Thanks for posting that, Walwyn. It's a real eye-opener. Most of us (some of us?) had a fair idea that this sort of scumbaggery was around on the web, but seeing it all written up in one place like this makes you realise just how prevalent rights rip-offs have become.
This site and Bird Forum are exceptions: the T&C explicitly say that pictures posted here remain the property of the photographer (although, curiously, BF Opus makes no such statement with regard to the textual content provided by members, for which reason I have never contributed to it).
It is no coincidence that theonly sites I ever post my pictures to are these two: WPF and Bird Forum. Everything else I do on-line remains safely on my own servers, where I retain full rights and full control. This is a good policy for any photographer to follow.
|