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Who Is Stealing Your Photos Online?

Date: 05 Jun 2008
By: Jim Goldstein
Tag: , ,
Comment: 89

Up until recently it’s been nearly impossible to know for certain where your online photos might end up on the Internet. As we’ve heard over the years a growing vocal minority will be the first to jump on photographers complaining about online image theft stating “Get used to it. You put it online. That’s how it is.” This argument is anything but true and frustrates the hell out of photographers who know better.

It’s become clear there is a growing interest in new technologies to address the current “wild west” nature of image theft on the Internet by stock agencies and individual photographers alike. Google recently released a research paper on VisualRank that like text search assigns a weighting and ranking to images while also leveraging image-recognition software methods. Although Google is the 800 pound gorilla of search they’ve been beat to the punch by Idée Inc. who recently released a private beta of TinEye. As you’ll see in TinEye’s demonstration video they’ve created an image search that is as simple as a Google search. All an end user has to do is reference an image online or upload a low resolution image and TinEye returns results of where that image is currently found online. What is most impressive is their image matching technology that will match similar images even if they’ve been cropped, resized or Photoshop’d.

I am a born cynic, but after putting TinEye to the test with some of my photos I’ve quickly become a believer and can’t wait for them to expand their search index and hopefully implement a Google Alert like service. At the moment they’ve indexed a relatively small portion of the Internet (roughly 500,000,000 images), but they’re asking beta testers to recommend sites to index. The service at the moment is rather narrow, but I can see where this has legs to quickly expand.

Just to show an example I decided to search one of my more commonly referenced photos of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City. The blog post containing this image has been accessed nearly 50,000 times and it is one of my most popular photos. With out a doubt I knew this would end up somewhere it was not supposed to. In the past by monitoring my web site log I’ve caught a few people using the image with out my knowledge, so I figured this would be a perfect example to test on TinEye.

TinEye Test - JMG-Galleries
Click to Enlarge

Sure enough I referenced the image on my blog and found a few more sites (see above) that had slipped by me who have been using my photo without my knowledge or permission.

Granted the jury is still out with TinEye, but my initial experience has been a good one. The simplicity of the interface, the image-recognition capabilities and speed at which it finds images has caught my eye. I’ll definitely be watching TinEye as it develops and provide feedback through its beta stage.

If you’re curious to try TinEye let me know in your comment to this post. I have 50 invites that I can share.

[tags]copyright, photo, image, search, theft, technology, TinEye[/tags]

  1. Edie June 5, 2008 at 7:27 am

    I’d like to try it, Jim! Thanks for the offer.

    Edie

  2. Donncha O Caoimh June 5, 2008 at 7:33 am

    I’d love to try it. Maybe I can find a few more of the sites that used my “Aflac duck” photo from a few years back.

    BTW – have you tried the wp-super-cache plugin? That may help with the load on your server, and on the new server too of course. More info and download link at http://ocaoimh.ie/wp-super-cache/

  3. Aaron B. Hockley June 5, 2008 at 7:55 am

    As a photographer and blogger I’m always looking for solutions such as these; if you have an invite code I’d love one.

  4. luca June 5, 2008 at 8:04 am

    I’d love one, thanks.

    luca dot filigheddu at gmail dot com

    Luca

  5. Raoul June 5, 2008 at 8:09 am

    I’d like an invite, please. Thanks!

  6. dawn June 5, 2008 at 8:09 am

    I’m very interested in trying it out. I do Google searches, have Google alerts, and a few other things, but I’m sure there are a few that slip through the cracks for me, too.

  7. Tony Rath June 5, 2008 at 8:11 am

    Jim,

    About time a tool like this is developed. Would be interested in trying it out. Thanks.

    Tony

  8. Esther G. Ure June 5, 2008 at 8:17 am

    I would be very interested in trying it out. What a fantastic bit of information!

  9. cmiper June 5, 2008 at 8:44 am

    Thanks for the article and review. I would be interested in an invite While I do post all of my photos under CC BY-NC I still find them being used against CC often enough that this would be handy.

  10. Phill Price June 5, 2008 at 9:25 am

    Hi Jim – I’d love to try out the service, if there are any invites left?

  11. Mark Anderson June 5, 2008 at 9:26 am

    I would love to test it out. Send an invite my way as well.

  12. cmiper June 5, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Do you see the email address that is required for posting? Just in case not: cmi.per at gmail.com

    Thanks again.

  13. Enrique Aguirre June 5, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Good to see that you are keping yourself busy despite the broken toe!

    If you still have an invite left, I would love one.

    Thanks!

    PS: Long time no see… we should meet up some time.

  14. Mark Zanzig June 5, 2008 at 10:02 am

    Me, me, me! 🙂

    Jim, if you could get me an invite, that would be great.

    One word of caution, though: the worst offenders will probably NOT found by the search as TinEye still needs to somehow spider the web. If they do and behave like good bots, they respect robots.txt rules. But the heavy infringers usually block bots from the areas where the infringement happens.

    But I agree that such a service is a very positive step into the right direction, enabling us to defend our copyrights in an increasingly competitive market.

  15. Tom June 5, 2008 at 10:29 am

    Sounds interesting. I’d love an invite too. Thanks!

  16. paul s June 5, 2008 at 10:30 am

    I would like an invite as well, this could truly be a remarkable product when fully developed.

  17. Ponder June 5, 2008 at 10:31 am

    I would also love an invite, I’d really like to try this out. Thank you!

