Theft in the Digital Age

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebba/497746041/' target='_blank'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebba/497746041/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I have a LOT on my mind right now...to be honest, I've rarely been so royally pissed off as i am today. The photos shown above all have one thing in common (besides being rather lovely landscape photos): they were all taken, without my permission, by the London based print-selling company Only-Dreemin. This company prides itself on offering its customers only the best quality canvas prints of the finest photos, by top artists. What they fail to mention is that some of the photos they're selling prints of have been illegally obtained, and are being sold without the artists consent or knowledge."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/rebekka-theft-photo.jpg" /><br /><br />If you've never seen Rebekka's photography, you're missing out: her landscapes are superb. She made a Flickr post that caught my attention today: basically, a company has taken her images off Flickr and is doing large format re-prints of them for a premium price, and Rebekka is receiving nothing from this. It's theft, pure and simple.

[Kris Kumar]

This is sad. :( As a Flickr user, and someone who is working on improving the photo skill set and posting some decent shots occasionally [ :mrgreen: ], I want Flickr to have an option/setting that disables the viewing of original resolution photo. I upload the original to have a backup. Right now I cannot limit the original res viewing to my family and friends - it is all or no one. I would like to be able to say that guests are not allowed to view above a certain resolution. This will prevent piracy. I think so.

[Darius Wey]

This is sad. :(

Indeed. :(

I want Flickr to have an option/setting that disables the viewing of original resolution photo. I upload the original to have a backup. Right now I cannot limit the original res viewing to my family and friends - it is all or no one. I would like to be able to say that guests are not allowed to view above a certain resolution. This will prevent piracy. I think so.

That's a good idea. For now, I combat the digital theft problem by uploading 640 x 480 versions of my photos only. Considering I'm a fan of all things high res, it's something I don't like doing, but digital theft is so rampant that sacrifices have to be made in order to maintain a level of control.

[Kris Kumar]

That's a good idea. For now, I combat the digital theft problem by uploading 640 x 480 versions of my photos only.

For me that defeats the whole backup process. BTW you can go in to settings -> Privacy and Permissions -> Who can download your photos: set that to your contacts. This way others will not see the All Size link. Hopefully there are no URL (guess based) hacks to get to the original size. ;-)

[Darius Wey]

For me that defeats the whole backup process.

I make it a habit to keep backup copies of my photos on two local hard disks, but yes, if remote backups are of importance, my low res trick solves nothing. ;)

BTW you can go in to settings -> Privacy and Permissions -> Who can download your photos: set that to your contacts. This way others will not see the All Size link. Hopefully there are no URL (guess based) hacks to get to the original size. ;-)

Ah, good catch.

[Jason Dunn]

I want Flickr to have an option/setting that disables the viewing of original resolution photo. I upload the original to have a backup.

Thankfully, Smugmug has this option - but since you're using Flickr, maybe switch to something like Carbonite (http://carbonite.jasondunn.com) [affiliate] for backup purposes and don't upload the original to Flickr.

In this instance though, she wasn't even uploading the originals... :?

[Chris Gohlke]

Another thumbs up from a happy Smugmug user.

[aroma]

1) This is just plain wrong.

2) Update: Flickr has taken down Rebekka's complaint because it incited hate mail to Only-Dreemin. Shame on you Flickr.

3) OH MY! This is the first time I've seen Rebekka's work, and it is absolutly STUNNING! WOW!