Photo Theft

The internet has become a dark place. The Ghanaian news website MYJOYONLINE.COM used my work without my permission and not even the gratitude of a credit. I called to ask them to take it down. They took it down alright — about 40 min later — but replaced it with another photo, one I snapped on the same topic. Again without my permission and did not credit it to me. A very unwise move as this pattern of behavior opens them up to litigation. They benefit from copyright infringements through the money they receive via ad placements on their website. In other words — they used my work to increase their revenues. My works have been repeatedly abused by Ghana's top news websites, as you will see below. If I do not attempt to stop this glaring theft now, eventually those photographs might be considered "orphaned," thereby ending up in the public domain. I called MYJOYONLINE.COM again to take down the second copyrighted photo, but the webmaster or person responsible dropped the phone on me when he heard I was back on the line. I called back multiple times (see call records below), and they did not answer. This is clear evidence of unscrupulous journalism. Analogy: This was like stealing my television. They returned it alright when they got caught. Unabashed, they turned around and stole my computer, which was just nearby. I'm totally against appropriating my work this way. It took me time, money, and resources to create them. Even risked my life sometimes. I don't care who you are or where you work. Don't use my work without my permission or license. I don't care for your credit either (it doesn't pay the bills). Copyrighted Photo Theft by the news website MYJOYONLINE.COM Update to this story: I checked the MYJOYONLINE.COM URL that used my work without my permission and no credit at 4:20 PM GMT March 15, 2020, and I can confirm that they have now removed the second copyrighted photo. This was after a lot of readers on Facebook had reacted strongly to this. They replaced the first copyrighted photo with the second copyrighted photo around 4:25 PM GMT on March 10, 2020, so that took roughly 5 days. Update (2 months later): MYJOYONLINE.COM used a work that I made available in the creative commons without credit. I called and had it removed. Permanently archived here. This establishes a clear pattern of behavior. Screenshot: MYJOYONLINE.COM, Ghana's second top online news website, used the photo above for a report without crediting it to Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. This photograph was replaced with another copyrighted photograph of Muntaka Chasant without permission and credit. The photo was still live on their website at the time of publishing this story. I normally wouldn’t do this, as I’m fed up to the teeth chasing hundreds of copyright infringement cases in the last couple of years. You will see why in a bit. Plastic Pollution in Ghana If you have been following the Plastic Pollution crisis in Ghana, you would have noticed that I have carved out a small recognizable niche in the narrative. I don’t personally organize beach cleanups and all that sorts, but I have been observing closely from afar by creating plastic waste photographs to further heighten the conversation. How Did MYJOYONLINE.COM used the copyrighted photos? I frequently do a quick online search for the latest updates on Ghana’s plastic pollution crisis. So, I spotted a report by a person named George Nyavor on MYJOYONLINE.COM on March 10, 2020. Story was titled: Private waste companies blame government for worsening sanitation in urban areas The story first used the image in the screenshot above, a photograph depicting plastic waste covering the Jamestown Beach in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. This copyright infringement is permanently archived here for future reference. I took this photograph in October 2018 with a mobile phone, and it has been used hundreds of times worldwide. That is because I have licensed it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International ( CC BY-SA 4.0), for every one's use, with the condition that it will be attributed to me whenever it is used. This is to help content creators illustrate the damage single-use plastics are doing to the environment. There are only two ways you can use this photograph: Creative Commons license ( CC BY-SA 4.0), under the condition that you have to attribute it to me and link back to where you downloaded it from. You seek my permission to use it, which I'm always happy to allow. Sometimes even send out the RAW file. There’s no way I’ll permit MYJOYONLINE.COM to use my work without me demanding that they credit it to me. I have now stopped contributing to the Creative Commons — thanks to online photo theft. That is in addition to my work being regularly used without proper attribution and having to go through hell to have them removed. So, I called MYJOYONLINE.COM to take down the infringing photo above. I also immediately emailed George Nyavor, the writer of this report. You can see his email highlighted there in the first photo above. He didn't bother at all to respond. About 40 min after the first call, they indeed replaced the photo, but guess what? To another copyrighted photo — my work again. This photo theft is also permanently archived here (14 Mar 2020 21:40:08 UTC) for future reference. I called them back, and the person on the phone hanged up upon hearing that I was on the line again. I had explained the reason why I called back to the person who answered the call (the receptionist I suppose). I remained on the phone for the person responsible for these issues. I asked for the person's name (the first person who promised me they were going to replace the photo) when I called the first time, but he refused to give me his name, and added: "you don't need my name — this is MYJOYONLINE." See call records below: Phone records showing the number of times I called them on March 10, 2020. They stopped answering after dropping the phone on me upon hearing the second photo is also copyrighted. I called back multiple times, as you can see in the record