THEFT OF YOUR WORK!

thanks for telling others about this Dougie, I do have that box checked off….....I hope you didn’t lose anything, this is such a disappointing and vile act for people to steal art and claim it as their own, and it happens in every site I’ve been a member of, and now here. I hope everyone reads this and checks that box, it’s as simple as that to protect our images

no, i’m not involved as i use the clear GIFF! read basia’s comments, and also mel brackstone, who offers copyright advice!!!!

thank you Doug i wasnt aware of this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anna ; )

Has anyone reported this to The Rb staff? I have seen people get kicked off of here for less than that!

Good on ya Dougie for letting us know!!! I have the box ticked and a large water mark!!!! How LOW can people get!!!?? *-)

Hey…how come she’s still a member here?????*-)

Thanks for the heads up Dougie – I checked and I had the security feature selected already.

Thank you Dougie!!! I wasn’t aware… :D

This always ticks me off!!!! Not only that people can be theives but they NEVER choose MY work!!! Dang it all!!

Seriously, Thanks for letting us know of this and although I normally do not allow journals in “Deer Me!!!” I am allowing this.

wow thanks Dougie for letting us know about this

thank you for letting us all know! maybe we should all keep an eye on photobucket (for those of us that don’t and thank you dougie1 for already doing this!) for each others work?! we can all be redpolice! hope that doesn’t sound too strange?!

Laughing at Lori…ok ok if you insist I will steal something, any particular preferences??? You are just too much, I am bummed my name isnt on there either :(
Thanks for the heads up Doug. When I had set up my account I had clicked on the box you referenced and I have the watermark also….k going over to Loris page to pick something to hi-jack! ;)

your thanks are due to basia mcCauly for bringing this to our attention, but if you follow the above mentioned guidelines you should be ok!

did anyone warn the favourites on this persons list?!! or does that make the invisible ones prime suspects?!!!!

not prime suspects, prime targets…... derrr…. brain on holidays!

Thank you for posting this info..

how did you view their photobucket album as it is set to password protect..??

Thanks for posting and I’m happy I have this box checked. It’s happening again just like on every other site.

thanks for the heads up….you can goggle the name and find other sites they are on

yess, this is good. i hate VILI VITSKA so this works well for me

Where is the link where she is offering it

Thanks so much for looking out for everyone!

Thanks so much for caring about our work also!

Here is the link you can cut and paste..seeing I dont now how to make a link yet here in the bubble
http://photobucket.com/copyright to report the copyright infringement.

Thank you!
Catherine

I tried to view Vili Vitskas album as I am a member of Photobucket and they set it to private but I did post a link you can copy and paste that tell you how to report copyright infringement to Photobucket

Thanks for the alert!! I actually removed my clear gif protection so that I can copy the enlarged image to use in my comments page … might have to go back and re-tick that box now!

Incredible:( Thanks so much for this information.

Has this been reported?
Also the clear gif layer is no protection from theft. This can be bypassed.
There is no way to protect your photos on-line. The only way is putting your logo or text across the photo. Which rebubble can do when viewed large.
I know as I have been in the computer business many years.

Has the accusation against this person been proven in court? I won’t open myself and my cohosts to Libel charges without seeing a Court Decision. Without legal documentation of proof, I’ll post this notice in my Group, but I will not use the name. Dayonda

Thanks for letting us know Dougie. I think she is running. she joined this site in October.. here last on line was Deceber 30th. She must have deleted everthing

http://www.photographycorner.com/forum/member.php?u=13749

she is also on Perfshot.com

Thanks for putting me onto ticking that box ages ago Dougie.

Has the accusation against this person been proven in court?

Doesn’t have to be proven in court – just talk to your fellow Redbubble members whose work she’s taken and posted for sale in Photobucket and elsewhere including Facebook. She’s got accounts in lots of places and makes it clear she doesn’t care about the theft – she even leaves watermarks on the images! It has been reported to Photobucket and RB but RB hasn’t shut her down yet but I know Photobucket has removed a couple of images due to “Unlawful use of Copywrite”. But she knows exactly what she’s doing – it’s now password protected. Try to reach her here on Redbubble. She doesn’t provide a bubble mail address.

