As a photographer who sells his product on several micro stock sites and thru my own website, image theft and unauthorized image reproduction is the biggest threat to my business, my livelihood and my number one income online.
One has to ask themselves. Why do people steal someone else' photography? The answer is quite simple. Because they can. People will steal and claim it as their own. They bought the camera, they went to school and got an education in Photography and image editing. They bought the computer, learnt Photoshop. They're the one that took and edited that really good photograph.
When I see one of my images being used by someone else who claims it as their own, it hurts me more financially than emotionally. Of course I get insulted and mad that someone takes credit for my work and makes money off of my hard work. I do a lot of nature and landscape photography. On a regular trip to take animal photos, I travel at least an hour out of the city to see if I can try and get a photo of a moose or a bear or a deer or some bird I've never seen before. Before I even enter my vehicle, I have to make sure my batteries are charged for my camera and camcorder. I have to verify all my equipment works. I have to pack it up and make sure I have all of it before I go. Then there's the gas to get to where I'm going. Wear and tare on my vehicle, gas for the car. If I go out, I'm probably eating breakfast, snacks during the day. There's also my time. That is exactly what you're stealing. Image thieves can be high school students to multi-billion, multi-national corporations. They are in fact one and the same.
Google and other search engines are the greatest threat to online piracy of pretty much anything and everything. I can google my own name and hundreds of my own photographs and videos come up and all I have to do is right click on the image and I get a high definition image downloaded right to my computer hard drive.
As I upload to places like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks, these agencies have or should have a legal departments to protect themselves and their contributors like myself from image theft. But what if you post to your own website like I occasionally do. There is code out there you can place on your website that will disable the Right click functionality of a users mouse so they cannot Right Click on your image and download it. I've placed it on my website.
What legal recourse do you, as an individual have to fight image thieves? Litigate, email campaigns? All take time and money right? You can start a take down notice through the DMCA. I haven't used it yet but I'm pretty sure it's the fastest and easiest way to start besides emailing the company, user or school using your work for financial gain.
Value your work and go after the people and business' who steal from you. It is your livelihood. It is your passion. Take care of it.
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