above, and they did not answer. This new photograph they scraped from the internet is not licensed under the Creative Commons. No one ever has the right to use this photograph without my permission. That's the photograph below, which was still live on their website at the time of publishing this story. Screenshot: MYJOYONLINE.COM, Ghana's second top online news website, used the photo above for a report without the permission of Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. This photograph is actually a replacement. Muntaka Chasant had earlier called to ask them to take down another copyrighted photograph they had used without crediting it to him. They then scraped this second copyrighted photo from the internet to replace with the first photograph. The photo was still live on their website at the time of publishing this story. As you can see from the photo above, they have entirely removed the byline, including George Nyavor's name and the source of the report. I can't tell for now if this Nyavor person is involved in all of this. Appropriating my work this way devalues it should I ever decide to license it. There's a small chance that some of their readers might have already downloaded the photo — as a result of MYJOYONLINE.COM'S infringement — to their devices for future reuse. I first used the photograph above (the second stolen photo) here: First use of second copyrighted photo here: Sodom And Gomorrah (Agbogbloshie) - Ghana and here: Second use of copyrighted photo here: A Small Glimmer Of Hope Comes To Agbogbloshie Below is the original — this time with a small copyright notice (lower right corner). Removing copyright notice from a photo makes your theft even more severe. The photo is highly compressed to around 300 kilobytes (kb) to deter photo theft, such as the one I'm dealing with here. The original JPG file is 4.25 MB (4032 x 2268). Plastic Pollution in Ghana photo. © 2018 Muntaka Chasant I shot all the photos under contention on this page casually with a mobile phone. There are many photographs on this website (muntaka.com) that I captured with a camera worth more than $3000 (body only). What makes you think I'll spend that amount on a camera to take photographs, and it is acceptable for you to sneak in, steal, and use them without my permission or even credit? GHANAWEB.COM, Ghana's top online news website, once used this same photo without my permission and did not credit it to me. How GHANAWEB.COM used it: Screenshot: GHANAWEB.COM, Ghana's top online news website, used the photo above for a report without the permission of Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. They did not credit it to him. They scraped the photo from the internet. It was quickly credited after a request was made. They quickly credited it as soon as someone emailed and threatened them with a lawsuit: Screenshot: GHANAWEB.COM, Ghana's top online news website, used the photo above for a report without the permission of Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. They did not credit it to him. They scraped the photo from the internet. It was quickly credited after a request was made. Daily Graphic Online, Ghana's biggest newspaper's website, also used this photo without my permission and even captioned it as 'library photo,' making it look as if it is their own or they have the license to use it. I reached out, and they credited it to me. They rank very high (with the keyword "plastic pollution in Ghana") on google images as a result of using this photo. Before I complained (see the caption): Screenshot: Daily Graphic Online (www.graphic.com.gh), Ghana's largest newspaper's website, used the photo above for its editorial without the permission of Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. They scraped the photo from the internet and did not credit it to him. They even captioned it as 'library photo.' The photo was credited to him after a request was made. After I called: Screenshot: Daily Graphic Online (www.graphic.com.gh), Ghana's largest newspaper's website, used the photo above for its editorial without the permission of Muntaka Chasant, the photographer. They scraped the photo from the internet and did not credit it to him. They even captioned it as 'library photo.' The photo was credited to him after a request was made. Not the first time graphic.com.gh has done this. I had to call them again on the Jamestown plastic pollution photo after the first incident. They still have my work on their website — by their sister newspaper The Mirror (Ghana) — that is not credited to me. You can see it here. Permanent archived copy here. A different photograph here. Plastic Pollution in Ghana photo by Muntaka Chasant used by the Ghanaian Newspaper The Mirror without crediting it to him. Here, thebftonline.com used my work without proper credit. I emailed them to take it down. They haven't. Here's one used by TV3's 3news.com — permanently archived here. They have watermarks on the images they create themselves. So they must know this is not for them since it didn't have their watermark. Responsible journalism would require they attempt to find the source or don't use it at all since they did not make it. But it is very easy to find the source of this image. So this behavior is willful. Just steal and reuse and hope no one is looking. There appears to be no integrity at all in Ghana's news making business. You can see how my work has been repeatedly abused by these news websites. The websites above are not the only abusers. I have lost count. But there is a chance that the editors of these news portals may not be aware of this. This sort of behavior is frequently perpetrated by shady webmasters or outsourced content creators. The organizations are still responsible for the copyright infringements in the end though. If MYJOYONLINE.COM was so concerned about Ghana's plastic pollution problems, they'd send out a reporter or a photographer to grab them some usable photos. It's roughly around 7 km from where their radio station is located to where I shot both scenes. I live more than 30 km from the area. Why Does This Photo Theft by MYJOYONLINE.COM