Thank you for the heads up Dougie my dear friend…

Wow. Thank you.

Thank you so much for the heads up!!

I checked and thankfully she didn’t either see or want my work .. thanks for the heads up!! I won’t put in print what I think about thieves like her ..

Do a search of that person’s name on

Thank you for the heads up. I had that box checked. I don`t understand why anyone has to steal someone elses work.

Thanks for getting the word out Dougie!

Thanks for the advice. I followed it. Don’t panic, though, the images available on our portfolio pages are not the ones they do the prints from. They are just large thumbs. They would be okay for web use, but would be useless for prints. People who were infringed should demand attribution, and then enjoy the results of the extra exposure. That doesn’t make it right, of course. Why do people have to do things like this? Aargh!

The unscrupulous Bitch! RB needs to kick her out!

I noticed that some of her favorites are nudes. I wouldn’t be surprised if those were sold on a different kinds of websites, if you know what I mean.

time wounds all heels…....

Thanks Dougie…......
I found this page INTERESTING=
Is redbubble Aware ?

What a low life. Just went to PB it is now where near as friendly to use as RB. The clear giff gives me the shits I’d use it if you could choose it per image rather than the lot as it gives more flexibility to those who do collaborative work. I was some suspect of Dairygirl being the guilty party in that fiasco. I noticed it was her account that got shut down. :)

I wonder, what is the quality of the image she will get even if she manages to copy. Is that enough to sell on photobucket ?

Thanks for that Dougie. I see new members come on here, favourite my work but dont add anything. I am always suss on people like that.

Thanks for the heads up!

Yes it looks like she is joining a lot of photography related websites lately..gotta love the nerve of some people..

ohhh nasty .. Im on that list!!!!! thanks for the headsup dougie !

Lu

thanks for telling everyone but honestly it doesn’t help screen captures :( blah

I hope nobody steals my work. Thanks for the warning.

I might be speaking out of place here, but I have looked at her RB page and she doesn’t have anything for sale however she admits that she is not a photographer and that she favourites these artist photo’s. When I clicked on the photo’s and titles the link is straight to the artist’s page…Isn’t this a form of flattery and not stealing your works for sale…..

Hi Dougie, thanks for letting every one know what is happening. My question would be, if i was on that persons favourites or watch list how could i remove myself. (luckly i’m not on that persons favourites or watchlist).

Thanks for the info. You’ve got everyone thinking and chatting. Cheers, Wendy

The image are still available and the site is still viewable… Go to google and click on cached next to the link. Then click on an image and it will take you to the uncached image still on the site. Contact Red Bubble admin and let them know the details. Also contact Photobucket admin and let them know. If any images have been sold, you are legally able to claim and proceeds of sales as compensation whilst the images are still up.

One thing I find very useful is to always tag your image. My camera applies a permanent invisible tag that basically states the images are copyrighted to my name only with contact details.

(...stealing Lori’s work as we speak…)

Have update profile
Thanks for that

thanks for the heads up..
set phaser to stun and neuter

Thanks for the info dougie have notified my watchers as well. I think there should be a call to ban lurkers from RB. Anyone not wanting to sell or display their work, shouldn’t be allowed to have an account. People can buy stuff from here without being a member, so there is really no justifiable reason as to why lurkers should remain on this site… that would hopefully at least slow down the lazy art thieves!

Hey Dougie thanks for the heads up. I went to the site where the RB works were posted one day ago, and I saw a bunch of RB work on pages 8 through 10 (some even had the RB artist watermark in the corner) but when I went there today to see if my work has been nicked, the album is now private and has a password. This means that our work could be in her album and she can buy it for herself (thereby depriving us of our rightful profits) and give the password to friends who can buy the works (also depriving us of our profits).

Aww thx for the info sweetheART ;} happy hugglez

Guys, I’ve suspended the account and will follow up with the user.

thanks for the information. people like that should be taken out and dealt with appropriately.

how do I find out if she took anything of mine?

