Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Internet robbery, part deux!

Well, seems that things have gotten crazier. Addition to the blog I have already written on the subject, a nice poster contacted me about the same seller offering two pictures from my most recent postings:

A Dorothy Lee photograph (which the seller lists for some crazy reason as Belinda Lee) from the "Sexy Time Saturday #4" posting.

And this one of Patsy Kelly from the blog I just posted last Friday. Interesting to note that the seller had never sold this image before, I post it on the 3rd, and they have it for sale on the 5th.

The poster who contacted me also has emailed ebay regarding the sellers actions where we will have to wait and see what comes of that. The poster has also been swapping emails with the seller, where they claim that the photo of Dorothy Lee comes from a copy negative they have had in their possession for some time:


What is nice is that when you open up that "negative" and my photo they are identical in size.

So, what to do. I have been going back and forth in my head since my original post on this as to whether or not to watermark ALL the images I post so this shit won't happen again, but then, I like the photo quality of pictures without the watermark. Sorry that it has come to this, followers, but we'll see a certain decision by the next blog.

****UPDATE****- I don't know if ebay or the seller themselves did it, but the Patsy Kelly photo was removed from ebay as were all the Joan Blondell, Mary Pickford, Mary Duncan, and Glenda Farrell pictures that were reported to ebay!!!

10 comments:

Samantha said...

Hahaha! The seller simply took the photo into a photoshop type program and inverted the colors!

I know this is frustrating, and there really isn't a clear answer. I love the photos you post and I like to put them on my desktop as wallpaper. (Right now I have Jimmy Cagney, his wife, and Joan Blondell goofing around.) If you put a watermark, it will spoil the quality of the image, but it might deterr thieves. Maybe a smaller one wrapped around the people: Property of El Brendel or something funnier maybe. You could disallow right clicking on an image, although I am not sure how to program that. Or you could make the blog invite only, which would cut down significantly on your traffic. I wish there were an easy answer. I know other people who have had this problem as well, and they have always had to compromise.

Louie said...

Yeah, Samantha, I really don't know what to do. I am not that computer savvy where I can post pictures and make sure they can't be copied, so it looks like watermark might be the way to go, but I REALLY enjoy sharing the pictures with people in their "natural" form.

That seller has just made something I am doing for fun, their little money maker.

Amy R. said...

Not that I don't believe you because it's quite evident that this person is ripping you off, but I have seen this exact picture of Dorothy Lee before on ebay. I have it saved somewhere.

Or is that Belinda Lee? DURH, maybe he should get it right.

Amy R. said...

Also, watermarks are easy to remove (I do it!) and this guy just might know how if he's printing his own pictures.

Anonymous said...

Add me to the folks who love (and collect!) the pics on your blog - but if a watermark will deter thieves, then so be it. I'm glad to hear those other photos were pulled though. ^_^

Louie said...

Amy,
The photo of Dorothy Lee was sold by seller "photoarchive" (ebay item #120366929410)and he posted an inferior scan, I purchased it, and that's where my scan comes from.

Brian said...

I too love the pics you post and hate that someone is trying to profit from them. To be honest I can't think of any way to prevent it short of not posting them at all. Watermarks can be erased or cropped unless you place them right in the center of the image; disabling right-click can be overcome by turning off javascript; even fancy tricks like layering a clear image over the real one can be defeated by doing a screenshot.

Trying to get eBay to remove these listings or shaming the seller into taking them down is probably the best course of action. I'm glad to see it worked in this case!

addie said...

I wonder if it is worth your using water marks.
This kind of stealing is probably not common, I mean stealing to profit from someone else's photo's.

It might even be better to not put a water mark on your photos, then keep an eye on this seller because if ebay took those pictures down this time, they might ban him if he commits the same offense a second time (or gets caught a second time).

KING OF JAZZ said...

It wasn't me! :D

elena-lu said...

oh dear how awful! i didnt know all this was going on! im glad that seller stopped his ways but its a shame this goes on and i surely hope it doesnt happen to you again! i enjoy your pics lots and lots and will handle a watermark or whatever you do toprotect them so you do what you need to! i will still come on by and visit :)
elenalu