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