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Friday, July 10, 2015

Shame on Wallpart.com Updated 7/30/15

These people are thieves. 

They reprint in poster format images people find on the internet -- for profit and without permission. It is a clear violation of copyright laws (despite what they claim).  This illicit business needs to stop immediately. I'm appealing to all fans, artists, and publishers, indies or otherwise, to join the :: Change.org :: campaign against this practice.  If you happen to be one of those people supporting their business, first off "shame on you as well for aiding and abetting," and be advised that what they sell is taken straight from the internet, which means documents are most likely produced from low resolution files.  Also be aware they ship their garbage from China, which costs more than the posters themselves. 

Do you *really* want to trust criminals with your credit card info? 

Please share this article as much as possible, with artists you know.  Thanks!

Update: July 11th, 2015

I contacted a group called :: Piracy Solution :: about Wallpart:com, and chatted with Kelley Manley working there.  He stated that his group is prepared to address the issue (such as handling dmca requests) on a pro bono basis as a service to the art community. You can contact him at info [@] piracysolution [.] com.  If you are an artist and you can see your art showing up on Wallpart:com, you may want to follow this route.  Be sure to save a screen shot of search results showing your art being sold there, without your permission.  I am not personally involved with or related to this group; I am merely forwarding the information. 
Kelly has given me written permission to post this information publicly.

Update: July 13th, 2015

I found this site in the UK that goes even further than my article in their accusations.  You might want to have a look.  Click here. Meanwhile the petition against this site as reached 25,816 signatures as of this morning. Thanks for your support.  Please do pass the word!

Update: July 25th, 2015

I received a good deal of information from Alma Soto (Mamasoto) today (see attached G+ comments). In short, he's confirmed the illicit nature of that site.  I'd found out earlier that its business was being routed through a Russian site, and that the risks of phishing there were very high--in other words avoid that site.  Here is what he suggested: "Just contact the ICANN, attn. Alena Keirstead, the ICANN Registrar for the support team of http://www.INTERNET.bs Corp. You can send her your info, links of violation, proof links of the work and screenshots to show them what these guys are doing so they can stop them. The more they get hit with this information the better and faster we may see some action (. . .)"
The email address :: abuse (at) internet (dot) bs ::

Update: July 30th, 2015

Here's more information.  The offending web site is really more about phishing.  It targets professional photographers.  A good article was recently published about this (click here).  Here's an excerpt: "This contact form is the whole purpose of the Poster Shop's website.  The contact form is a phishing platform that is used to spam the user and potentially infect their computer with malware and who knows what other nasty adware and spyware.  (...)"   Whatever you do, run your anti-malware/spyware apps to clean your computer after visiting that site. 

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