Tombarr's post reminded me that one of our website members emailed us about a site that was swiping our pics some time back. I emailed the webmaster, but never got a response and it wasn't worth the hassle to fight.

Anyway, I dug through my email archive and found the offending sites:

hockeycam.net
qtboys.com
boyvillage.com

I spent the $12.95 to join boyvillage to see if they'd taken down our stolen content, and apparently they have... but it looks like ALL of the content on the site is stolen, probably from newsgroups. There are no 2257 notices anywhere on the site. It's also a very poorly organized site; almost no photo sets, just single random pictures thrown into galleries.

I know for a fact there's content from Citiboyz, Miami Studios, and Ounique, because I recognize the models and photosets. At first I thought maybe they were from TGP galleries, but I don't think so. And there are other images I know I've seen belonging to other sites, but I can't place them.

What's the best course of action here? Neova.net is the biller, and I'm a little surprised they're even billing for a site that has no 2257 statement at all and obviously is offering stolen content. But I don't have any contact info for them and don't know if they'd give a crap.

I mean, the sites don't have any of our content (at least on the one site I joined), but it annoys me that the site owner is making money off of stolen content. If anyone wants to "borrow" my password to look around, send me a PM (but you'll need to be someone that posts at least occasionally on GWW so I'll know you're really an industry person) I don't have any ethical problem sharing a password on a site that exists solely on the strength of stolen content

If anyone has any ideas on how to take action against these thieves, I'd appreciate the input.