Are You Concerned about Photo Piracy?

Photo Credit: Flickr member Wolfy

Professional photographer Anton Sheker was shocked to discover that picture he posted in his blog had been used without his permission in the travel section of a daily newspaper. Read more about photo his situation and photo piracy here. The offending paper covered his allegations in the paper. Sheker and the paper are both in the Phillippines. Sheker's blog about photography in the Phillippines describes both the initial use of the photo and the paper's coverage of his concerns.

Did our regional paper, the Plain Dealer, do the same thing? Photographer David Lay thinks so. He posted a photo on the JPG Magazine site. The next thing he knew, his picture appeared on the the PD website and on the cover of the Friday Magazine as one photo in a 5 x 5 photo grid of 25 photos. You can find his posting on Brewed Fresh Daily with links to his original photo and the website where his photo was used. (JPG Magazine is a website that allows members to post photographs and have them voted on by visitors to the site. JPG picks photos from the site for its magazine. The first six issues were printed exclusively by Lulu.com, and can be viewed and downloaded free at this page. )

How concerned are you that your photos will be lifted from places you've authorized and used in other places without permission? Do you watermark your photos to discourage this?

Update: Brewed Fresh Daily cited this post and people made comments there. Commenters include David Lay and Anton Sheker.