what vendor?

 

It was Outmotoring. This was when I discovered it: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...18#post1412118

This was the photo. On the Outmotoring webpage, the background junk in my garage was Photoshopped out.

 

I always hate hearing about this stuff. Makes me paranoid as all hell. I've had it happen and I'm sure there's other incidents I don't know about yet.
On one website there was a guy posting photos of me pretty much claiming (or leading you to believe) that he took them. I sent him some nasty "Take it down requests" but all I got back was "thanks' then I realized he didn't speak English. They finally banned him since I wasn't the only one to coplain.
Good luck and keep us posted!!! Anytime someone uses your pic to make a profit they should give you something in return whether it be money, trade or recognition.

 

be sure to Rickroll them if they don't cooperate.

 

Not only should they, they're doing something illegal if they don't. And in fact they are even if they're not making a profit. I really recommend registering your copyrights. Your images are copyrighted regardless but it becomes much easier to go after infringers if you've registered the copyright. Then, the next time someone steals an image of yours, it's like Christmas day for you. Here's a copyright primer:

http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/primer.asp

Mark

 

Ummmmmmm... PARDON ME ??

 

My general rules:

1) Never post the original anywhere online. It is your negative. Resize, crop, compress, but don't post the original.

2) Fill out EXIF data with your copyright info, as a number of unscrupulous photo thieves tend to forget about it.

3) Watermark if necessary, or look into steganography. One thing I've not tried is tying a zip file to a jpeg and then editing the jpeg to see if the zip survived. ( See: http://lifehacker.com/software/encry...ges-207905.php ) If that works, you could put a small text file in the zip that states your copyright info.

I've only had a couple of photos taken and used without my permission, but never in a commercial context. People seem to think that if they're in the photo, or if they know the person in the photo, that they have the right to copy it.

Good luck!

 

Yes! Because I'm getting getting a divorce, my rate was jacked up $200! Same car, same driver, less risk of wife sideswiping me in the driveway. I stand by my statement. I've read your posts helping others who had accidents, so I know you work in the industry, but please don't take it personally.

 

Well, I don't set rates, but I am quite familiar with how they are set, as a former Underwriting Manager and now a Bodily Injury and Property Damage adjuster.

Especially if you're under 30, single male rates are set higher than married male rates because that demographic has a demonstrated higher risk of being involved in accidents, as you might imagine. Not only that, but when you were married, your wife being a risk exposure to the car actually lowered your rates as well because her demographic is statistically proven to be safer drivers than yours.

So, like it or not, the stats are working against you now.

And why would you blame the auto insurance industry for this ? We only do what the statistics allow us to do. If you want to blame anyone, direct your ire at your fellow young male drivers.

Don't worry, I don't take that kind of statement personally. It's just that the "insurance is a ripoff" attitude leads a good number of people to believe they can commit insurance fraud because, 1) "they owe me" and 2) "insurance companies are made of money". So I like to try to educate people about the industry.

 

(rant start) ..

Sorry but I find insurance to be nothing but a big rip off ! As a driver of nearly 30 years with a perfect driving record of no tickets, accidents, or claims (and yes I drive fast and race from time to time) my insurance is total BS. I have lost track at home many times DMV has sent my DL to my house (no need for tests) and I have log enough miles as a truck driver and driver in several different countries to where I should have the cheapest insurance around !

What I get from the insurance companies is/was:

Turn 25 and rate goes down - Never happened
Drive with no tickets and accidents, rates goes down - Never happened
Get married, rate goes down - Never happened
Have kids, rates goes down - Nope, never happened
Buy a safe car/mini van, rate goes down - What a lie
Drive less than certain number of miles, rates go down - Never happened

And I can go on and on ...... Rates should be based on demographics for new drivers and then revert to proven experience after a certain time. Why do I have to be punished because some goof is a terrible driver and wrecked all their cars ? Hell with the number of vehicles in my collection (nearly 30), one would think I got a fleet discount .... NO, still waiting ....

Now my insurance company tells me that I am a higher risk even though I have a perfect record because I am on the road a lot .... WHAT ! That is like saying a pilot has to retire because they have too much flight time .... What happened to experience ???? What happened to the fact that a person holding a class 1,2,3 and M1 license is an experienced driver ??

