Copyright... a reminder

[Furi Ous Ennui]

Breach of copyright is a serious offense, attracting large fines and even imprisonment should one be found guilty of this crime under most national laws, and is also banned under the terms of the Berne Convention under international law.

Under law only the creator of a piece holds the copyright. That means the photographer, the illustrator, the artist, or in many cases such as Disney Corporation creations, a corporate entity. To reprodduce or publish thes images on your own website, or social media page (such as a Facebook page) is illegal. I suggest that, should you have material for which you do not have copyright on your pages that you remove it. Lying about it won't help, as metadata and WiP vidence invariably abounds, and you'd hate to add perverting the course of justice or perjury charges to be added to the copyright actions.

A prime example of such copyright breaches can be found at the photo pages of one Stephen Smith, on Facebook at, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001256572850&sk=photos , notably on his profile pictures, http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.124195600965658.41682.100001256572850&type=3 including Disney and The Simpsons images amongst many others, and Mermaid Voltania http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269197393132144.93319.100001256572850&type=3 .

[-Annwyn-]

So he's stolen more of MY photos??? (the tails in the sunset) >:C

[AniaR]

I had problems with him before, when I blocked him from my fanpage he reported my page and mertailors page for "spam" and we both lost our pages for a while since FB doesn't check every case that's reported. This should be brought to the attention of the other mers who he's got in his photo albums. He's also got a lot of images from a deviantART artist sugarock99 (I think that's her user name) I'll report it to her. http://sugarock99.deviantart.com/ Creepy to see he has some of the mers here set as his profile pics.

[OrcaMatt]

Yeah, that boy ain't right.

[-Annwyn-]

He's a night watchman in britain with a mermaid fetish. So he thinks he is above the law. What a douchebag. I hope he sees this thread. I really do.

[New York Mermaid]

that seriously sad, some people these days im telling you, I have a small group on Fb for merfolks only and i make it clear No photos posted here are to be taken or used at all, its a shame that there are people who believe that can take things and use it as they please :(

[Mermaid Saphira]

People disguses me with the crazy things they try to do! It's insane!

[Mermaid Photine]

Ooooh. This is why I rarely ever put any images or ideas on the internet. It's too easy to take them, no matter what safeguards you put up. I hope you can shut down his image-stealing-ness.

[-Annwyn-]

I've been advised that he has taken them down a few hours ago. But keep an eye out because this bloke is that dumb that he will try it again.

[AniaR]

when I check I still see 100s of stolen images

[-Annwyn-]

From what I can also see Raina Stephen's other sockpuppet pages have been reported and pulled down by Facebook.

[fosterphotographix]

It is so common that people think nothing of it. Many people today just think, "if it is on the internet it is free".
I just joined this network yesterday and have already found many of my copyrighted photos already being used here. I have found my photos in much stranger places than this. I don't mind so much, because I put large watermarks on low res version for the web. It would be nice if people would give credit where it is due.

[malinghi]

just a reminder to everyone- if you see copyrighted material that should be be removed, just the icon with an exclamation point in a triangle to report the post.

[Mermaid Petronella]

I always try to write my name at the bottom of my images. I don't understand why others would take other's photos.

[EnidDarkWater]

I had isses with him messaging me constantly and had to have him blocked. I find it kind of strange he has a bunch of kids swimming mixed in with some of the sketchy photos

[Mermaid Fenicia]

Some people are the same as the way they think in China: "copyright is the right to copy".

[Sherl]

Some people are the same as the way they think in China: "copyright is the right to copy".Not only in China. There are many out there worldwide who do the same thing, so please do not direct your words in such a way. I'm not trying to come across as mean, but I'd just like to clarify how I feel about your remark. I am Chinese, though I am not a citizen of China.

[AniaR]

Even though I banned him from my page, he was still able to tag himself on every photo! I literally had to turn the option off for everyone, and go through every image and untag him. He's had multiple FB accounts. I see this current link no longer works for him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's got more than 1 profile going again