Hi everyone,

I am copying this from B_Peacock's last post on the Poser page.  In going through, I have seen several images from the Fractal group as well as other areas of images.  One of them mine so far.  I also saw one from carlx, lottalagg1, and others I have seen, but don't remember the owners of.  Please read this and take a look at the site to see if yours are there and turn the info over to the Rendo afterwards.  

Bunny

Well I have contacted Rosity about stolen images to Deb and Clint. Now I have not been commenting because I have been investigating a site that Jeff jif3d showed me were one of his images were. This is what I have found after about looking thru 300 pages of images and they all point to one person Крис © This is the start of this persons gallery. 329 pages with 9 images per page .Funny the asshole uses a copy right but doesnt even pull our copyrights off our images and even uses our titles add who it is by
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/us_ad.php?p=0&j=0&us_id=329&s=a

Here is a lit of images I know belong to friends .BArcode I only listed a few but you have about 7 to 9 images on this persons site

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|250215 Ohbetty stolen
Hippo's http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|249378
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|249663 Kerbie
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|244724

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|243883 mine
Dennis http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|242967
Sarsa http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|242959
Barcode http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238931
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238930
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238932
Romanceworks http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=s|236894
FAstBurn http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241376
Danceswithroos http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|222851
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|222848
I will be sending this info to Deb and Clint .Hopefully they will be able to get our images taking down .So please go thru this persons gallery and let them or me know what the link is so we can do this right
I posted this image for this is one stolen from me. Left my freeking copy right on it. What a dumb ass
I know there are more members works here that is one this page
Looking thru after posting this I have found MAjikUnicorns work OFFSET and many more
Thanks Guys

The following artists in the fractal community have art on the site mentioned above.  I only went through the first 100 pages, but it was enough for me.

bpclarke (me), Sid Bolero, Pinktwister, tinotl, LaPurr, LightArtFractals, brucedar, then, Philsh, skyback, Melancon, ulliroyal, yannlby2, trepz, kepp,  rocserum, CarolSassy, newpy, fractalinda, rondaj, Bampster, da_mar, Jennyfnf, psion005, tresamie, Lipa, Wilby, cjgrove83, timbuk2, kansany, Josh, americanChi, laurengary, BloeMkool, renderix, fayrelady, robertkearny, bodhi-creations, grinagog, amota99517, sacada, Farenheit457, and claude19.

Many have multiple images there.  I didn't give any permissions to sell these and that's what this person is doing.
Bunny

You are so right; there is a ton of recognizeable artwork there.  I went through the fractals and found one of mine on this page:

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|240082

What do I need to do from here?

Thanks Bunny!  Let me know what else I might be able to do to help.

Rebecca

Judging from the cyrillic characters, this is either a Russian or eastern European site. I think y'll will be pretty much 'shit out of luck' as they say around here. They are prettyunregulated as far as intellectual property and copyright laws and snag whatever they want with impugnity. If you can get hold of their ISP, maybe something can be done but it can be dicey - good luck!

BTW - this is why I water mark all of the pieces I've sold prints of - or hope/expect to - to protect my patrons' rights to exclusivity. They pay a premium for a limited edition print and it wouldn't be good to have their print show up all over the place. Sort of defaces the images a bit but what can you do?
Rick

BTW - how did you manage to get around? - there's no English...

Rick

I tried with an e mail that Clint sent to me and got this:

I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following
addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<postmaster@artfile.ru>:
89.108.91.192 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 <postmaster@artfile.ru>: Recipient address
rejected: User unknown in virtual mailbox table
Giving up on 89.108.91.192.

and FYI it is russian...I used a translator on line... you click the ENGLISH (!?!?) PAGE NUMBERS at the top of the pictures...that site had a ton of junk and nasty stuff on it too, be sure to dump your cookies and temp files!!!

I got the same answer you did Lyne.  He suggested a couple of other things, but I agree with Rykk.  I doubt there is much to be done.  The good news on my part is that the quality of the image they stole for printing is so lousy, it wouldn't be worth much.  Sigh... nothing is sacred once it's posted folks. 
Bunny

PS I just followed the links.  Knowing the language isn't a must to follow links that are normally there.  I see the same similarities in softwares and that makes them easy for me.

Ya...guess "resistance is futile"...hmmm makes me feel like doing ART with some sort of refrence/sign of "the site that steals art" and put THAT up in my gallery...but then I might be the one to get in trouble?!?!

I am sitting here waiting to watch the time change...and see which VCR does and does not, woops!!! HAPPY NEW TIME...THERE... my computer says 3 am now!! without a whisper, or bells ringing... okay...so I am a night owl.... LOL!!

I did got through another 100 pages.  That's about all I can stand.  Those go about 6 months back.  The other artists I found who's work I recognized were avalonfayre, fratelaar, moofied, texasguitarslinger, wawadave and fancibug over on deviant art.

-Josh- state we could post to the artist and ask to have the images removed.  I did try that, but you have to belong to the site to post.  At this point, I don't see a good or easy resolution to this for any of us on this.  I suppose we could put a huge copyright on the image or our signatures.  Clinton wasn't a huge amount of help, but he did try.  I tried every combination of email address to notify the site with no luck.  I'm open to suggestions.
Bunny

It's such a shame...I am trying to just "let it go" as I don't see any way to deal with it... I personally don't like viewing art with giant sigs on them, spoils the art itself....sigh... I don't think watermarking the compressed art we post (that can't really be printed well anyway) would make a diff... if we can see the image...so can they when it is posted on the Russian site... sigh...

