Protecting your photographs via DMCA

This information is applicable only in the United States of America.

If a website or blog that has published your photographs without your
permission, you can have them removed almost instantly and you don't
need to involve yourself with the thief. If you use even the most basic
protection from theft, you can also sue the thief and most likely his
host for damages.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act – DMCA criminalises production and
dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent
measures (commonly known as Digital Rights Management or DRM) that
control access to copyrighted works and it also criminalises the act of
circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual
infringement of copyright itself.

Under the DMCA, you have to provide WRITTEN notice to an offending
service provider. I strongly suggest you hire a lawyer but you can do it
yourself.

With this in mind, you should begin using software that provides some
protection from directly downloading your images. It won't stop a
determined thief like Bret Douglas or Jeff Ralph but it will give you
the basis for a successful action against them to recover damages. The
law also provides for a jail sentence for the thief.

I use a gallery creating program (free in it's basic form) called
'Jalbum' and a "Skin" I bought which has amongst other things, a
password requirement before allowing downloading of images. (right click
circumvention is automatic)

Should *anyone* take you photos without your consent, they have become
criminals by circumventing your DRM. This is nothing at all to do with
Copyright and everything to do with giving you the right to decide who
can or cannot have your photos.

You can then sue them directly for large sums of money under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act. (DMCA) for circumventing your DRM as well as
any copyright violation.

You can download a DMCA take down notice and file it yourself, from he
http://www.dreamweaverresources.com/...A_original.doc

For outside the USA where the US, DMCA does not apply, you can server a
different take down notice and probably achieve the same results:
http://www.dreamweaverresources.com/...t_original.doc

Both of these forms are public domain material.

I word of warning. I have spent many thousands of dollars protecting my
legal right to control who can have my photography. There is a list of
trolls I got nowhere with when I demanded they take my images down.
That's when I discovered their ISP or hosting firm was a clearer target.

Don't even think about suing someone unless you are sure they have the
resources to pay you damages. If they have, go for the throat without
warning. They are common thieves and need to be treated as such.

--
You don't stop laughing because you grow old,
You grow old because you stop laughing!

Annika1980 wrote:
On Jun 19, 6:20 pm, daveFaktor wrote:
This information is applicable only in the United States of America.

If a website or blog that has published your photographs without your
permission, you can have them removed almost instantly and you don't
need to involve yourself with the thief. If you use even the most basic
protection from theft, you can also sue the thief and most likely his
host for damages.

Unless of course, the image thief uses GoDaddy, like you do.
When I complained about you posting my pics that you stole from me
they pretty much said, "Tough luck" and that I would have to get a law
enforcement agency to contact them to take them down.
In other words, GoDaddy doesn't enforce their own terms of service.
But then that's ok since it's OK for you to steal other people's
photos (or wedding planners) and claim them as your own, isn't it?

Also, before you libel Jeff or me and further, you might wish to
recall that the photos we posted of yours (allegedly) had no such copy-
proof safeguards in play. A simple right-click snagged them all
(allegedly).

And even with your copy-preventive software it is an easy thing to do
a screen capture of any photo that appears online. So anyone posting
their work on the web should realize that someone is liable to copy
it. So if you post your pics you have to decide if it's worth your
time and money to track down every incidence of someone else re-
posting it. Unless you can prove some damages by their use of the
photo, what's the point?

Here's a hypothetical: Let's just say that I take one of your wedding
pics (maybe the one-legged groom shot or the kite surfer pic) and re-
post it on a website with full attribution. I say, "Look at this pic
taken by Douglas St. James MacDonald, formerly of Brisbane, but now
living in his daughter's basement on Tangalooma. I think this is
absolutely the worst wedding photo I've ever seen, but what do you
guys think?"

My reading of the fair use clause tells me that this would be
perfectly legal. Since I am simply posting the photo for critique,
you couldn't sue me for even a penny. All you could do is to go after
the host site with some threatening rhetoric and hope they pull the
photo. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, depending on whether the
pic is hosted by GoDaddy, AOL, Pbase, Flickr, Photobucket, or one of
the hundreds (thousands?) of other photo-hosting sites on the
internet.
All of these sites have different policies, and as we've already
discussed some of them don't even enforce their own rules.