What a piece of SLIME she is--I couldn’t get anywhere with her photo bucket site-tried several passwords, but failed. Sucks--I can’t believe she still has access to our RB. What a RAT.—-Bea :(

Here is my question about the clear gif, it’s not on all the pictures even if you check the box just on the main ones. Are the images shown in the order area thumbnails and too small to really print from which is why they are not also protected? I think RB should write a letter to the host site you mentioned and tell them of the infringment. They will take it down for fear of being sued.

Don’t kid yourself Dougie.

People who think if they tick the box in their profile that disables the right click will stop people helping themselves to their images are deluded. I or any other person can lift any image I / they see on the computer screen in front of them.

Best thing to do if you don’t want people to help themselves to your images is to put a big fat copyright notice right across the middle of your images, people won’t want to take them then

For the purpose of this exercise . . . I do believe you have ticked the box which you believe stops people taking your photographs Dougie . . . here’s a few of yours that I took in less than 2 minutes. Have no fears fella, they are now deleted from my computer. People who plagurise others work are nothing more than thieving bastards and not only do they need to get into serious trouble with the Authorities, they need their frigging ears pulling off.

Ta ta.
..............

.............

...............

Would like to know how to do this for the interview photos, I have to ask people to remove the gif to give me the link and then pu the clear.gif back on.

SCARY!!!
Pinching one pic i think i could bare but not most of a portfolio!!!
I checked out a few of her faves and the work is fantastically creative.
How awful to be on the ladys faves/watchlist!
Lacking in the understanding of the English language doest make theft right does it…
All the best xXx

Thank you – wasn’t aware of the Preferences- wow! Good on you for discovering this.

I closed my photobucket account and listed my reason as copywright infringement and explained the situation….I know it has been reported several times to photobucket…

Also see this discussion in the forums.

Thank you for letting me know of the above. Have now ticked the box.will pass this on to others.

Be careful also that some adverts being shown in news paper and TV if you look at some of the latest there is a car advert that travels down a road,you may find similar objects that are in some of your pictures. I sent an E-mail recently to tell a freind to watch it. So we are being watch by advertisers as well. I have looked at this persions web she is Russian by the looks of things.

she has a RB account with loads of images favourited see HERE She is Bulgarian

Good on you dougie – well done …

I have google her and she is other sites also…non english ones but those effected should do the same and check out your shots on these other sites. I have suspicions because the styles are too varied from one artist.

Hey people she has a site here I believe it is her http://www.redbubble.com/people/vilivitska/favorites

So check it out Yeah non english woman

Kyrah

Thanks for telling about this thief…will advise my group…a couple of those you have listed are in my group, so hopefully they will also act on this.

Thank you very much for reporting this!

Thank you very much for reporting this! To check if your photos are used on other sites use this site: Tineye They are at the beginning, building still their database, but they already have some billions of images inside. I found many of my sold images there, but I found one stealed too!

Thanks for letting us know what’s happening! It’s hard enough to be an artist without someone stealing.

Thank you so much… Dang it…

my understanding is photobucket is shutting down for good.

I am also on her favorite list, but I copied my painting in photoshop and the only think I got is empty gif. file, I tried another of my paintings and I printed it and it is of poor quality… I am going to check photobucket…Thanks for info…This really sucks

I agree with David Parkin, if there is an image on the internet then it can be copied. either watermark the image or don’t post it, if it is of value to you!

She can also be found here:

http://jpgmag.com/people/vilivitska

As a programmer and a fellow artist, I need for you all to understand that the clear gif setup only discourages thieves, but can not stop them. All images viewed on the internet can be retrieved quite easily from your browser’s cache, irregardless of what browser you use. You don’t need Google or any other site or application to do this.

Bottom line… if your visitor has viewed your image… it is already on their computer.

Hope this makes all my fellow artists aware!

Thanks very much for the “heads up”. Most appreciated.

