Family Christmas photo turns up in Czech ad Family Christmas photo found in Czech ad - Weird news- msnbc.com
Of course, the article doesnt identify where the family had the photo posted but it had to be some high-traffic and image rich site like Flickr. Image trolls can easily find any number of photos matching what they are looking for and can steal them with near impunity. Frankly, since the photo was of a US family and the store was in the Czech Republic, it was only a miracle that the use was discovered.
I also find the store owner's excuse very implausible...
Quote: Mario Bertuccio, who owns the Grazie store in Prague, said the photo was from the Internet. Details were sparse, but he said he thought it was computer-generated. When told it was a real photo — of a real family — he said he started taking steps to remove it.
"We'll be happy to write an e-mail with our apology," said Bertuccio.
He "thought it was computer-generated"??? COUGHCOUGHBSCOUGHCOUGH
Yeah Right!!!
Now, in this case, there was no real harm done, the photo was not used to show the family in a bad light nor were there any particular misrepresentations made. However, the photographer does deserve commercial usage payment for the use of her image, even if it has already been removed from circulation.
Danielle Smith has at least learned her lesson...
Quote: Smith said next time she posts a photo on the Internet, she's going to lower the resolution or add an electronic watermark to make it hard to reproduce.
Many people like to use Flickr and other similar high-traffic sites because they believe it gives their photos extra or higher "exposure" but that exposure is far more likely to end in your images being stolen than in them being purchased or the photographer being hailed as the next Ansel Adams.
Naturally, posting any image anywhere online carries some risks, but you decrease the chances of theft somewhat by using sites like Pentax Forums, Photo.net, or the various upper-end image sites like Zenfilio or Smug Mug which make it harder for theives to misapproriate your intellectual property.
Mike
p.s.
Whatever you do, if you use Flickr, DO NOT agree to their "Creative Commons" licensing model.
Last edited by MRRiley; 06-11-2009 at 06:50 AM.
Reason: typos