I found something.

If "Kris" answers comments, then one can use that link and send a Mail!!!
Property only nod clicked and it came a small window with these data.
" Kris " is " Крис © "

Translate from russian :

It is no: Kris The mail: to write communication
ICQ: 241921772 countries:
Russia is the city: Saint Petersburg Is The page: Akakris.igumnov.com The date of the registration: 13.06.2006 08:37 last entrance: 12.03.2007 02:54 status: elite the glasses: 6765.1949 it is added: 9137 it is examined: 60269 commentaries: 131 v chosen: 15 dobavlenye wall-papers the moderator of the divisions: W the moderator of the subsections: b.d.m.sh.bed.u.a.r.s.kh.yu.m.ag.u.ach.ab

End translate

Perhaps that helps !

Best regards,  Josh

@Lyne....
You said**...."I don't think watermarking the compressed art we post (that can't really be printed well anyway)"

**Unfortunately that is not the case anymore...there is very good "upresing" software available on the market now.  Depending on the image, upsizing of 4 to 8 times is reasonable...which would turn your 800x600, or 1024x768 into a nice print.

Prints of ripped images are being sold in many parts of the world right now....

Sadly, your only solution is to heavily watermark. post very very small...or...not upload.  Generally rippers will not bother to try to defeat a heavy watermark...it is quicker for them to go steal another image that has none....

BTW, the site in question was posted in the copyright forum 3 months ago....obviously nothing has been removed since then.

Why they don't have even a simple exploit to defeat the "save picture as" function here is beyond me. I went to a site - forget the name, I think it was mentioned by Robin Foss on the UF mail list - last week and for grins I right clicked to see if it would let me save a pic. A dialog window popped up saying something like "right clicking is prohibited"(sic). GREAT!! - love it!!! IMO, this is THE number ONE feature that should be implemented HERE. It's almost as if the sites like this one and, more blatently, DeviantArt are sort of inviting this kind of theft in the interest of increasing page hits and traffic. There's also a way to place a blank, transparent .png(?) over an image such that, when soemone does a "save pic as", all they get is a blank image file. Yeah, yeah - I've heard all the noise about "determined thieves" but these guys are into ease of ripping and speed and typically either don't have the skill or don't have the time to do more work-intensive stealing.

 At DA, they even come right out and say it's ok to download the pix for wallpaper and may even facilitate that. I don't have a problem with that so much but it DOES make it very easy for image thieves and might be why there is so much theft from that site.

I agree with gradient, above - I have personally made "fair" 20"x16" prints on a large format color plotter (not a "printer") that looked fine -especially at a normal viewing distance - and people actually paid me money for. Granted, they were only $20 but that's all these rip sites charge, probably. And these were from "small" 1024x768 rendered .bmp files with no blowing up of the image - just "fit to page" in MS Photo Editor.

I think really there are only two options for "serious" digital artists. Either display absolutely nothing on the web that you hope to sell (this is the advice of my printer, who has made his living doing art festivals for 40 years - digital photo-manips and pottery) or watermark the images you do display. Yeah, I suppose someone could spend hours painting out the watermarks or copyright text like M-frAUD did a little over a year ago but that's WORK and someone would have to have a lot of time and be pretty sure they'd make a good bit of money to go thru all that effort.

Rick

I have to agree that there probably isn't much we can do.  It's a sad reality that they will find a way. 

Hi All I am A member of the UF users mailing list. My rl Name is Valerie waves at the Uf list folks I can make the following offer: Since I work for a federal german agency, I have close contacts to the state governors admin. Since Northern Rhenania Westphalia is one of germanies most industrious states, they have vast contacts to the east, especially we have some people working there who speak russian, our legal squad included. If y'all here can gather the weblinks to your stolen Fractals, I am ready to try to get someone to do me a favour at the governors offices and kick the siteowners ass about all the copyrighted material. Do not expect wonders from that. Ukraine, like Russia are at the actual times states where laws get only erratically enforced, if what we have as laws applies at all. Be aware that copyright laws are different to non existent in some eastern countries. I can't say for sure how the situation is in Ukraine and I am not sure if I will have the time to find out. On the other hand Ukraine wants into the EU and so it will have to start complying. So please, if any of you want to take that offer, post the full urls to your pictures on that russian site into this forum so I can gather them and the siteadmin of tha ru site be asked to remove them. Here some additional infos about that site: THIS could be seen on one of their first screens in the fractal section: +++++++ Балаболка: выводить по 15 убрать )) прально делает)) красоту надо повсюду распространять)) Оставил(а): dima komaroff, в 23:03 Дэнис извращенец...зачем голых баб в девок присылаешь , я это дэлитую... Оставил(а): sparco, в 22:59 dddddddddddd Оставил(а): бык, в 22:58 Dear DonaKuka! Inform full links of your works on AF. They will be removed. Оставил(а): Крис, в 22:29 Крис,на те маю асю,а то так я там ненайду.394673677 Оставил(а): Илюзия, в 22:18 Оставить сообщение в балаболке:(только для зарегистрированных ++++++ A whois of the site turns up this information: % By submitting a query to RIPN's Whois Service % you agree to abide by the following terms of use: % http://www.ripn.net/about/servpol.html#3.2 (in Russian) % http://www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2 (in English). domain: ARTFILE.RU type: CORPORATE nserver: ns1.agava.net.ru. nserver: ns2.agava.net.ru. state: REGISTERED, DELEGATED person: Palichev Yriy Viktorovich phone: +38 050 9814481 fax-no: +38 050 9814481 e-mail: registrar: R01-REG-RIPN created: 2004.06.08 paid-till: 2007.06.08 source: TC-RIPN Last updated on 2007.03.12 01:01:05 MSK/MSD That Telefone Number is weird: +38 doesnt exist anymore. It was ex Yougoslavia but those have been changed to +381, 382 .... +380 is Ukraine nowadays though, that would fit best with a .ru domain, if at all. Its possible that they really mean the number to be +380 50 98....

