I don't see the purpose of doing that on this site, but I agree with the measures being taken. I have thought about a watermark, too. Mostly, as a designer, I want to create one, I think. :) With today's software it is fairly easy to clone out the watermark, so if someone wants to go to the trouble and time... PS CS5 has added a feature that with a sweep, will clone it out for you. Great for dirty sensors, bad for watermarks.
Ross, you are awesome. I'm so glad you've brought this up, because I've noticed a lot of copyright lately, even a copyright that was on the pop. page, because after I went to their list of photos, none of them were taken by the person...ugg it's sad, but I'm so glad you're cracking down on this. :)
Ross, thank you for doing this. One of the first pics I posted was sent to me by one of my daughters. It was indeed a great photo and I plainly said I did not take it. Author was unknown to me. I just deleted it from my album so there would be no question about it. But I know there were several people that (faved) it. Thanks again for your vigilance
Didn't know this was happening. Doesn't make sense that if someone wants an album of their 'life' for a year, they would include photos from someone else's experience.
Thanks, Ross! It's so not cool to have people steal your work. I have had mine stolen before (both digitally and hard-copy), so I get very mad about this too!
Good, I'm glad you take this stance. I don't watermark my shots because I find it distracting, I rely on faith alone to protect my images. Thanks for taking the hard stance.
it stinks that this is taking up your time, there are not many honest people left in the world and those who are honest pay the price for the dishonest ones. I hope you get the programming worked out so we can help you in the future.
Great work...your hard line is the minimum! quite right!
if they are stealing them to use on this site, they must be using them elsewhere...scary thoughts
Um excuse me everyone. I use my 365project as a journal, I am in no way a photographer so use this site as a way to document my year and the things I do everyday. Already I LOVE going back over my time on here and laughing about the things I get up to.
There have been some instances (even lately) where I have bought something from eBay and uploaded a screenshot of it for a journal entry as nothing else interesting happened that day. I would always state it is a screenshot, and as I said I am not a photographer nor do I try to be one so am not uploading things to get credit from anyone. If my account gets deleted, I would be heartbroken.
I agree with Ross that if someone has a photo that isn't theirs but they upload and caption it in a context that implies they took the photo, then they should be deleted.. But if it's just a picture of something that someone bought then who cares? Especially if like myself they've in no way claimed it as their own picture, but actually to the contrary, stated that it most certainly isn't.
I also have photos with me in them, at parties or on trips that I obviously haven't taken but have been present for the photo, does that fall under your category Ross? Because that would be ridiculous. Again, 365 is a journal for me. I upload happenings from my day and if you ever feel I'm being inappropriate with what I've chosen to upload I implore you to contact me. I would be devastated to lose my account.
So wait, I can't pretend Ansel Adams' shots are my own?! Time to go delete half my project.
Seriously though... I don't even understand why you'd try to pass off photos you never took as your own. It's not like there's a million dollar prize for having the best photos on 365 or something. It's about self expression, learning, growing and being part of a wonderful community. And if your self expression is to say "Look how good I'd be if I were someone else," that's rather pathetic. Ross, I'm sorry you have to deal with this, but thank you so much for handling it appropriately.
Wow .... you all have good eyes to catch someone posting another's work as their own. I would not have imagined that people would do this but I guess even this site needs policing.
Jenna, the person they're referring to actually went to stock image sites, took copyrighted images from said sites, and uploaded them here. She didn't state where she got them from, or even that they were not hers. No, it's not like she was making profit off the images by posting them here on 365, but she was basically claiming them as her own.
I think in your case, screenshots are absolutely fine, because YOU made the screenshot. I'm talking about situations where people completely jack images off the net from photobucket/google/sxc/whatever and claim them as their own.
I always wonder how people can include the watermark on their pictures. Maybe someone can explain that process here and more of us can use this method to protect our pictures.
I agree with the "young" comment...it's SO ethicly wrong to use someone elses stuff and pass it off as your own, in any thing. I think many young folks don't quite have the ethical umph yet. Well, come to think of it, a lot of older folks don't either...I believe I will ask this of Santa for the world. . . And thanks Ross for taking your time to weed out the jack@$$es! Oh, and I also liked the kitten shot...damn her!