Thsi may help explain some of the misunderstanding especially with language barriers but still doesn’t excuse theft! this is a response I got from the general manager of another site when I complained

am the general manager of XXXXXXXXX your concerns are very important to me. I know this is a sensitive subject so I hope I can respond in a thoughtful way. Let me first respond by stating that we at XXXXXXXXXXX do not condone the illegal use of intellectual property, our policy is that we will protect the photographers and his/her work. It is true we have a download button on our website. In actuality, they are downloading the largest size of image that has been uploaded. Every photo sharing site that I am aware of has this option. In actuality, any photo posted on the internet has to be downloaded to view. This being true, there are ways of protecting yourself against the illegal use of your pictures. The first is to create a signature and super impose it upon your photos. Second, Only upload the size of photo you are comfortable sharing. I hope I have addressed your concern, this site is truly built for you. If you would like your name and beautiful pictures removed from our site (which would be a shame), I will personally remove them. Also, we at XXXXXXXXX are here for you, if you have any concerns please feel free to ask.

Essentially I was on my own, and to not upload copyrighted material, so I asked them to please close my account, which they did gracefully! Rb is as far as I know the only socially oriented photo site that protects the interests of the artist!

thanks for the update dougie! i’ve checked photobucket for my works and didn’t fnd any thankfully. i hope she gets kicked off. dispicable behavior really!! oh and thanks corina for the link to tineye. i’ll be checking that as well.

has anyone informed red bubble? i just had a look on her account on here and she states she is not a photographer but stays on here to look at everyone elses work!
so how the hell can she then steal everyones work! what the hell is wrong with some people

Redbubble has been informed of this link, but now one has replied yet.

Thank you very much for letting us know!

Thank you so much !

Thanks for letting us know Dougie! It is a very sad day when a so-called “artist” has to resort and stoop down to theft of someone else’s images!! I hope Red Bubble kicks her out NOW with the biggest pointed boots they have!!

I’ve had a number of images stolen and used on other as products for sale and give away images. The sites, like Photbucket and FLicker, did remove the images after I proved they werre mine with copyright info and dated alendar images dating back to the mid 1990’s. The problem is that image thievs soon leanr they have only to leave off the artist’s name and its then very difficult for us to do a bi -monthly search (a normal practice for many of us now) and locate anybody who’s selling or publishing things using our art and without permission. Now we have to use specific tags relating to our genre and subject matter because our name is changed or eliminated and the title dropped.

The clear gif does help discourage theft… but it still can be done!
Where there is a will… they find a way!

Thank you

Uhm .. 1) clicking the little “clear” thing makes it harder for honest people to share your work with others, and really lazy dishonest people to download them for their desktop pages. But, creative dishonest people could simply do a screen copy and resize them anyway. I know this, because I had to do it to my own work when another art site stole my work from me, because some things I had no other copies of.

Mind you, I was not being dishonest at the time, but, the point is, a dishonest person could do the same thing I did to get my own work back.

2) I have seen nothing to indicate this woman is a thief, except for the accusations. Which, until I do see proof of such things, makes me equally suspicious of whomever spreads the rumor.

Is it true that she’s a thief? Maybe. But, that is what was rumored about me, by people who were jealous of some Scottish guy, right before the other art site stole HUNDREDS of my pieces of work, destroying over 50 of them. So, I tend to take all such things with a very large grain of salt until I see proof.

I went to look at the album on photobucket and it could not be seen by me, because I did not have the password. I went to look at another link, about her new work that was posted, and it was a picture of an older (than me) woman in glasses.

If someone has any actual proof, I’d be glad to see it. Otherwise, it sure would be nice not to get any more emails in regards to something which, so far, has not been proven; at least, not to me it hasn’t.

Thanks for the heads up Dougie…I believe she has a copy of my Madam Butterfly but as I only got back to Red Bubble late yesterday, most of the work has disappeared.
Not a nice way to start the NY:(

Red Bubble closed more than one account of non-thieves, especially if they said something rude to or about someone else. But, please notice that I did not say she couldn’t have done it, or that she didn’t do it. I said I’ve seen no proof of it, so would appreciate not getting emails and such about it, until someone has some they can show me.

If you’ve seen proof, then you have a good reason to be concerned. Me, I’ve seen none, so I know nothing about her either way.

Have a nice day.

i have no intention of being rude, but i have offersd you where to find the proof. end of comment.