I would be happy to do that, but so far I only know of two links, and I only connect to the internet at 33500, so it would take much too long to go through their site to hunt for my pics.  

Thanks anyway though! (:

i  came across one of my images on that site as well one titled carnival. in a way i am a little bit flattered that they thought my work was worth taking. but i have to agree with the sentiment expressed here that there is not much we can do about it, and i do not like the idea that someone could be making a profit from our hard work.   dont let the B!^"*"^S grind us down
  MIKE  (KEPP) 

Quote - Hi All I am A member of the UF users mailing list. My rl Name is Valerie waves at the Uf list folks I can make the following offer: Since I work for a federal german agency, I have close contacts to the state governors admin. Since Northern Rhenania Westphalia is one of germanies most industrious states, they have vast contacts to the east, especially we have some people working there who speak russian, our legal squad included. If y'all here can gather the weblinks to your stolen Fractals, I am ready to try to get someone to do me a favour at the governors offices and kick the siteowners ass about all the copyrighted material. Do not expect wonders from that. Ukraine, like Russia are at the actual times states where laws get only erratically enforced, if what we have as laws applies at all. Be aware that copyright laws are different to non existent in some eastern countries. I can't say for sure how the situation is in Ukraine and I am not sure if I will have the time to find out. On the other hand Ukraine wants into the EU and so it will have to start complying. So please, if any of you want to take that offer, post the full urls to your pictures on that russian site into this forum so I can gather them and the siteadmin of tha ru site be asked to remove them. Here some additional infos about that site:

Would you please also post this offer in the Poser forum.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2688904
 Just saw 2 of Carneithwen's images for "The Journal of Autarkis" series they do.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|244746
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|244781

Hi everyone,
I yesterday looked all Thumbnails up to the side number 109 and made a list of it. 
Here is it.

Dreaming Of Spring [by tresamie]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|233209

Scarlet Thornblossom [by tresamie]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|228092

MOONDALA [by rocserum]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232762

SLEEPING BEAUTY [by rocserum]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236497

XD + FFF [by renderix]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|225128

Spiral-Modification [by bodhi-creations]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|224676

Beach Find [by fractalinda]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|234162

Limestone Walls [by carlx]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|227302

Spring Time. 
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|240882

by carlx.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241335

Metallic Kiss [by CarolSassy]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232659

Caprice [by CarolSassy]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236808

ALIEN SLOT MACHINE [by ulliroyal]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232660

T O Y [by ulliroyal]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|225594

C H E O P S [by ulliroyal]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|224150

STARS AND STRIPES [by ulliroyal]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|237978

run from sun [by Sid_Bolero]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238002

Ramified knitting [by Lipa]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|234734

CrystalPalaceExhibit [by Jennyfnf]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|233173

Whirly [ by kepp ]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|233784

Ice Blue [ by kepp ]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|235387

Carnival [by kepp]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232647

Spiralised [by kepp]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232067

Only A Spiral [by kepp]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236803

Spirals worms [by Chromotron]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|226676

explorateur [by Chromotron]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238051

EQUILIBRIUM [by da_mar]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|235997

Duality _Julia found in Mandelbrot [by yannlby2]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236309

Spheres waiting for gravity field [by yannlby2]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236811

The Shaft II [by psion005]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|234551

Eye Spy III [by psion005]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|235563

Oyster [by psion005]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|230453

Amoeba Chamber [by psion005]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|229069

Gazer [by Wilby]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|232099

Amber Bloom [by Timbuk2]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|227650

New Day [by Kasany]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|227181

Standing Apophysis [by melancon]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|224694

Apophysis Polymorphism II [by melancon]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|237984

The First Wave [by Fahrenheit451]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|224155

Shaded Visions [by newpy]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|236912

transum [by philsh]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|225603

atmospheric alchemies [by philsh]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|222619

alpha aig (by philsh)
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|221100

earthview [by philsh]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238869

Bones [by robertkearney]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|224663

Kings Golden Paradise [by then]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|238674

Gold Leafing [by LaPurr]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|239082

Koo-Ka-La-Ka-Lee-Ka.  NO NAME
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241298

Swirlers.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241374

Prussian Pastime.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241303

Broken Heart.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|241388

Sputnik [by -Josh-]
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|227239

End of the list.