It is an absolute shame that you have been put in a position such as this Ross. I am awfully disappointed to find out that people do this., Even of the crappiest days I've posted a crappy photo or yeah used an archived one....365 is such an awesome community and its plain disheartening that there are people ruining it for everyone else and causing you unnecessary stress etc. You've had to take a harsh stance on this but I think it is the only way you can effectively manage it and I respect you for that. I sincerely hope that this will be an effective solution and 365 can be what you intended for it to be - BTW in my opinion it's the most awesome thing I've come across as far as encouragement to build you up, learning and sharing photography skills, seeing the world in a whole new perspective, learning about other counties and their birds, bugs, flowers etc seeing everyones individual creativity and the list goes on, it has changed my life and in the best way possible so thank you!!!!
I'm afraid I can't remember her name!! And never will do, as her account has since been deleted. But I saw the kitten picture on the popular page and so I visited her account, and saw a few photos that I liked - there was the kitten one and there was also a beautiful one of a couple sitting on the edge of a lake or something and with incredibly pretty bokeh in the background. I almost faved it, but then I had a little more of a look around, and found that those incredibly professional shots were interspersed with those sorts of images that you might find at lolcats - funny/random things with speech bubbles or text added to them. So that raised a red flag for me. And then I started looking for EXIF data and there wasn't any, and the filenames didn't quite seem right either (a lot of random letters and numbers, like they'd been downloaded from somewhere). But yeah, I do believe her account is no longer. I was suspicious when I saw it though, and am glad it's been rectified, because stealing things is just bad!
I'm glad you posted this...I can't imagine. I've taken nearly all my pictures. I've come right out and said so when the photo wasn't mine as in the case of an old photo of my mother when she was a child and another when I was a baby, I obviously couldn't have taken those photos. And very recently, I snapped a photo of a photo that my sister took. I have her written permission to post that picture mostly becuase the photo is of her daughter and I don't post pictures of other people's children without their permission. Again, with that one, I confessed it right in the photo notes. It's such a shame that this had to be posted but I'm glad it did. I believe most of us try really hard to be creative and thoughtful in creating our photos and it just stings that a few would be so callus as to steal another's work and try to claim credit for it.
I don't know why I'm actually surprised this is happening here, but I am. Wow. We just can't escape it, can we. Really burns me up! Thanks for dealing with this Ross. I'm sorry you have to, but glad you are.
Also wanted to point out that a lot of my iPhone images do not (actually, none of them) have EXIF data, and many of my p/s or SLR shots don't either, because I resize and save them for web posting in Photoshop. All of my images, except one or two which my husband took for me, of me, were taken by me. My husband isn't a photographer and could care less if I post a picture he took without giving him credit - but I would be pissed at myself if I did that! LOL Alas, my point is that just because an image doesn't have data attached to it doesn't mean the person posting it didn't take the shot. I'd hate to be accused of such a thing on that premise alone. Teresa had other flags and brains enough to look deeper into it, but I couldn't help but defend the no EXIF data from the other side of the fence. :)
Ok- I just have to say that I agree that some young people may not have the same moral platform as someone a little more mature. That being said there are many fabulous young photographers here on this site with so much creativity and tallent that I am truely amazed. I hope that our younger members continue to amaze us, and that others don't question the authenticity of thier work.
Yes that was her. :) I didn't raise the alarm, though. In fact, I'm not sure how one would go about doing that. What is the proper thing to do if one suspects plagiarism?
I would think directly contacting Ross first. Same in the instance that your photo has been "stolen." Actions appear to be different depending on country and even state here in the US, yet online procedures are generally the same as it depends on the website's procedures. Ross would know what direction to go in, I'm sure.
Mmm, me too... some younger people - well, the young ones already into graphic/digital design - would have quite a good idea of plagiarism and intellectual property theft and how bad it is. I and a few others on this site belong to an online community (and we all found out about 365 from there :) ) and unfortunately at that site there have been major issues in the past over people stealing my work and the work of others - I'm talking about blatantly taking an image, rubbing out the watermark/tag, and posting it on their page as their own. So at least this batch of 'young' people would have a fair idea that it's wrong. :) Although I also agree with the notion that young people are more likely to go searching on stock image sites for things that they like, and then possibly post them here without saying that the work is not theirs. But there's definitely a huge chunk of us (well, not sure I fall into the 'young' group anymore, at 23 xD) who are definitely savvy about this and realise how important intellectual honesty is.
