I'll will be protesting outside of Pax East for three days.

ViperDSLR

Hello I'm a photographer who has had my photos stolen by large websites and one very famous online gaming site. These companies I know get media passes and go to Pax for free. These companies like I have said have stolen my photography for top ten best cosplay articles on their sites.

Last year when I went to the front desk to talk about the problem the kid told me to take it out with the company. I have done this before and have a crap load of problems with companies and even with their lawyers that have threatened to sue me back. My photography is for me and the cosplayers. I don't share copyrights with anyone else. Its one thing to embed a photo on your site and its another thing to rip the photo and upload it to their website.

I'll be protesting that PAX implement a banding program that any company that uses stolen photos be band. Its my constitutional right to protest and any attempt to have me arrested will lead to legal action. I'll will be peaceful and will not be swearing and I will not be rude, but I will state the facts and be honest.

Also I have a lot of proof my photos have been stolen in the past and its a pain to contact these companies and tell them to remove the photos. Also they are cheap and don't want to pay for the rights to use a photo they rather go online and take someone else work.

The problem is I have invested a lot of money in camera gear and study a lot to improve my photography. And what pisses me off is these companies get media passes go to PAX for free and the sucker that paid for his camera gear that cost thousands of dollars and pass has his content stolen.

I will not take any free pass for PAX this year because I'm out to prove my point stop taking photos and hire your own photographer or pay the photographer for the photo. If I stole their content I would get a take down notice. Its not right when photos are stolen at PAX EAST and PAX gives out free passes for PAX EAST to large companies and they are the ones stealing photos.

The only way I'll stop the protest is if PAX implement a program that photographers can report stolen photos taken at all PAX events. PAX may say how do we know its really your photo. All DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras and some point and shoot cameras take raw photos. There is no way to produce a raw photo if you don't have the file. Jpgs are made from raw files.

Robert Khoo

Although I feel your pain regarding stolen content (I cannot tell you how many times a frame of a comic or one of our characters ends up on some site, or even worse, on a product that's for sale, without our permission), you're barking up the wrong tree here. Our media vetting policies are based on reach and size - you protesting will not change this. If one of these places has in fact stolen from you, I'll reiterate what whoever you spoke to said, which is that you really do need to take it up with them.

You're more than welcome to protest outside of the show, although if you present a crowd control concern, which you will if you plan on being right in front of the lobby area, you will be removed by Boston PD to a different location. (it sounds like you've been to the show, so you know how crazy that front area can get)

Unfortunately in today's media, people steal shit all the time - the sad reality is that quality photography is becoming more and more of a commodity. Sorry - take care.

Renfamous

@ViperDSLR I'm a cosplayer who has worked with a number of cosplay photographers. It's not PAX's job to enforce your copyrights. You need to contact the ISP of the website hosting the infringing photos and file a DMCA claim. This is standard practice for cosplay photographers--dealing with stolen photos unfortunately comes with the territory.

This website will walk you through the DMCA process: http://rising.blackstar.com/how-to-send-a-dmca-takedown-notice.html Good luck!

Qumaden

I feel like this is a setup for the PAX prank, this can't be real.

krovek

" banding" lol.. why would he assume its PA's fault?

Tube

There's no call for rudeness.

krovek

sorry about that but it just seemed baffling that this happened i will not retort to stuff like that again

zerzhul

Qumaden wrote: »

I feel like this is a setup for the PAX prank, this can't be real.

I definitely know it is not that.

TopherRocks

I love the cause but you're going to the wrong source to tackle it. It really is a problem that should be taken up with the people stealing your work.

ViperDSLR

PAX is giving media passes to companies that steal photos and videos clips. Yes I even had a video clip stolen and was not given credit. PAX won't give me a media pass but will give a media pass to thieves.

If PAX told these companies to cut the BS these companies would listen but they don't care about hurting the little guy. My photos have over one million and my photos help promote PAX and PAX does not care.

Most of these websites that get media passes are small sites with no readers, but PAX won't give a media pass to a small YouTuber you need 50,000 subscribers. Even when showing PAX the photos with high views no media pass. But one very large video game website took my photo to get traffic to their site and they said no money was made. I call BS they put content on their website to the site in general makes money. These companies won't even pay you to use my photos they just take them.

I'm not trolling I'm coming to protest.

krovek

maybe you should water mark your work

ViperDSLR

Photos are still stolen with water marks. Also people crop photos thinking they are being smart sometimes.