 I hope it help them.
All best wishes, Josh

It looks like you have all learned about the stolen images at the Russian site. I've been taking notes all morning and I have a list of 37 Fractal artists whose work appears on that site. There are probably more that I do not recognize, but the artist's work which I did recognize was all posted by the same person. Many of the images include the title and the artist's name, but mine did not, so there may be a lot more than the 37 I found.  Attached is the list. I've posted a notice about this in my gallery also. Is there anything else I can do to help?

Maddy
madcatter

I found one I think Moebius87 made.  I know he made up the entire city of Dystopia, and I found one called Dystopia Dawn.  I imessaged him.  Of course it could have been created by one of his friends, but I gave him the heads up on it.  I also imessaged Jim aka jimw1.  They had a couple of his there as well. 

Here is what might REALLY help!! Write to the e mails at the ISP's that NOTICE: ARE

NOT BASED IN RUSSIA! Send the link to your image (click to get large copy) and if

you want, send the link to your rosity gallery for proof of your ownership. I am going

to do that.

If we all do this, it may actually help!!!

From: ClintH
Sent: 2007-03-12 11:18:02
Subject: RE: My image stolen and posted on that russian site!

Hi Lyne, Well, The next step when you cant contact the actual site owner is to

contact the ISP that is hosting the site. The ISP will generaly contact the site owner

or bring the site down if enough requests are sent to them about the site illegally

displaying copyrighted works.

I checked on this site and found that the ISP hosting the site appears to be as

follows:

Registrant: Make this info private
   Reseaux IP Europeens - Network Coordinati on Centre  
   Singel 258
   Amsterdam, NH 1016 AB 
   NL 
    
   Domain Name: RIPE.NET 
 
   Administrative Contact :   
   Admin Contact, RIPE NCC 
   dns-reg-admin@ripe.net 
   Singel 258
   Amsterdam, Noord Holland 1016Ab 
   NL 
   Phone: 020 5354444 
   Fax: 020 5354445 
    
   Technical Contact :   
   RIPE Network Coordination Centre  
   ops@RIPE.NET 
   Singel 258
   Amsterdam, NH 1016 AB ** 
   NL 
   Phone: http://www.ripe.net 
   Fax: 123 123 1234 
    
   Record expires on 26-Feb-2010   
   Record created on 25-Feb-1992 
   Database last updated on 09-Oct-2006 
 
   Domain servers in listed order: Manage DNS 
 
   NS-EXT.ISC.ORG     204.152.184.64   
   NS3.NIC.FR        
   NS-PRI.RIPE.NET     193.0.0.195   
   SUNIC.SUNET.SE        
    
      Show underlying registry data for this record  
    

Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC. 
IP Address: 193.0.0.214  (ARIN & RIPE IP search) 
IP Location: UK(UNITED KINGDOM) 
Record Type: Domain Name 
Server Type: Apache 2 
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited 
Web Site Status: Active 
DMOZ  1 listings 
Y! Directory:  see listings 
Web Site Title: Welcome to RIPE.NET 
Secure: Yes 
E-commerce: No 
Traffic Ranking: 4 
Data as of: 20-Nov-2006 

 SORRY THE FORMATTING FROM MY TEXT FILE MESSED UP HERE...

hmmm...

Well the server is neither in the Netherlands nor in the UK, thats where RIPE.NET and Network Solutions are located...

But i have run a scan on the web address, a trace to the website and it gave me the following ip:

89.108.91.192

Run Whois:

Whois has started ...

% This is the RIPE Whois query server #2.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% Note: the default output of the RIPE Whois server
% is changed. Your tools may need to be adjusted. See
% http://www.ripe.net/db/news/abuse-proposal-20050331.html
% for more details.
%
% Rights restricted by copyright.
% See http://www.ripe.net/db/copyright.html

% Note: This output has been filtered.
%       To receive output for a database update, use the "-B" flag

% Information related to '89.108.80.0 - 89.108.95.255'

inetnum:        89.108.80.0 - 89.108.95.255
netname:        AGAVACOMPANY
descr:          Agava JSC
country:        RU
admin-c:        AN2353-RIPE
tech-c:         AN2353-RIPE
status:         ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:         AGAVA-MNT
source:         RIPE # Filtered

role:           AGAVA NOC
address:        AGAVA JSC
address:        Oruzheiniy per., 25/1, office 8
address:        125047 Moscow
address:        Russia
phone:          +7 495 4081790
phone:          +7 495 4086755
fax-no:         +7 495 4081790
remarks:        ----------------------------------------------------
remarks:        AGAVA is available 24 x 7
remarks:        ----------------------------------------------------
remarks:        Points of contact for AGAVA Network Operations
remarks:        ----------------------------------------------------
remarks:        Routing and peering issues:       noc@agava.com
remarks:        SPAM and Network security issues: abuse@agava.com
remarks:        Customer support:                 support@agava.com
remarks:        ----------------------------------------------------
e-mail:         noc@agava.com
admin-c:        AI987-RIPE
tech-c:         AK305-RIPE
nic-hdl:        AN2353-RIPE
mnt-by:         AGAVA-MNT
source:         RIPE # Filtered

% Information related to '89.108.64.0/18AS39561'

route:          89.108.64.0/18
descr:          Agava JSC
origin:         AS39561
mnt-by:         AGAVA-MNT
source:         RIPE # Filtered

I am pretty sure that info is more accurate!

