It happens to most of us one time or another. Some whore steals our photos and uses them as their own. I never really did understand that. Oh i understand someone not wanting to use their own pictures and using a close representation but to steal another well know escorts photos? Dumb move, inevitably she will find out and in many cases she will fuck you up. Our photos are a big part of our branding and for someone to ride in and steal them, it makes even the calmest among us blood boil.
Its been on the upswing and i don’t really know why, i just know I’ve been giving out lots of advice recently on how to get your photos off a site when they’ve been stolen. As a photographer I’m familiar with the official practice of a DMCA take down notice. Being the copyright holder on photos I’ve had to send out these take downs from time to time when someone uses my work without permission. So here it is, a quick break down of how to get a picture stealing Ho to stop using and take down photos that are of you.
Only the copyright holder or someone authorized to act on behalf of the owner can do these so you might have to get your photographer involved. I do them for the girls i shoot and if your photographer wont help you or doesn’t know how to do these then, find a NEW one for the future. All pros should know about and do these.Period!
A DMCA fling is a pain in the ass however think about it, these companies are doing the right thing by requiring you to officially notify them of an copyright infringement. They need to cover their asses and really, do you want anyone to be able to ring up a website and say “hey those photos are mine” and the website removes them? You’d have all kinds of people doing that just to fuck with other people. A take down notice is an official notice and you swear under penalty of perjury.
1. Email or call her
This can be hard because you are pissed off and you want to tear the bitches head off but you need to first try the “more flies with honey “ approach and see if you can reason with her and sweet talk her into just removing them. Point out everyone in the industry knows you, that it will be obvious that shes using photos not of herself, that she could get branded a rip off, point her in the direction of a local photographer if you have to. If that doest work move on.
2. Find the hosting company
If the stolen photos are on her personal website, do a whois and a whoshostingthis search.
3. How to send the filing
Look though the hosting company’s legal they will have a section with how contact them if you feel your copyright is being infringed. They will lay out how they accept DMCA filings. Read it carefully, bookmark it so when you do your filing you can make sure you include ALL the info they want. All of this is required…
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive copyright that is allegedly infringed.
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
- A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Present it to them how they want it. In some cases you need to snail mail them, in others you can fax them, some people take it via email. They make it difficult because they don’t want to deal with you or the issue. So give them what they want and make it easy for them to do what you want them to do. If you do not give them all the required elements they will not remove the infringed photos.
If the photos are on an ad site such as Backpage, or Eros then read their legal and see how they accept take down notices. You will often have a little more wiggle room with one of these companies because they care about their reputations. I’ve had great luck with Backpage and the folks at Eros are really helpful about this kinda stuff. Not everyone is though so you might have to go to THEIR hosting company if they refuse to deal with you. Again give them what they need to legally remove the stolen photos.
4. Follow up stay on top of it.
Give them some time to get back to you don’t expect an instant response but follow up. If you don’t hear back in 72 hours send another email. Give them a way to contact you for further clarification, go over their heads. If you are dealing with an Ad site and they don’t get back to you go to their hosting company. Stay on it and move up the chain of command. Be diligent but polite, eventually you will get what you want. You are in the right and your copyright is being infringed but its a process and takes time.
Its never fun when someone steals from you, we all work hard on establishing ourselves and when some skank walks in thinking she can just freely take what you not only worked hard at developing but paid good money for its infuriating which bring me to the last point…
5. Expose her as a theif
If she refuses to be reasonable and you’ve given her every opportunity to remove the stolen photos then show her to the escort world for what she is. A picture stealing ROB. If she has reviews or is active on any boards then sign on to those boards and post in the ladies sections about what shes doing. Be careful about attacking her openly and in public you have to be clever about it. Remember you are in the right, it wont take much to get public support on your side. If she doesn’t have reviews but has a backpage ad consider taking out an ad in her city. on YOUR ad stating that youre the “REAL” person and that you would love to travel to meet new people. If you blog, then blog about what it feels like to have someone steal your hard work, and call her what she is a bait and switch rip off. Hobbyists love to talk and this is a juicy story they will spread the word. This is where you can polish your back-channel skills. Take care not to too angry even though you’d love to rip her fucking face off, you want public opinion to be on your side and even though shes thief shes got friends somewhere who will come to her defense ( they all do) so be smart about exposing her tactics and fake pictures because you don’t want any backlash.
Its time consuming and can be a long process but this is your business how you earn a living and put food on your table… protect your assets.
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jenny DeMilo, Jenny DeMilo. Jenny DeMilo said: Had your photos stolen by some bitch? New blog post up about how to get them removed!!! http://bit.ly/c2Yh3e GO READ […]
Excellent comprehensive advice for any provider that has this hassle slung upon them. There is a lot of this type of larceny going on in the D.C. metro area and it has been trending upward over the last year or two.
I attribute it to primarily greed,laziness,arrogance,and stupidity. The women(and men) that delve into this lecherous activity, have no sort of business model or plan. They are short term scam worms,bait and switch or cash and dash.They can ruin reputations and reek all sorts of havoc. Calling them out and shining a light onto their shady behavior is imperative. If allowed,it only encourages
more of the same, which we already have far too much of.
Good blog….great public service!
Fantastic post, and timely for me. Unfortunately, I’m currently having to deal with yet another shady provider ganking my site text. Thankfully most of the sites she’s posted it on have been extremely helpful when I’ve contacted them.
I finally disabled right-clicking on my site, which I hate to do, but I’m sick of having my paragraph about making terrible puns plagiarized left and right. Hopefully it will at least cut down on the number of times I have to send out DMCA complaints.
So far — to my knowledge — no one has stolen my photos, just my text. I’m not sure if that’s flattering to my writing ego or a blow to my appearance ego… 😉
@Carrie i hope my post can be a little helpful. Getting text removed is much harder then photos. So I’m happy to hear the sites you’ve been dealing with have been open to working with you. And its only a matter of time before someone tries to steal your pics.. cuz they are really good 🙂