Theft of images of PBase photographers on Hong Kong site

[saputra77]

hello,
I want to check out this website that everyone's been talking about, but the site (dcfever.com) is in Cantonese?
Does someone has a direct link to the perpetrator website? if so please post it so I can see it.
thank you
-Adi-

[parklifer]

I'm with the "forget the right click malarkey" school of thought here since all these measures are so easily overcome. And, it has to be said, tend to present a challenge and thus make the images all the more likely to be hi-jacked. On the "na, na, na, na, na" principle. I really don't think there's any way to stop the bandits other than being alert to the abuse and demand the immediate removal of nicked pics from whatever site they've fetched up on. Copyright is a total nightmare as any journalist will confirm - some of the worst offenders being the major media organisations who like to get sole and exclusive rights to your work. Some countries are signed up to internation copyright laws, others aren't and the international availability of the internet makes things even murkier in terms of enforcement.

Non-commercial organisations and - i.e. people - who steal pictures and pass them off as their own are very sad individuals indeed. But they abound. Given the "size" of the internet, however, you could do your own head in worrying about the level of this abuse and fretting about just how big this problem is. Fortunately, there is a supportive group of people in this forum and other photographic forums who will report back when they discover the shameful evidence of the copyright thief. Which, in reality, is often the most likely way that the offence will come to light.

And while this extract was composed by a British poet to bring attention to what copyright law actually means for them, it equally applies to photographers!

...It isn't OK to use poems on posters or cards or in shows
Unless you have asked for permission.
You may have to pay through the nose
But not necessarily. Try It. If you're a good cause or you're poor,
And unlikely to make any profit, the cost of obeying the law
May be negligible, may be nothing. It's one thing to ask for a gift
And another to take without asking, and we call that other thing theft.

...So remember the Law of Copyright, and make sure you do as you ought
And if you read this and ignore it, I bloody well hope you get caught!
(Reproduced from the Law of Copyright by Wendy Cope - "Battling for Copyright" NUJ.)

[sheila]

hello,
I want to check out this website that everyone's been talking about, but the site (dcfever.com) is in Cantonese?
Does someone has a direct link to the perpetrator website? if so please post it so I can see it.
thank you
-Adi-

Just ignore the box which asks if you want a translation download. You can still get into the site without this.

[saputra77]

hello,
I want to check out this website that everyone's been talking about, but the site (dcfever.com) is in Cantonese?
Does someone has a direct link to the perpetrator website? if so please post it so I can see it.
thank you
-Adi-

Just ignore the box which asks if you want a translation download. You can still get into the site without this.

Yes, but this only brings me to Dcfever.com front page, I have been looking for the actual galleries, but stopped by the language barrier. Can anyone help me?
thanks in advance,
-Adi-

[dbh]

Update: The Hong Kong office of the Sydney law firm for whom I work contacted the principle of the site and upon hearing from my lawyer that he was calling on behalf of his Australian client in relation to an action for breach of copyright, the owner of the site hung up and refused to speak to my lawyer! When I got home last night, I had received an apologetic email from the site advising that fbijohn had been banned from the site and all photographs had been removed. One for the good guys. My lawyers both here and in HK suggested that if we got nowhere, we should report this passing off to the HK police. If this happens again, I may just do that!

Cheers and thanks for your support.
Sheila

[saputra77]

Update: The Hong Kong office of the Sydney law firm for whom I work contacted the principle of the site and upon hearing from my lawyer that he was calling on behalf of his Australian client in relation to an action for breach of copyright, the owner of the site hung up and refused to speak to my lawyer! When I got home last night, I had received an apologetic email from the site advising that fbijohn had been banned from the site and all photographs had been removed. One for the good guys. My lawyers both here and in HK suggested that if we got nowhere, we should report this passing off to the HK police. If this happens again, I may just do that!

Cheers and thanks for your support.
Sheila

Well done, now you can sleep tight at night
-Adi-
http://www.pbase.com/uno

[wergeni]

Hi!

Just dropped in today for the first time and I find this discussion, interesting and difficult subject.

One way to make it more difficult for snappers is to add a transparent gif over the image. This can be gone with a layer or with a table. This shouldn't be too difficult to code, and if the link to the image is hidden as well it will make it more as a "real crime". If the user passes this test then it's probably not much that will stop him (or her) to finish his crime... but it's of course still quite easy if you "really" want to.

I did a simple test
http://wergeni.com/test/bg_img_table.htm
http://wergeni.com/test/layer.htm

Will be back then I have bought my first digital camera, that's the reason I popped by, to find info and thoughts... if you have any suggestions for a good camera like d10 or... please let me know... wrong forum for that anyhow, see you around later.

hakan wergeni

[liu]

I am using this site for family pictures sharing only, and I believe so is the case for many other users. I am not that concerned with security, since there are mot much to be stolen from my collections. I would suggest each individual user take care of his/her own belongings with whatever method that works, but I don't want to see that goes to the point to discourage normal users from using the site for family pictures sharing.

If right-click is disabled, my Mom won't know how to download my picture, although anyone who want to 'steal' is still capable of doing so, as many have pointed out. I strongly disagree with these type of security improvement/annoyances.

[hk_traveller]

I am using this site for family pictures sharing only, and I believe so is the case for many other users. I am not that concerned with security, since there are mot much to be stolen from my collections. I would suggest each individual user take care of his/her own belongings with whatever method that works, but I don't want to see that goes to the point to discourage normal users from using the site for family pictures sharing.

If right-click is disabled, my Mom won't know how to download my picture, although anyone who want to 'steal' is still capable of doing so, as many have pointed out. I strongly disagree with these type of security improvement/annoyances.

Hi all,

Disable right click can still download images provided you provide a function to do that. A popular php gallery package called 4images have such feature built-in. You may check this http://www.4homepages.de

I also setup a small site using the package and you may see the real effect: http://photo.tonyleung.com

[srijith]

I also setup a small site using the package and you may see the real effect: http://photo.tonyleung.com

Just to rattle you in case you have a false sense of being safe, I was able to save the image at http://photo.tonyleung.com/details.php?image_id=31158 using right-click and save-image. Using Opera 7.20.

[hk_traveller]

I also setup a small site using the package and you may see the real effect: http://photo.tonyleung.com

Just to rattle you in case you have a false sense of being safe, I was able to save the image at http://photo.tonyleung.com/details.php?image_id=31158 using right-click and save-image. Using Opera 7.20.

Maybe my setup is not correct. You may try another site also using the same package:

http://www.bali-pictures.com/details.php?image_id=167

[srijith]

Maybe my setup is not correct. You may try another site also using the same package:

http://www.bali-pictures.com/details.php?image_id=167

Srijith goes - Right Click -> Save Image -> Saved

[hk_traveller]

Maybe my setup is not correct. You may try another site also using the same package:

http://www.bali-pictures.com/details.php?image_id=167

Srijith goes - Right Click -> Save Image -> Saved

OK, I understand it and even in IE you can use the 'shift' key to disable the function. So daye's concerns is resolved.