Have a nice evening...

Harmen

Well I got the info from Clint and I DON'T want to write to the russian server I want to write to the owner of those servers... either way all one can do is try.

I had to dig a little further though, and went to find the host server in Moscow by the name of www.agava.ru and/or www.agava.com

Correct me if i am wrong

On the right, it says: Бесплатный домен: which must be something like if some domain name is available, so i put in artfile.ru

It gave me the following info:

domain: ARTFILE.RU
type: CORPORATE
nserver: ns1.agava.net.ru.
nserver: ns2.agava.net.ru.
state: REGISTERED, DELEGATED
person: Palichev Yriy Viktorovich
phone: +38 050 9814481
fax-no: +38 050 9814481
e-mail: admin@artfile.ru
registrar: R01-REG-RIPN
created: 2004.06.08
paid-till: 2007.06.08
source: TC-RIPN
Last updated on 2007.03.13 01:36:05 MSK/MSD

So hope it will help y'all

Good day

Quote - Well I got the info from Clint and I DON'T want to write to the russian server I want to write to the owner of those servers... either way all one can do is try.

okay then report the abuse and violation at the following site:

http://www.ripe.net/

well actually first read the faq there, and it will tell you what to do...

Quote - The following artists in the fractal community have art on the site mentioned above.  I only went through the first 100 pages, but it was enough for me.

bpclarke (me), Sid Bolero, Pinktwister, tinotl, LaPurr, LightArtFractals, brucedar, then, Philsh, skyback, Melancon, ulliroyal, yannlby2, trepz, kepp,  rocserum, CarolSassy, newpy, fractalinda, rondaj, Bampster, da_mar, Jennyfnf, psion005, tresamie, Lipa, Wilby, cjgrove83, timbuk2, kansany, Josh, americanChi, laurengary, BloeMkool, renderix, fayrelady, robertkearny, bodhi-creations, grinagog, amota99517, sacada, Farenheit457, and claude19.

Many have multiple images there.  I didn't give any permissions to sell these and that's what this person is doing.
Bunny

lol you can ad my name to the list as well:

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|195243 'made' by ivanna is deffinately mine:

http://excalibur.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1342423

and surely other artists are replaced by other names as well...

And Mindy [peapodgrrl] these are yours:

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99159
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99165
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99154
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99149
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99140
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99150
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99153
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99156
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99155
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99167
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|99166

PLUS a lot more from page:

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/a.php?p=50&j=0&f=1680

or you have a different alias there: Aliona ...

Quote - I had to dig a little further though, and went to find the host server in Moscow by the name of www.agava.ru and/or www.agava.com

Correct me if i am wrong

On the right, it says: Бесплатный домен: which must be something like if some domain name is available, so i put in artfile.ru

It gave me the following info:

domain: ARTFILE.RU
type: CORPORATE
nserver: ns1.agava.net.ru.
nserver: ns2.agava.net.ru.
state: REGISTERED, DELEGATED
person: Palichev Yriy Viktorovich
phone: +38 050 9814481
fax-no: +38 050 9814481
e-mail: admin@artfile.ru
registrar: R01-REG-RIPN
created: 2004.06.08
paid-till: 2007.06.08
source: TC-RIPN
Last updated on 2007.03.13 01:36:05 MSK/MSD

So hope it will help y'all

Good day

Hi Harmen Indeed, thats exactly the info I came up with my last night ( am in germany). Interestingly the phone and fax numbers seem to point to Ukraine, not Russia, but that must not mean much since the format would suggest that they are outdated by long (+38 was the intl access for ex yougoslavia, this has been changed since some time. +380 is Ukraine today, +38 doesnt exist anymore at all, my suspicion is that its mean to read: +380 50 ....). To those who are afraid to write them: get a throwaway email address that you can access via web, not your email program. I doubt that you will get much replies anyway ;-) Y'all can additionally complain at ripe of course. cheers, Valerie

Here are my links of images:

Image #244742 (Masque).
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/us_ad.php?p=5&j=0&us_id=329&s=a

Image #220599 (name was removed) but is called Old Lace here.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/us_ad.php?p=108&j=100&us_id=329&s=a

Thank you Valerie, if you can help us.
Bunny

Sadly, all a determined thief has to do is to take a screen shot.  The odd thing about the postings on the Russian site are that they have not even tried to remove the copyright markings on the art, and in many cases have even included the original artist's name in the title.  Of course all those things are in English, not Cyrillic.

Admins are working on trying to find out who is doing this.  If anyone can read/write Russian, maybe that would be helpful.

Another bit of information.  While I was over there a little bit ago checking the links, images were disappearing about as fast as I could click.  It takes me about an hour to clean up my system after I go there so I didn't want to go over right away again.  I am wondering if this is an indicator that they have to move to another user name and site to hit us again. 

