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Topsimages taking images from the Painters Online Gallery
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Message
Posted
I'm rather disappointed to see art work that I post on Painters-Online gallery keep appearing on the rather dubious website Topsimages (see screenshot below). The website has rather a lot of pornographic pop ups and also claims that the images are copyright free and can be downloaded.
Has anyone else had this experienced this with images being taken from the gallery? I'm assuming topsimages are using bots to find images for their website.
Posted
Appears to be a very dodgy site, BEWARE! I clicked on a button labeled "Best" and got a popup telling me I have three viruses on my machine along with a second one that purported to come from Microsoft and offered to clear viruses from my machine. Oh yea! I don't think so! Dam scammers should all rot in hell! As for Art work, well anyone can access and download our stuff when placed on any site not just POL, the dreaded Print screen will capture most images with ease, so the only simple thing that will prevent pirating is to watermark them, of course that interferes with the art work presentation, low image resolution is also a good protection.
Posted
I know, I do use low res images but it is mainly from this site that I've had problems in the past, well it is always a dodgy site with a link back to POL. It is a problem for artists and there are no real solutions other than what you say it is just annoying. A friend who works in the business advised what POL could do to protect its users but it was a bit too technical for me.
Posted
I am afraid Sylvia that all they have to do to get your name and image is simply click on your gallery artwork to see a full presentation, then simply right click to "save image as" and they have a copy, although if you have submitted it in low resolution image they will not be able to enlarge it much, also they will see your full name on the same enlargement page. Even if POL used software to stop people saving the image there is nothing as far as I am aware that will stop a "Print screen" operation. Sadly this is just something we have to live with.
Posted
I've heard from another friend that her images were being taken from instagram and then appearing on etsy and amazon (the US site where they sell art work). This is the fourth time my work has been on a dodgy site with porn links and the link is always back to POL which I thought was interesting enough to raise the query.
Posted
Well, here's one reason - low productivity just now while my back is particularly bad is another - why I don't show as much online as I used to. Not that I've noticed my stuff being copied (should I perhaps resent this? ) but I don't want to see it where I haven't put it. However - Rob Ward is entirely right: we can try to protect our stuff with watermarks, low resolution pictures, and all the rest of it, but anyone determined to copy it and paste it unattributed, and on dodgy websites, can easily do so.
This isn't all that new - pirated copies of novels, plays, rubbish knock-offs of good films, shoddy copies of paintings, have proliferated over the centuries, and really all you can do is fume .... you can't stop crooks and chancers, and given the cesspit that the internet can be, alongside its more useful side, I've ceased to be surprised by it. I'm afraid my motto these days is 'have a cigar and stop worrying about it'.
