Hi,
What you write about the improper use rate is good. Now You guys should find out, why there are so many great 3D photographers on flickr, who are not here yet. I know, i'm not much help.
About the current bunch of stolen images. I will notify the creators and ask them, to act, since I'm not internet police. I'm just upset by the amount of stolen images i come across the last few weeks. And no, most of them were not here. Two weeks ago i went through some of my pictures with google "search by image" and i fund a lot around the web...
But in the end, I tried the function just out of curiosity, here and it works with 2D view. So i tried it with my own pictures, and then some others. From users whose galleries looked strange to me. With cut off borders, low resolution images and no consistence in quality. And images search prove my theory right. Now there are at least 3 users, who reposted images fromthe same website. And there is the one, who has a lot of staff picks and featured, and whos gallery consist at least in 80% of stolen images.
The solution?
Now that is hard and i'm sure You guys are way ahead of me.
About the Presumtion of Innnocence: You are absolutely right! But we have some probles,that need to be adressed and it will take time and effort.
1. If someone finds his/her image stolen, he/she can do whatever comes to mind. Make a copy of the page and start a legal action aganst the uploader, or usually, just ask You guys to delete is. It is all very simple.
2. if someone finds an image, that is stolen from someone else, he or she can act quick and use thre report fuction. But this will remove the evidence.
Or can start by notifing the rights holder. Now if you are a content creator and the first interaction you have with a site is the time you try to remove your stolen images... Well, i'm not going to assume you might not come back, but it is not the best way to meet. And there we have it. A real problem.
Now how about a new button under "Abuse"? One called "infringes on someone else's copyright" And in that menu, you would ask for proof of copyright infringment, contact information for the creator whos photo is stolen and same for the notifier. Now an automatic mail would go out to the uploader, the suspected rights holder and the notifier with details about the image and the submitted proof. After you deal with the abuese report, a new mail would go out to all. "proof was sufficient/insufficient" and so on. Not much, but enough to let people see, that you care. I know you care, but customer care shows a lot better when it reaches the surface.
About the users who upload stolen content:
We have a very real problem with rezan. He violated a lot of peoples rights and he still has stolen images uneder his account in Staff Picks, Featured and Popular. The fame might be virtual, but the hurt is real. I wold create a grey zone for those who upload stolen images, banning them from any recognition! So if a user is caught with stolen pictures, all his/her pictures should be banned from any recognitn (staff pics, featured and popular) except for like, for a few months.
Well, all of this is just my opinion. I would love to thear the opinion of others.
Best Regards
and Thank You for the work You guys put in Phereo!
Tamas