I know, from my line of work, that images are the easiest thing to steal.  If they are posted, nothing is safe.  With tools like SnagIt and other screen capture tools, it's easy to take images.  The harder part, but can be done, is the removal of imbedded copyright watermarks.  A little healing brush or cloning will fix much of that if one is patient.  How do I know this?  I've seen it done by people I went to school with.

I like the idea of disabling the right click, but it just slows them down.  The skin over the image is even better.  Being more aware of the world and watching out for each other as we have done this week is the best though.  Everyone has rallied.

Good luck everyone.  Bunny

Dammit, that one's mine.
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|242110

Shakes head in disgust

Here is another site some one else found.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2689025

Folks,

Valerie asked me to come post. I read and write Russian (though writing is very tedious for me, because I have to copy and paste each letter, though I just got a Cyrillic keyboard, but it's been decades since I used one, and I think this is a different order from the one I used).

Here is some information that may be helpful. Please spread this to other sites with artists who have been ripped off. I don't have time right now to do that. I am also giving information about artists who do other types of art work, not just fractals.

I got the following from people's links on the work itself. Information about the rip-off "artist" is below my list.

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/a/856/83341_310_398_ArtFile_ru.jpg
www.unc.edu/~Maraszti

The link to this person's site no longer works.

http://www.topdesktop.ru/

I don't know the story behind that one.

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|171294
http://www.tws3d.com/

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|171798
savinoff.com

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|178155
www.begann.de

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|191794
fanficbug.deviantart.com

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|192705
GMS

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|194020
Jay Testerman

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|195286
Jaime Josso

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|206253
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|206254
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|206255
David Fuchs

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|208832
Ensar Yanar

Dances with Roos
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|219779
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|219938
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|220113

Kas (2007)
Miracles
http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|220590

http://www.artfile.ru/oboi/b/i.php?i=a|220592
David Makin

I already told fanficbug on dA about it. I have also sent emails to savinoff.com and to Magann (begann.de), but haven't gotten a response yet.

The poster is named Kris. Here is her web site: akakris.igumnov.com . It<br></br>is almost entirely in Russian. Email on the site is by means of a form:<br></br><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://akakris.igumnov.com/about?about_send_form=submit">http://akakris.igumnov.com/about?about_send_form=submit</a><br></br><br></br>On that page, the first blank is for email address. The second is for<br></br>subject, and the third is for the message. The final blank probably<br></br>wants to know how you found her, but there are a couple of words I don't<br></br>recognize. I'd leave it blank. The next item is a button for sending the<br></br>email.<br></br><br></br>Her web site settles her gender. Her nationality is Russian.<br></br><br></br>She lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you click on the link Крис<br></br><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"></a>on any thumbnail, it will give you a popup box. You can leave a message for Kris by clicking on the first clickable link. The link to the popup box should work whether or not you have a Cyrillic font. It will look different, but that's all.<br></br><br></br>If you need any more information, let me know. It seems likely that she<br></br>reads English, because she has been accessing so many English-language<br></br>sites.<br></br><br></br>As far as methods for protecting art is concerned, most don't work, and I understand there is new software that will automatically rip off art even when it's protected by javascript. The link to the actual image is always in the source code, so the transparent skin doesn't prevent a determined and knowledgeable person. I support not trying to do anything to stop it through security measures because all they do is give a false sense of security anyway. I think in all the years I have been on the internet, I've only seen two sites where you simply couldn't get the image by any means other than screen capture. But screen capture also works! If you can download it to your machine, you have a copy somewhere. The trick is finding out where. Some sites will prevent you from storing the image temporarily in your cache, but those are few and far between.<br></br><br></br>I hope this helps.

Pat

We have someone in the UF lists who actually can write and read kyrillic and russian. Here is some interesting info that she gave us, here is her message to the UF list: ********* The poster is named Kris. Here is her web site: www.akakris.igumnov.com . It is almost entirely in Russian. Email on the site is by means of a form: http://akakris.igumnov.com/about?about_send_form=submit On that page, the first blank is for email address. The second is for subject, and the third is for the message. The final blank probably wants to know how you found her, but there are a couple of words I don't recognize. I'd leave it blank. The next item is a button for sending the email. Her web site settles her gender. Her nationality is Russian. She lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you click on the link Крис on any thumbnail, it will give you a popup box. You can leave a message for Kris by clicking on the first clickable link. The link to the popup box should work whether or not you have a Cyrillic font. It will look different, but that's all. If you need any more information, let me know. It seems likely that she reads English, because she has been accessing so many English-language sites. I hope this helps. Pat ********* This certainly helps, so lets all thank Pat for her efforts and help! So while I am still collecting links to stolen pictures, anyone who feels like it, can leave that Kris a message ... Also, this akakris.igumnov is hosted by mylifepage.ru. % By submitting a query to RIPN's Whois Service % you agree to abide by the following terms of use: % http://www.ripn.net/about/servpol.html#3.2 (in Russian) % http://www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2 (in English). domain: MYLIVEPAGE.RU type: CORPORATE nserver: ns2.mylivepage.com. nserver: ns.mylivepage.com. state: REGISTERED, DELEGATED org: MyLivePage Inc. phone: +7 905 9567313 fax-no: +7 905 9567313 e-mail: *******@mylivepage.net registrar: R01-REG-RIPN created: 2005.07.12 paid-till: 2007.07.12 source: TC-RIPN Last updated on 2007.03.13 09:18:49 MSK/MSD There seems to be an email form on www.mylifepage.ru. So if any of you discover stolen pics on www.akakris.igumnov.com, it is at www.mylifepage.ru you need to complain. Yet, this one has nothing to do with the art site which contains those masses of stolen pics. It seems to me that this Kris is hosting quite a lot of copyrighted material on her site too, not necessarily from R'osity though. ttyal work calls, need to dash ... Valerie :)

