This article continues the conversation about image theft started in “Law and Order 101: Image theft examined and explained (Part one)“. If you have not had a chance to read the first part, may we recommend it to your attention, as it might help to understand some parlance we use throughout this article.

In the first part of the article, we more or less covered the “persona” – the group traits of the people and companies that use your images for commercial purposes without asking for your permission, much less paying for the usage.

Again, I would like to stress that we are specifically focusing the conversation on the images used for commercial purposes (advertisement, merchandizing, calendars etc.) – someone who might downloads your image and put it on the wall, sets a regrettable example but is unlikely to make any profit off off it and thus the whole matter becomes a question of morale rather than business.

First things first…

Before we go any further, it is important to understand that the only 100% reliable way to prevent online image theft is to stay away from the Internet. It may sound as a joke – after all, in our day and age staying offline is all but impossible, much less conducting any meaningful business. Still, it is one of the axioms of the ever connected world: anything that you upload to the Internet may and will end up in the places you have never thought about.

Sounds rather like the Miranda, doesn’t it? Yet it is true – anything that gets uploaded into the vast ocean of the Internet, is carried by it’s streams to the places unknown. For example, I have found my images in some online college coursework and I’m sure you have had some similar experiences too…

So let’s all agree on the following: there is always a percentage of your online images that are used without your permission. It’s inevitable and it’s the price of doing business online. Our goal is not to eradicate image theft but to reduce it to the comfortable level and in some instances, turn it to your advantage.