Young people tend to be more tech-savvy, so they be more aware of stock image sites and so on, but that doesn't equate to being less moralistic... so I suppose I agree with you Teresa!
This si supposed to be pictures from YOUR life, day by day. Why bother putting up someone else's pictures?? The go boost if someone comments?? I don't understand it. I'm glad these people are being deleted.
Okay, I agree with many of you that this is wrong... but I don't know if I like the ageist tones these comments are leading towards. Don't generalize a group of people, even with exclaimers like "some young people don't... but" and other things like that, or about being morally correct or incorrect. This isn't coming from a place of anger but more of a social justice standpoint. Why not just say, these theives are immoral, the stealing of those pictures is unfair and unjust, or even people who do this aren't being true to themselves as artists?
Standing up on a pillar of higher "morality" and a more "aged wisdom" as some might say is unfair. What is young? What is old? Does doing one immoral thing make you an immoral person? Does one "young person" doing something bad make the rest of them "immoral"? There are countless "immoral" and "immature" acts made by people of a gradient of ages and other social identities.
Thieves must be stopped, but so should notions of over-generalization and discrimination of any kind.
Again, this isn't coming from a place of anger, and I am not trying to troll or target anyone. I am just saying that as someone who is trying a promote a more equal and friendly environment (on and off this site) I felt I had to say something.
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Do they deserve it? Ab-so-freaking-lutely!!
And no, not hard at all, totally fair!
@Shawananna I used to put a watermark on the bottom of my photos...but then I stopped mostly out of laziness haha. But I try to post a watermark on my other accounts (dA and flickr).
If anyone wants to take my pictures, be my guest!
it stinks that this is taking up your time, there are not many honest people left in the world and those who are honest pay the price for the dishonest ones. I hope you get the programming worked out so we can help you in the future.
if they are stealing them to use on this site, they must be using them elsewhere...scary thoughts
There have been some instances (even lately) where I have bought something from eBay and uploaded a screenshot of it for a journal entry as nothing else interesting happened that day. I would always state it is a screenshot, and as I said I am not a photographer nor do I try to be one so am not uploading things to get credit from anyone. If my account gets deleted, I would be heartbroken.
I agree with Ross that if someone has a photo that isn't theirs but they upload and caption it in a context that implies they took the photo, then they should be deleted.. But if it's just a picture of something that someone bought then who cares? Especially if like myself they've in no way claimed it as their own picture, but actually to the contrary, stated that it most certainly isn't.
I also have photos with me in them, at parties or on trips that I obviously haven't taken but have been present for the photo, does that fall under your category Ross? Because that would be ridiculous. Again, 365 is a journal for me. I upload happenings from my day and if you ever feel I'm being inappropriate with what I've chosen to upload I implore you to contact me. I would be devastated to lose my account.
Seriously though... I don't even understand why you'd try to pass off photos you never took as your own. It's not like there's a million dollar prize for having the best photos on 365 or something. It's about self expression, learning, growing and being part of a wonderful community. And if your self expression is to say "Look how good I'd be if I were someone else," that's rather pathetic. Ross, I'm sorry you have to deal with this, but thank you so much for handling it appropriately.
I think in your case, screenshots are absolutely fine, because YOU made the screenshot. I'm talking about situations where people completely jack images off the net from photobucket/google/sxc/whatever and claim them as their own.
I am sorry about this issue troubling you so much, Ross! That's awful! :(
I'm so happy that you're taking these steps ... but sorry that this issue is cause such a headache for you!
Standing up on a pillar of higher "morality" and a more "aged wisdom" as some might say is unfair. What is young? What is old? Does doing one immoral thing make you an immoral person? Does one "young person" doing something bad make the rest of them "immoral"? There are countless "immoral" and "immature" acts made by people of a gradient of ages and other social identities.
Thieves must be stopped, but so should notions of over-generalization and discrimination of any kind.
Again, this isn't coming from a place of anger, and I am not trying to troll or target anyone. I am just saying that as someone who is trying a promote a more equal and friendly environment (on and off this site) I felt I had to say something.
(seriously, even if you take a picture of the mona lisa it's ok)
I think the whole discussion about 'stealing' and 'moral' is a bit too much.....