Quote - I like the idea of disabling the right click, but it just slows them down. Good luck everyone.  Bunny

Hi Bunny Disabling the right click doesnt slow anybody down who really wants to rip a lot of pics. All they need to use is a so called Website ripper or Spyder and that prog will do the downloading of pics for them. Some of those are so advanced that they can resolve any kind of link, non html ones included. In the easiest case and with broadband connects being cheap, they just mirror a complete site on their harddisk and rip it apart there. If you can see it in your browser an automat can rip it, sad but true. cheers, Valerie

I'm going to use a watermark in my pictures. I can't think in anything else by the moment to protect our pictures.

Thanks for all your information, if I can help with anything just let me know!
Elizabeth

Too bad the whole of Renderosity doesn't help us sell our work right here.  Then at least we would get first come first serve! lol q-:  Boy, wouldn't that keep the staff hopping?!!?!?  Just joking around.  How could I resist? (:

It looks like we have been very busy with this topic.  I was sent an email, through Rendo, from Skyback that one of my images was on this website: http://www.1zoom.ru/see.php?n=43831&js=1&uu=130.7.  It seems like the person we have been discussing is on this webpage  too, but I am unsure.  I have could not locate a name as to who posted it.  They also left my marking on the image.  The site is also in Russian.  

I find this so very dishearting.  It seems the world can be a really cruddy place sometimes.  Let me know what I can do to do my part in getting this taken care of.  I am thankful for those who care enough to let us know about our art when they see it.

Beth

Quote - It looks like we have been very busy with this topic.  I was sent an email, through Rendo, from Skyback that one of my images was on this website: http://www.1zoom.ru/see.php?n=43831&js=1&uu=130.7.  It seems like the person we have been discussing is on this webpage  too, but I am unsure.  I have could not locate a name as to who posted it.  They also left my marking on the image.  The site is also in Russian.  

I find this so very dishearting.  It seems the world can be a really cruddy place sometimes.  Let me know what I can do to do my part in getting this taken care of.  I am thankful for those who care enough to let us know about our art when they see it.

Beth

Well to be totally blunt about it. Once material is up on one .ru site, be prepared for it to spread quickly amnongst other .ru sites. Very often they belong to the same people in the background anyway. What we see here is the tiny tip of an iceberg and we are talking about the ripping of art pictures "only". What some of our departments both on state as on federal level have to deal with criminal energy wise with those states (and china!) is downright outrageous. Nevertheless giving up is the wrong answer. In politics exist only interests and compromises and those states want something from us too. So political pressure is the only mean which in some future will show any kinds of tiny results. And yes, I mean tiny. In the long run, everybody who displays whatever with a copyright beneath it in the internet will have to deal with those facts. I believe that in the end, we might have to rethink completely how to deal with copyrights, how to spread or display copyrighted material alltogether and all this might well be the end of most of the free display. Means: you want to see any of it, you got to pay for that. I can say for sure that our biggest phone company is dealing very seriously with industry and politics on how to implement a micropayment system that can easily be used "on the fly" (there exist several ones already, but they still feel they are too complicated). Also, german law puts Tv sets, Radios and Pc's on one level as machines which are apt to recieve and display radio or tv content. This does not only affect Pcs with a tv card, since tv programmes can be streamed and thus recieved via Inet. And a per machine fee which follows a too complicated system to describe it here, is due. Those fees are reinvested into the so called public radio and tv programmes and their internet presences. One idea that is discussed is to offer artists the possibility to affiliate themselves with any big Multimedia Industry Company who in return would defend their rights. To refinance this, additional fees on internet usage, Pc's and websites are discussed. Nothing has been decided, but things are on the move and I fear that a lot of the free display might dissappear if any of us want their rights somewhat protected. I dont say it has to end that way, but I see such signs on political levels here in Europe. just my 2c, Valerie

I have an idea. I have been thinking of starting a web site for art. It would be a portal to other web sites. A person could post a thumbnail there and when someone clicks on the link, they see the image that is posted on the other site. A person could organize thumbnails to different sites in one place. What do you think about that idea? It could be adapted to provide a fair amount of security and mesh with paying to see pictures.

Pat

On another note, I think I have figured out what their game is. The URL for thumbnails pages includes us_ad. I think they are detecting IP addresses, deciding where in the world they are, and aiming advertising at them. Never mind that the advertising is all in Russian. They haven't figured that out yet. But it's the ads they're selling, not the art. The art simply gets exposure. But by not being attributed, it doesn't do much good. If they attribute, it helps. But they're not pretending it's their own art work. This is simply their collection of favorites. If you want to take advantage of the free publicity, put your web site or gallery URL on all your pictures. In the meantime, all the investigating we do just gives them hits, and they like that! The best handle would be to band together and get the EU to insist they respect intellectual property as a condition for joining. Some of us might even choose to post on Russian web sites, but the way things are now, all that would do would be to mean more ripoffs. Anyway, those are my thoughts. If we are going to continue to monitor the situation, I recommend we formally volunteer for specific web sites, and other people simply refrain from surfing there, to cut back on their hits.