Punish the people that are ripping off the insurance companies, no me. I pay nearly 15K a year for everything on time like clock work and one would think I would get top service and support, instead my insurance company treats me badly ....

(rant end) ..


Sorry for hi-jacking the thread, just a sore subject with me if no one could tell

 

[quote=morbius;2061474
Turn 25 and rate goes down - Never happened
Drive with no tickets and accidents, rates goes down - Never happened
Get married, rate goes down - Never happened
Have kids, rates goes down - Nope, never happened
Buy a safe car/mini van, rate goes down - What a lie
Drive less than certain number of miles, rates go down - Never happened

[/quote]


All this happened with my insurance. Perhaps you should shop around.

 

Lucky you ! I have shopped around but when you change carriers, you have to start your track record all over again and rates start high .... (or least in our case when we looked, we also have a business to deal with).

 

Wow, you have a lot of issues with your insurance, Morbius.

I hope when you were 25 and your rates didn't go down like you were told, you called your insurance company.

I hope when you got married and your rates didn't go down like someone told you they would, you called your insurance company.

I hope when you had kids which you were told would make your rates do down but didn't you called your insurance company.

I hope when you switched to a vehicle that your insurance company told you would have lower rates but they didn't drop, you called your insurance company.

I hope when you dropped your annual miles driven below the cutoff for cheaper rates but your rates didn't drop, you called your insurance company.
If you weren't communicating with your company to get answers to all these questions when they happened, then you have nobody to blame. If you did and you didn't get reasonable explanations, you should have switched companies before you got so frustrated.

And by the way, if you got married and/or had kids after age 30, it really has no affect on your premiums (with most companies). It generally benefits males under age 30.

 

No, I just have alot of issues in general ... what do you expect from a cranky old fart Italian Earned one of my handles "Grumpy" with flying colors

Cheers mates.

 

Hey... btw, how many of those vehicles you own are Commercial vehicles ? We do offer a discount for Fleet Rated vehicles but they do have to be commercial type vehicles.

PM me about that if you have questions.

 

I've seen this happen with xB pictures also for Ebay pages....you might want to look out on there too.

 

I had the same problem Kurt going through my divorce recently. When I moved from driving 30 miles one way to work through Phoenix traffic to driving only 4.6 miles because of my divorce, my insurance went up $40 a month!! They claimed it was my new zip code that was the problem and that I now live in a high traffic area!!! I was steaming!!!

 

So it's safe to blame those unscupulous types who basically screw the rest of us.

Back to topic, has speednut recieved a fat check?

 

Not to hijack the thread, but. Dave, did you find anything out about the add, and is there any legal action we can persue? Gee, now my car has been in Mini Mag, and had writeups in MiniWorld, and MC2. What next?

dr dave

 

Sorry to hear your photo was stolen. Most of the time, if they were to just ask permission to use it, they would recieve a yes. A little niceness and courtesy go a long way.

 

Everyone just loves your car, what can we say!

Sorry, been super busy with starting a new job and with the baby. Hope to give the links Mark S. posted a proper read this weekend and proceed from there.

Have you seen the ad in any other UK magazines other than the issue I posted info on? Wondering if any MOASF members have spotted it elsewhere too? I intend to bill this company for each advert placed. You of course will get a cut.

 

Dave, I just got the Feb 2008 issue of Mini Mag, and they are still using the same add. I did not find it in the last two issues of MiniWorld though.

dr dave

 

I just received the March 08 issue of Mini Magazine and spotted the ad in there (page 114) with your pic still in use.
I don't subscribe to the magazine, but got a copy because they printed my letter and pics of my classic at the Las Vegas sign.

 

yup had this happen to me on another mini site
a request was made to me to use my car on their site - i declined
needless to say there is a picture of it linking to another page

sad silly and very uncool

but hey kinda says a lot about the person

too many more important things in life to get you too down so i wouldn't worry too much but im pretty laid back

 

Dr. Dave and Agro, thanks for the update on the additional ad locations. I've sent them an invoice as per Mark's instructions.

Thank you everyone for all the great links! I read each one and they were all extremely helpful! I really appreciate all of your help and advice.

I'll post an update here when I know more and let you all know how it was resolved.