Robert Khoo

Two separate issues you're bringing up - the latter sort of makes me question what's the real goal here, but:

1. Your work is being used without your permission. I'm really sorry this is happening, but as I said, this is an issue between you and these companies. If it was me that was using said photos, I would be the correct person to complain/protest to.

2. You not qualifying for a media badge. It's about reach, so I must refute your claim that most of the media passes that go out go to "small sites with no readers." I can tell you that I am not in the business of giving away free badges, so our process of vetting is fairly robust. In fact, you are telling me both that only small sites get them yet in the same sentence that you are too small to qualify. Expand your reach and reapply.

--

Again, if media companies are using your images without permission, that sucks, but there's not a lot I can do on my end about it. I don't wish to waste your time, so although you again are more than welcome to protest, nothing will come from it. You're probably better off spending that time dealing with the DMCA paperwork.

But hey, it's a free country - Good luck, man.

ltgrunt

Losing photo opportunities to protest for attention from people who don't have the power to solve your problem doesn't seem like the most productive use of your time. It seems like your efforts would be better spent implementing solid watermarking or self-promotion in your photos and filing some DMCA notices against the people/websites who are actually taking your work without attribution. Spending 3 days not taking any photographs isn't going to help your cause.

ViperDSLR

I have been on the phone with these companies its a nightmare to deal with them. Pax could warn companies that if they attend Pax that they can be band if they steal content from other content creators.

I'm coming to protest and I don't care if people like me or not. I won't say four letter words or be mean to anyone but I'm going to make my voice very loud.

Fastr

Khoo with the smack down.. Love it.

Clearly your issue is else where, go protect in front of their building.

ViperDSLR

My issue is now with Pax now. I'm bring a megaphone and I'm going to be pointing it right at the building.

fishfishmonkeyhat

Ok well that's probably a thing that will get you removed, fyi.

Renfamous

Renfamous was warned for this.

A mod needs to just lock this thread. This guy is a troll, and not even a good one.

Tube

I'd like to remind everyone that our rules against personal attacks and metamodding are still in place.

ironysparkles

ironysparkles was warned for this.

Yeah, he's not listening so I call troll. If you contacted the companies that stole your work and they won't remove it, use the resources people have linked you to here to go about having the work legally removed. And PAX has nothing to do with companies stealing your photos after the fact, and they're not going to "band" them on your behalf. It's your responsibility to protect your work, not a convention that's not involved.

pilotman996

Good morning sir,
With regards to your photographs, perhaps you might consider registering them with the Copyright Office so you have physical proof of your ownership. Once you have these documents, then you may issue a takedown request that has a firm legal backing. I do recognize that US Gov't paperwork sucks and is tedious but that's the way the cookie crumbles (I am not a lawyer so do not take this as "legal advice")

Secondly, Penny Arcade and/or it's affiliates is not a law-enforcement agency and has zero power to facilitate your requests to have your material taken down from the offending sites. For them to vet every image on every website of every attending media site is a truly huge task and one that is nearly impossible.

However, I do respect that you are dedicating your time to bring attention to the issue of how easy it can be to use someone else's image without license and how hard it can be for the owner to facilitate a takedown. Maybe you can turn this protest against PAX into a start for a movement; One where gamers and media alike can rally for better online copyright protections and an easier method to enforce those claims of ownership.

I wish you luck

pilotman996

fishfishmonkeyhat wrote: »

Ok well that's probably a thing that will get you removed, fyi.

Not necessarily. As long as he is not on/in the BCEC building or grounds one may do whatever they wish. Boston Police is a very professional organization that only interferes when laws are being broken or people being assaulted/killed. As long as this assembly is peaceful, on public lands, and not hindering the flow of people on the sidewalk, they may remain there.

Edit: Piss-poor grammar

ViperDSLR

My photos have been stolen a day or two after PAX. Two of my photos that are well known I also have the raw files. Only the photographer can have the raw file. There is no way to produce a raw file from a jpg file. One of my photos I forgot to set the camera to raw+jpg.

I'm coming to protest and I will make my voice heard. PAX needs to stop handing out media passes to large companies that take photos and videos from people that have paid for their passes.

Yeah I can contact a company and ask them to remove it. But they won't pay for the stolen photo. They use photos to make money on their site. I even had one company begging me to give them the rights to keep the photo on their site.

I'm not BS around even if I make a jerk of myself I'm going to make noise. And I'm going to do this every year until PAX warns these companies about taking photos that they don't own.

Geth

Affirmative Tube. Closing thread...

Tube

Ok dude, have fun.

geth, close the thread.