Pat

@Pat...thats kind of the way this site works too....selling ads by getting exposure from our art...

Exactly. So the best way to stop the ripoffs is to ignore them. When they see it doesn't work, they'll try something else, like maybe inviting us to post. That's the way I see it, anyway. The issue is wanting to get proper credit for our work. The best way to do that is to make our URL large enough on the image so they see who did the work. They don't care. So we can get away with it.

I got a trouble ticket from this e mail!!... so don't give up... send lots of e mails with the links to the large copy of your image and complain!! I got:

"RIPE NCC Operations" ops@ripe.net

Greetings,

This message has been automatically generated in response to the
creation
of a ticket regarding:

        "Web site traced back to you is hosting illegal copies of art!"

Maybe in some small way we can make a difference! Especially important for those of us making money from our art!

Lyne

Pat wrote: The poster is named Kris. Here is her web site: akakris.igumnov.com . It
is almost entirely in Russian. Email on the site is by means of a form:
http://akakris.igumnov.com/about?about_send_form=submit

On that page, the first blank is for email address. The second is for
subject, and the third is for the message. The final blank probably
wants to know how you found her, but there are a couple of words I don't
recognize. I'd leave it blank. The next item is a button for sending the
email.

The words you didn't recognize instruct the writer to enter the characters they see in the little box above that blank...I did that and in my case it was three numbers. I then hit the send button and it went. I also did not use my real email address! I really don't want mail from her or anyone associated with her. Here's what I wrote in my message: 

I and many others have seen the Fractal art and other art you have posted at Artfile. We, the original artists, are highly offended at your brazen theft of our work from Renderosity. You have been there and know that ALL work is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any way without express permission from the artist. We demand that you remove those images from Artfile and anywhere else you may have posted them. It is offensive, unfair and illegal. If we wanted our work to be shown elsewhere we would post them ourselves! Your actions have offended us all. Is this what you hoped to achieve?

I didn't even sign it! Maybe kind of nasty, but hey!

Maddy

Maddy,

LOL

I didn't see the characters. I guess I wouldn't have been able to email her! I went back and yep, they're there! Duh!

Thanks for the information.

I have looked at almost her entire collection, and I have more links for art from people I recognize. I haven't seen any of mine. It seems she only tends to rip off art that is the right size for screensavers. Or maybe she changed them to be the right size; can't say. But I usually use a very different aspect ratio. Maybe that's why. Or maybe she doesn't like my art. ;)

It has to be up to the artist how to react. I have decided to start putting my URL on my art (I'll re-upload to do that) so that if she does take anything, people will at least know where to find the artist. Personally, I wouldn't mind the free advertising if I liked the web site, but I don't. It's full of all kinds of things I don't want to be associated with.

Maybe it's time these dumb clucks realized that they'd be better off inviting people to post, rather than just stealing. It seems like a favorites list in a way, but the problem is, it IS on a site which we may have chosen not to post on, and that's about the way I see it. I am very careful where I post art.

I was having a discussion with my husband earlier. It seems that there is some big movie company suing Google. I don't remember who it was, but it's over YouTube. People who have their ear to the ground have said that when a small amount of stuff gets circulated, it actually increases sales. Some artists have put free songs on their site for that reason. He said if the movie company wins, it will destroy the internet. On the other hand, if the movie company loses, it will definitely have a chilling effect on presenting our art on the internet. We will have to make some choices. We can go around fighting this battle until the cows come home, but I don't think we are going to put a stop to it. That's my take on it, anyway. I don't think what the Russians are doing will hurt sales. Aim for a different market. I try to sell art to hang on the wall. It's too much work for them to market my art, so they're not going to bother. So the best thing to do is take advantage of it by putting your URL on your work. Get the free publicity. It sticks in my craw, but the more time I waste on this, the less time I have to do something productive.

Just some random thoughts.

Pat

@Pat and all;
I have offered a possible solution to this problem in the copyright forum....

My suggestion?

The artists at Renderosity really have no clout with these people.

However, artists such as Royo et al, do.  (lots of Royo images at this particular site)  http://www.1zoom.ru     They have the legal representation and agents in place to enforce their copyrights.

My suggestion is to go through those images and identify every well known fantasy artist that has images in there and start sending out letters to them with links to their images.

Suggest teaming up with them as a group to get those sites shut down.  They have the pull where individual artists here do not.  And I think you stand a better chance of getting somewhere that way.

If these sites are suddenly hit with cease and desist letters from lawyers, they may start to get the idea that just taking art and displaying it on their own sites is not a kosher thing to do.

The problem you will have with getting these fantasy artists to act will be, what court will they sue in? If American courts, the Russians will just laugh. If Russian courts, under what law? The Russian courts will just dismiss the suits.

Pat