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"GoPhoto" is trying to take over my images

  1. streamsandforests
    Member

    All of a sudden I notice that when someone clicks on one of my images, they now get a link to the corporate website of GoPhoto. The image is an old pre-copyright illustration from the Civil War. It is true that I did not create this image myself. But now this image is being used to funnel people to the GoPhoto website. Here is an example of the link people get when they click on the picture:

    http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fstreamsandforests.files.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fharpers-fort-henry.jpg#.USF4GfIrGRM

    Infuriating that a picture on my site is being used to serve their corporate purpose! How on earth did they piggyback onto this? It's like someone who uses Project Gutenberg getting an advertisement for a corporate site when they click on a page.

    The blog I need help with is streamsandforests.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    I don't know. I suggest you use another public domain image instead. Note that I tagged this thread for Staff. Please subscribe to it so you are notified when they respond.

  3. timethief
    Member

    P.S. Staff will need the URL of the post or page this image is embedded in.

  4. streamsandforests
    Member

    Thank you for responding. Unfortunately I can't substitute another image for this one, as it's specific to the battle being described. I think this is a very important issue for WordPress. Images posted by WordPress bloggers are being used to promote corporate websites like GoPhoto. They are hijacking WordPress images. Aren't you a bit concerned about that? Anyway, in response to your request, the original URL was: http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/march/capture-fort-henry.htm

    It wasn't easy to come up with that. Someone may say, Well, you took the image from Sons of the South. Yes, I took a noncopyright picture that they used...which originally came from Harpers Illustrated. It's all fine for folks interested in the Civil War to share images, but it's not fine for a corporation like GoPhoto to come in and funnel a viewer of the picture toward their site.

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    Did you hotlink the photo from the GoPhoto site? If so, don't hotlink at all. Simply download it to your computer, then upload it to WordPress.com. If it came from Harper's, link it to Harper's. Hotlinking and embed codes from other sites will always expose you to vulnerabilities like that, something I learned the hard way via PicApp.

  6. timethief
    Member

    @raincoaster
    You nailed it. It's hotlinked! Thanks for the assist. Removing tagging.

  7. streamsandforests
    Member

    No , I didn't hotlink from the GoPhoto site. I have no use for those people and would never originate an image from their site. I first posted this image about three years ago. It was never linked to a corporate site until just now. Most of the photos on my site are from my own camera {which get stolen all the time, but that's another story), and the others come either from Wikimedia or from other noncopyright sites. I am scrupulous about that. I do not link from corporate websites. I am very concerned that something new is going on, some new way that companies are piggypacking on blogger's photos. Please stop it from happening!

  8. streamsandforests
    Member

    I'm just seeing timethief's response. If it is hotlinked, this is not something I did myself. This is something GoPhoto figured out how to do. Please do what you can to stop it.

  9. raincoaster
    Member

    But "noncopyright" doesn't mean they won't try to take over your site, as you have seen. If you want to avoid this, you MUST host the images on your own site.

  10. raincoaster
    Member

    After all, all kinds of noncopyright sites are corporate-owned, or get sold to corporations, or, as with Picapp, work fine for years and then suddenly somebody decides to "monetize" and poof, you have no recourse.

  11. auxclass
    Member

    There is some problem with this - on Feb 10, 2013 and a couple of other days in my Clicks section is shows clicking to GoPhoto.it - sorry folks - my image - here on WordPress.COM - somehow WordPress.COM let them click from inside my site - links posted below

    My Posting: http://captnmike.com/2009/10/01/piloting-and-navigators-quick-reference/

    The link on MY site to MY photo: http://captnmike.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/navigators-quick-reff-card-page-1-v5.jpg

    The link from my Clicks Section:
    http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2Fnavigators-quick-reff-card-page-1-v5.jpg

    Note to staff: there is another gophoto.it reference just below the above one and some other gophoto.it links a bit earlier in my stats

    Why a link that I did not put in??

  12. streamsandforests
    Member

    raincoaster, what do you mean by "host the images on your own site"? What I have done is to save noncopyrighted images to my own computer, then upload them to the blog. As mentioned, most of these are Wikimedia. "Sons of the South" is not a corporate site like Picapp or Gophoto. As mentioned, I had the image on my blog for the past three years and only now had this corporate intrusion. I honestly believe something new is going on. Please take a serious look at this!!

