MoapaPk wrote:If you own a valuable item, do you leave it in front of your house on the curb at night?
I'm not sure if that comparison is valid.
If I did and the item just disappeared, my only hope would be the police or someone else finds it for me.
If the item was seen by me or someone else somewhere, the case would be a matter of getting it back.
Internet image theft is mostly like the latter example, as the images many times are easily found or seen by someone else which reports it to the owner.
Of course, many of my images may have been stolen without my knowledge, but that's not something I think about.
Further, I don't think it's like leaving something valuable outside your house at night.
First, if you leave things in that way, the insurance companies would not cover your loss and the police would tell you you're an idiot and don't follow up the case very well or not at all.
On the other hand, if you post a photo on a site which is encompassed by the copyright laws, you have legal rights and help to find from organizations, copyright violation lawyers and also the police.
A domain host which get a call from the police telling them that they are hosting stolen material, will very quickly close that account if the alternative is the police will start an investigation and possibly close down the whole domain while the investigation is going on.
I do agree it's difficult to fight a case if the photos end up in a distant part of the world, but usually most of these cases can be settled with a single email asking them to remove or pay.
Peakware and OEAV seems to be two splendid examples of those which don't care.
Nartreb:
Very well said.