Thank you Dougie (and all the others above) for your information and updates….
Its hard enough, as an artist to find the time/money/momentary desire to produce something & then to produce something of a “quality” that the artist is satisfied with to show or exhibit is yet another thing all together!
To have your artwork (in any field), used, abused, maniputaed and/or sold without the express permission of the creator/artist is not only illigael it is immoral.
With regards to Arletta’s comments on “proof of theiving”.... while I commend you for being concerned about actual evidence that the work has been stolen, the fact that there are countless numbers of artists (above) making comments and confirming their work has been used without their express permission etc., would suggest this is not a mere mistake or an isolated incidence.
On this issue of infringement etc., the issue is not sales of an artists work persay, the issue is ALL infrnigements; that is to say, advertising, use of images, manipulation sales etc., in any way shape or form.
If this woman (and anyone else), has taken images produced by a third party and presented them as her own, without permission fro the artist/creator, this is infringement…. regardless of sales or not.
As for “language barriers” she clearly knows enough English to be able to write a “blurb” and even her name “vitska” means “watching” or “I see”, ( I speak several languages and have a very strong understanding of most of the Slav languages), makes me wonder if she indeed, is “watching”.....
And as clearly pointed out, she has “no images she has produced” just her “favs” – and yes this is very suss!

Many many years ago, almost 20 actually, I did a large painting, a watewcolour- one of the very first I sold for $450 I was so proud of myself and my father was over the moon for me. $450 was a lot of money 20yrs ago!
About 10 years ago, I was googling and came across a site with some lovely images….. as I went through them there was my painting!.... the colours had been manipulated and reversed… but it was mine! I didn’t have a laptop then nor digistal camera so I had no evidence it was from my original painting….
The image was being sold in the USA as “prints”.....
I was devistated…. and for the longest time I stopped painting….
Now I have evidence of ALL my work and trust me, if anyone stole or used any of my images WITHOUT my permission, I would be as upset and as angered as ever! and rightfully so.

I commend Arletta for wanting evidence – no witch hunts! but I have to say it is VERY clear that unless countless RB users have decided to (together) select one person to create a story about, the evidence is there…..
I hope PB and RB abd all other sites do what they can within the law to this user and others like her.
We cannot stop people from using our images for their benefit but we can unite (as has been done here) to protect each other as much as possible.

thank you. my intention was only to inform bubblers of this act. you can see for youself the reaction. if arletta or anyone else need further proof, then they can read the above. the proof is there!

Thankyou for the info Dougie. I hope she hasn’t stolen any of mine! I did a search and found her
here
http://2photo.ru/user/vili+vitska/
and here
http://2photo.ru/index.php?do=lastcomments&userid=13867

Omg! She’s even here! http://www.metacafe.co.il/f/channels/vilivitska/submitted/

I wasn’t able to find her on photobucket. Can anyone else find her?

Thanks for the heads-up, Doug, much appreciated.

Thank you for letting us know! I took a look and vilivitska definitely still has an account here. Though ‘she’ says she is a 64 yr old Bulgarian, she has taken a funny Finnish male name and all the ads on the bucket pages are in Finnish. Has anyone here complained to RedBubble? WHY doesn’t this member get kicked out?????:
Profile
vili vitska

Name
vili vitska
Age
64
City
Dobrich
Country
Bulgaria

Joined
Jan 2008

I’m 64 old woman.I don’t speak any language,except bulgarian and russian. I’m NOT a photographer,but I like the photography so,so very much… That’s why I stay here and all the time I thresh out your wonderful works…Thank you!

She can’t be too computer illiterate… she is on Facebook !!!!!!!!!

She is still here. http://www.redbubble.com/people/VILIVITSKA

Thanks for the heads up.

She had at least one of mine for sale on her Photobucket site! :-( I have contacted them but can no longer access her pages on PB!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/VILIVITSKA

She still here!