I'm sure you must agree with what I've said here, otherwise that
stepped out pano pic of yours that Jeff keeps posting would have been
pulled long ago. And I'm sure that if someone looked around long
enough they could find many other examples of your work still
polluting the internet.
So despite all your loud bullying threats about legal actions and your
Arkansas (oops, I meant New York) law firm you're just blowing smoke.
You got nothin.






I'll give you some fair warning and advise here boy. I take close to 800
photos a week. I do it for money. OK so some of them are not going to
make it into Vogue Magazine but all of them I get paid to take. The
stuff your dreams are made from, fanboi

You stole a "proof" gallery from me. In case you haven't gotten your
head around the description yet. Clients choose about 50 or 60 photos
from proof Galleries (often containing 800 or more of their photos) that
I build their wedding album with. Nearly all that remains go in the trash.

You decided to pick the worst of the photos I presented and tried to
make out I was a crap photographer. Well, here's the facts mate. When
you get to shoot 800 photos inside five hours and do it every Saturday
and most Sundays, I'll bet you my new boat (Ryadia II) that there'll be
a bloody side more duds in yours than in mine.

My Daughter has just bought a brand new, 5 bedroom house. The garage is
worth more than the **** box you live in. She got the money because we
work as a family. I moved in with her for a couple of years to help her
pay off the first house whilst she put the money together for the new one.

If you find something comical or disgusting in me and Margie living in
the basement of a 2 story home, there is. Because of the family pulling
together, she now lives in a mansion and you still live in slum. Go
figure that one out.

Goddady told you ...as they tell every wannabe lawyer who gets it wrong
to file a DMCA claim and follow some rules if you wanted images removed
from someone else's site. They also told you to provide the copyright
registration if you intended to claim ownership of them...

You couldn't prove you owned them because someone else took the photos -
You claimed were yours! Just because they were taken with your camera
doesn't hold water. The photographer owns the copyright, not the
equipment junkie who lent him a camera.

You still haven't told us yet, how you get to be the photographer while
you're accepting a cash prize. Want to do it now? LOL.

Bullying?
Come on Bret. Own up mate.You started the whole thing by stealing my
client's Gallery and inviting all the scumbags of the world to post
often obscene and always offensive comments that you started and
encouraged others to do. You're a fuching swine of the first order.

The part you didn't count on was me retaliating... How's it feel.
knowing you didn't even have to bend over for it. ROTFL.

How smart were you? Trying for months to crack my eBay password and
every time leaving a trail a blind man could follow. Don't ever wonder
why I think you're a jackass. Not even up to the level of the idiots in
Australia who stalk me.

The World's greatest *tamelife* photographer Ha, Ha, ha. Out of focus
eagles, blown out dogs and frozen insects. That about sums it up, eh?
Get a life Bret. You'll never have one the way you're going. Just be
prepared for the inevitable mate... And remember my condo in Miami.
Pretty soon you'll be just an hour away... According to your driving
lies ROTFL.

--
You don't stop laughing because you grow old,
You grow old because you stop laughing!

Wow!

800 photos in less than 5 hours.

That's one every 22 seconds.

No wonder you never have the time to get the composition or lighting
right.

Never mind the quality, just look at the numbers.

Avery wrote:
Wow!

800 photos in less than 5 hours.

That's one every 22 seconds.

No wonder you never have the time to get the composition or lighting
right.

Never mind the quality, just look at the numbers.


Not if you have 2 camera operators. Or doesn't your budget run to
employing people? Who was it taht said "you can't beat God for lighting"?
Ever used a reflector Duncan?
In fact have you ever taken a photograph?

Examples of your work seem to be pretty thin on the ground.

Are you so insecure you won't share them with the rest of us or are you
frightened you might get some criticism like you enjoy dishing out?

Come on. Put up or shut up.

Well, having all those cameras and assistants will make your stepped
out pano even easier.

Just line them up, one shot each, you won't even have to get out of
your armchair.

Avery wrote:
Well, having all those cameras and assistants will make your stepped
out pano even easier.

Just line them up, one shot each, you won't even have to get out of
your armchair.

I knew you had spy cameras. I just wasn't aware you had one in my shed.

--
With age come a new ability ...multi-tasking.
I can laugh, cough, sneeze, fart and pee all at the same time!