bother me? First, I wasn’t pleased to see my work used in a manner that I was not duly credited for it. If the copy (Jamestown Beach Photo) they used wasn't from the Creative Commons, then they modified the copy I posted myself by cropping and applying a cheap warm filter over it without my permission. I wouldn't want my work used this way. I have the right to be upset because it is my work. I have seen the photograph used hundreds of times, and in some cases, I was duly credited for it. Below are a few credits in the last couple of months that I have become aware of: Screenshot: Plastic Pollution Photo by Muntaka Chasant used by the Harvard Business School with proper credit.Screenshot: Plastic Pollution Photo by Muntaka Chasant used by the Duke University with proper credit.Screenshot: Muntaka Chasant Plastic Pollution Photo used by a Columbia University blog with proper credit.Muntaka Plastic Pollution Photo used. Screenshot from the Westchester County Business Journal with proper credit. It makes me happy to see my work helping to push the conversation on plastic pollution worldwide, especially in academia. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization recently used the Jamestown plastic beach photo without proper attribution. Here, and the archived copy here. I have seen them use it with proper credit in the MakingIt Industry for Development here, so this must be an oversight. Muntaka Chasant Plastic Pollution used by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization with proper credit. Here's one in the Forbes without proper credit — Solving The Plastic Problem. The website theconversation.com also recently used the same photo above without proper attribution. I emailed the Africa editor to demand it taken down, to which the editor did and even apologized. Other websites republished the article before the photo was replaced. The version by the website architectafrica.com (with a warm look and didn't credit it to me) looks similar to the copy MYJOYONLINE.COM used. They most likely downloaded it from google images. Architectafrica.com used Jamestown Beach Plastic Pollution photo by Muntaka Chasant without crediting him for it. Whenever they (MYJOYONLINE.COM) create an image, they destroy its appeal by covering it with large watermarks. They make it noticeable that it is their work, a warning to potential copyright infringers. The duplicity! I’m no fan of marking photographs with obvious watermarks. But I recently started doing this myself due to copyright infringements by websites such as MYJOYONLINE.COM. So if you see my work with the copyright notice on them — think of a website such as MYJOYONLINE.COM that wouldn't hesitate to grab and reuse without permission or license. Related: Plastic Pollution in Ghana: Video and Photos Online photo theft problem is widespread, and that leads me to one conclusion: there are no high standards as far as Ghana’s media is concerned. There's stock photography. Why steal other people's work? Just ask politely, and some of us wouldn't mind at all letting you use it for editorial. As long as it is not for commercial purposes, it is not a problem for me at all. Just reach out with a quick request like below: "Hey Muntaka, saw your photo of xxx. I think it will enhance an article I/we are writing on the topic xxx. Do you mind if we use it with a credit and a link back to where we downloaded it from? We promise it is not for commercial use." Normally I'll respond quickly like this: "Thanks for reaching out, xxx. Feel free to use it (I'll describe how I want it credited). Let me know if you need a much larger file as the copy you saw is most likely compressed to reduce its size. I would love to read your article when it is published. Do you mind forwarding a link to my email? Happy writing!" Not too hard, is it? By the way, this is not the first time MYJOYONLINE.COM has done this to me. Same thing sometime back (a different photograph). I asked them to take it down, but the guy asked nicely if they could keep it. I was happy to let them keep it. Why is Copyrighted Photo Theft Bad And Why You Shouldn't Do it? The internet is widely recognized as a threat to copyright protection. First, a photo doesn't need any markings to be protected or as proof of ownership on the internet. Copyright belongs to me the moment I press the shutter. MYJOYONLINE.COM and other such websites should assume that any photograph they did not create themselves is copyright protected. As the author of the photographs, I own the exclusive right to reproduce or adapt the works under local copyright laws and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Workshttps://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/copyright/615/wipo_pub_615.pdf. Ghana is a party to the Berne Convention. "The Convention also provides for "moral rights", that is, the right to claim authorship of the work and the right to object to any mutilation, deformation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the work that would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation." - World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) The Convention also provides for "moral rights", that is, the right to claim authorship of the work and the right to object to any mutilation, deformation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the work that would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation.WIPO It is simple — if you didn't create it, don't use it (unless you are permitted to). Theft is theft. Crediting it to me will still not excuse MYJOYONLINE.COM'S actions. Do me a favor. Go to their Facebook page below and shame them for this pattern of behavior. MYJOYONLINE.COM Facebook Page In closing, I put this piece up as a matter of principle, so MYJOYONLINE.COM and other such websites don't do this to other people. Monetary compensation is out of the question for me. I don't want my work hosted on a website that has no regard for copyright laws. Again, I don't care who you are or where you work — don't use my work without my permission!

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