Thank you very much for letting us know. I have had three of my best paintings stolen a few years ago by a so called gallery in Scotland. I did all the necessary check before I agreed to let him have my work. He had about 20 other artist work not sure if they got them back. I had to hire a private detetive to get by paintings back which I am very happy about. This sort of things goes on all the time. We as artist must try and look out for each other and I am very grateful to Dougie. Happy New Year to you all. Sulaartist

Hi Dougie, I have contacted Red Bubble regarding this and Photobucket, filing a copyright infringement form! This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it still amazes me that people can just steal things and think it is ok!!!! :-(

see enchanted dreams comment above, does indeed still work
“look!:http://www.redbubble.com/people/VILIVITSKA

The account has only been suspended, not closed or canceled. This means Vili can’t login to RedBubble while we’re communicating with her about this. If we’re not satisfied with her answers, then we’ll cancel her account.

This is one time when it pays to produce art that ‘sucks’. I hope she gets her her arse well and truly kicked if she is stealing from us here on RB…........

I alraedy have had this on my work, and as for Photobucket it the worst case of copyright thief I have ever seen, these people collect others work and then sell it and make a profit, it totally stinks and one day Photo bucket will pay a heavy price for their inattention.

thieves… gah!
excuse my ignorance tho but what can they do with a low res small jpg anyhow… they cant make big prints from it can they?

oh, box now ticked.

kthnxbai!

That is horrible, disturbing news. Are they selling our thumbnails too? Why don’t they start going out there and taking their own pictures. How can we add the copyright or big fat letters in the middle of our favorite images like David was saying? Thanks!

Ok I have got the ball rolling…now those who were affected need to supply some information
Hey Rebecca,

Can you point me to a particular photograph (or photographs) posted on
PhotographyCorner, along with links to their original owners?

Cheers,
Tim L. Walker
www.PhotographyCorner.com

—- Original Message —-
From: “Rebecca Bryson @ PhotographyCorner.com Forums”
To:
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 8:42 PM
Subject: PhotographyCorner.com Forums Contact Us Form – copyright
infringement

> The following message was sent to you via the PhotographyCorner.com Forums
> Contact Us form by
>
> —-—-—-—-—-—--
>
> Vili Vitska has been stealing work from people in RedBubble and then
> posting it as her own please see this journal entry:
> http://www.redbubble.com/people/dougie1/writing/2330170-theft-of-your-work
> Please look into this
>
> --—-—-—-—-—-—
>
> Referring Page: http://www.photographycorner.com/forum/member.php?u=13749
>

This is amazing and very disturbing. These are the two sites I tried at Photobucket where it appears that her account has been suspended or closed: (as of 11:30 am EST) USA.

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc137/vilivitska/

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc137/vilivitska/Animals/birds/

But it appears that she is still posting at:

http://www.jpgmag.com/search/photos/nature

and there are several other foreign language sites on Google that mention her name as a contributor. I haven’t found any of my work but have recognized other’s. Let’s hope that this is resolved in short time. Meanwhile, let’s work together on this. Stealing is stealing.

With all this cooperation and caring from RedBubbler’s we should be able to make sure stealing is at a minimum! I know I will be watching for your work when I am out on other photo sites now! Thanks to all of you for standing together! What an awesome bunch of people you are!!!!

I dont understand how some of you are saying her account is closed. I can still see her and the , stuff in her favorites, you just cant email her.

On another post I saw someone post this link

http://2photo.ru/user/vili+vitska/

Its in Russian script but look on the bottom left at the year dates and check if any of you works are there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am aware of this. there are app 200 pages, and under each photo, is a link to many more!

i have done it on my profile already… apparently its been ‘ticked’ on…. thats a shame and frustrating that someone would do that…

Thanks for the warning and how to prevent it.

what a hell bitch! i hope she gets sand in her giney while she’s holidaying on her STOLEN money!

Thank you for the update. I haven’t been on for a while, so I was afraid when I saw your message, so THANK YOU. I will pass this along.

thank you for the heads up ;)
your a doll to post this and thank you for all who noticed and did something about it.
i commend you ;)

love and respect;
carol
xxx

ty..xxx

All we need now is protection for writers ….. hahahahahahahahaha yeah right!
They wont protect us until we have product and as we haven’t product they don’t need to protect us and while we have no product and no protection they are not liable and so we shall never have product!
........................ {sigh!}
Chookas! X♥X