  18. Dave June 5, 2008 at 10:38 am

    Don’t know how many times I’ve had to hunt down people stealing my images. I’d love to try it.

    Thanks,

    Dave

  19. jason June 5, 2008 at 11:02 am

    interesting article, would love to a invite for tineye, not that iam expecting to find many people who have stolen my images ( i hope)

    cheers

    Jason

  20. Tom Steele June 5, 2008 at 11:09 am

    I’d like an invite – thank you.

    tsteele93 A T yahoo . youknowwhat

  21. Della Huff June 5, 2008 at 11:44 am

    Hi Jim,

    I would love to try the service. I’ve had a few negative experiences with individuals and companies using my photos without permission. It’s very frustrating. One thing that I’d add to your argument is that image theft can put photographers at some legal risk, too, when they’re licensing images for exclusive usage and image thieves infringe on that license. Anyway, TinEye sounds like a great technology and I’d love to test it out. Thanks!

  22. Avelino June 6, 2008 at 9:12 am

    I don’t think my stuff is of the caliber for theft, but I’d love to try it out and see if I’ve got a reason to be more cautious.

  23. Sherri Meyer June 6, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Jim,

    Great post. I would also love to be added to your list.

    Thanks,
    Sherri

  24. Jim Goldstein June 6, 2008 at 10:17 am

    Now that my blog is back working the way it should I wanted to relay an update that I still have invites. If you’re not commenting because you’re assuming I’m out think otherwise.

  25. s4to335 June 6, 2008 at 10:30 am

    Hey Jim…put me on your list. Thanks.

    Steve

  26. Claudia June 6, 2008 at 10:31 am

    Hi Jim, thanks for the tipp. I’d definitely like to check it out. Would you please also end me an invite?

    Thanks,
    Claudia

  27. Gary Simmons June 6, 2008 at 10:34 am

    Very interesting…. I would love an invite to Tineye, if you don’t mind.

  28. Ron Niebrugge June 6, 2008 at 10:39 am

    Hi Jim,

    I’m out of the office right now, but I would love to give it a try when I get back.

    Thanks!

    Ron

  29. looey June 6, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Hey Jim,

    Please send me an invite. Everyone once in awhile, I’ll have a photo with a suspicious number of hits and it always leaves me curious as to where it’s ended up.

    Thanks,

    looey

  30. matt sallee June 6, 2008 at 11:21 am

    jim –

    this is interesting. love to try it.

    matt

  31. Brad Mangas June 6, 2008 at 11:31 am

    Hi Jim, sign me up too. Thanks
    Brad

  32. Pingback: Who Is Stealing Your Photos Online? | JMG-Galleries - Jim M. Goldstein Photography: travel, landscape, and nature pictures - stock photos and fine art prints | Allyn Edmonds

  33. Kurt Triebe June 6, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Hey Jim-

    Very interesting technology, indeed. I’d love to have an invite to the service if you have any left… I’m curious if any of my images are being used “out there” without my permission.

    Thanks!
    Kurt

  34. Sterling Franken-Steffen June 6, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Good find. Any invites still available?

  35. Jyoteen Majmudar June 6, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    I would love to give it a go. thanks Jim.

  36. Mike Postorino June 6, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    Sounds like an interesting bit of technology. I would love to give it a try. Thanks!

  37. Embrace Life Wedding Photography June 6, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Jim –

    Thank you for sharing this. If you still have an invite left, I’d love to give this a try.

    Thanks a lot.

    – Adam George
    Embrace Life

  38. bruce eichman June 6, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    thank you! sounds like an unfortunate, yet necessary, bit of technology…love to give it a try should you have an invite left…thanks again

  39. Steven Vore June 6, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    I’m definitely interested, it’s a common discussion and “problem” that we all share.

  40. Tim Marsh (TRM) June 6, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    Wow, one of the reasons I don’t post a lot of my work. However this tool would possibly open that up so I could share more of the killer photos I have to solicit folks for prints, etc.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention Jim!

  41. Don Hall June 6, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Jim, I’d be interested in trying the search product.

    Thanks

    Don

  42. Ilse June 7, 2008 at 12:57 am

    I would like to try it.

    Ilse (gorgopis)

  43. Bill Woolf June 7, 2008 at 2:17 am

    Interesting, I would like to try it. Than you for the information about this new technology.

  44. Ben June 7, 2008 at 3:22 am

    Hi Jim,

    I’d appreciate an invite if there are still any available.

    Cheers,

    ben

  45. Flemming Gade June 7, 2008 at 3:53 am

    Hi Jim,

    Looks quite interesting!
    I’d love to try it!

    Have a great weekend
    Flemming

  46. Mark Higgins June 7, 2008 at 4:58 am

    Hi,

    Can I have an invite please, this tineye tool looks amazing…

    Cheers

    Mark

  47. Mati Milstein June 7, 2008 at 8:09 am

    I’d like to try TinEye if you have an invites left. Thanks much! Very interesting…

    Ciao,
    Mati

  48. Pingback: Link Roundup 06-07-2008

  49. Brian June 7, 2008 at 10:27 am

    The service sounds great, if you (or any other commenters by now) have an invite code, I would love to try them out.

  50. Jim June 7, 2008 at 11:17 am

    I’m out of invites at the moment. As soon as I get more I’ll be sure to pick up on inviting those that comment here. Sorry Brian I ran out just before you commented.


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