  13. auxclass
    Member

    I had the same thing happen on Feb 7, 2013 also - gophoto.it is showing as linking out of my Posts below - again - my images - no hot-linking etc

    My Post: http://captnmike.com/2010/03/01/navigation-exercise-1/

    My image:
    http://captnmike.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/18441-exercise-1-th1.png

    "Magic" gophoto.it link in my stats Clicks section:<br /> http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F03%2F18441-exercise-1-th1.png

    http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F03%2F18441-exercise-1-th1.png

    My Post: http://captnmike.com/2010/05/11/navigation-exercise-2/

    My Image Link:
    http://captnmike.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/exercise-2-chartlet-th1.png

    gophot.it magic link showing up in my Stats / Clicks:<br /> http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F05%2Fexercise-2-chartlet-th1.png

    http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F05%2Fexercise-2-chartlet-th1.png

    OK - any thoughts on what is going on?

    Sorry about the double gophoto link posting inside and outside the code tags - not sure about the translation of this editor

  14. timethief
    Member

    @auxclass
    Fascinating information and I don't mean that in a positive way at all.

  15. streamsandforests
    Member

    Yeah, so please stop disrespecting me for my nontechnical communications and please help solve this problem.

  16. timethief
    Member

    No one here has in any way disrespected you. We are Volunteers. This thread is tagged for Staff intervention. Most support Staff are at a meetup, and it's not likely that there will be a Staff response to this thread until next week.

  17. streamsandforests
    Member

    I am a volunteer for Project Gutenberg myself, and I truly understand the effort involve in making a gigantic effort like this work. Thank you for your work. I appreciate your response. The important thing is to get GoPhoto or any other corporate website de-linked from WordPress.

  18. auxclass
    Member

    Looking at the gophoto site - there is a link to add their junk to your browser - there is a "Open Original" - and looking at the image properties shows that they are hot-linking to my WordPress.COM site-

    http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http%3A%2F%2Fcaptnmike.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F05%2Fexercise-2-chartlet-th1.png

    Not good at all - and how is the click showing up in my stats? Smells like a security issue also to me

  19. timethief
    Member

    As I said above this matter will receive Staff attention as soon as they get to it. They deal with threads with the earliest dates first and then move forward. There are many thread that were tagged for Staff attention prior to this one being tagged.

  20. timethief
    Member

    @streamsandforests
    Ignore the spammer. It and all low life bottom crawling scum like it have been reported to ToS Staff.

  21. raincoaster
    Member

    The post about the link to add them to the browser is the key, I think. It could well be that you see this in your clicks because someone looking at your blog clicked on a link placed by their browser. Have either of you installed any browser add-ons recently?

  22. streamsandforests
    Member

    I usually ignore trolls, timethief. Why did you send the message to me in particular?

  23. timethief
    Member

    The rest of us in this thread are all Volunteers who know each other well. :)

  24. auxclass
    Member

    No Browser add in stuff - and when I click on the links in my own site I go to the picture on my site, not gophoto - I got the gophoto links from my stats page and from Posts that I had not visited in a while

    When I first saw the links I did go to my own Post and checked the links and they were still as I put them in a long time ago -

  25. streamsandforests
    Member

    I'm getting outta here. Hope my original message did some good.

    -- A volunteer

  26. auxclass
    Member

    yes your original message did help - have a nice week

  27. diygeekess
    Member

    I'm having the exact same problem. Did the original poster's issue ever get resolved? Gophoto is being accessed via links on my site, which I certainly didn't add.

  28. streamsandforests
    Member

    No, the issue did not get resolved. I think it is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

  29. diygeekess
    Member

    Rats. The photos are my own, the original links still work, and I don't have any browser extensions. I'm guessing this means someone accessing my site has gophoto installed on their browser?

    I just want to make sure there's nothing on my end I can fix. Thanks for replying.

  30. streamsandforests
    Member

    I'm not sure what it means. I wasn't able to understand it from a technical point of view and became frustrated with the topic, so tuned out of the subject. The problem hasn't recurred on my blog, but even seeing it happen once raises questions. "auxclass" above seemed to have a better comprehension of it, and I do wish WP staff would look into it.

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