PicRights: Eliciting Strong Opinions
July 4, 2022
I noted a post on FSDeveloper.com in a thread identified as “PicRights Image Copyright Infringements.” I typically believe everything I read on the information superhighway’s sign posts. This particular post is interesting cause it contains a number of useful links. The content to which the links point purports to put the actions of a firm called PicRights in context.
Several points in the posts and responses struck me as interesting. I continue to think about including a category in my cyber crime lectures about “soft fraud.” I define “soft fraud” as systems and methods designed to generate revenue from incomplete information, legal threats, or action taken to harm an individual.”
Now let’s look at what appears in the FSDeveloper.com post:
- An entity identified as Scruffyduck Administrator Staff Member pointed out that a business identified as PicRights wanted 500 pounds for unauthorized use of an image. The post makes clear that the going rate for the misused image was 500 pounds. I think the point is that the use of the copyright violation tactic was intended to produce revenue for the company and a cost to the admitted offender.
- Ronald Resource Contributor provided a series of links related to such topics as patent trolls and several posts providing allegedly accurate information about PicRights. The post ended with Ronald urging people to create their own art.
- DragonflightDesign Resource Contributor pointed out that a law firm affiliated/related to PicRights acts in an untoward manner. I am not comfortable quoting the text used to describe this law firm. The post includes a useful example about how images are repurposed and claimed by picture aggregators. I think the main idea is that a once public image is converted into private property. I find this interesting because the “soft fraud” appears to pivot on disconnecting an image from its primary state (public) to a secondary and monetary state (private) for the purpose of generating revenue.
Net net: As cyber crime goes, the industrialized outfits don’t fool around with blogs and non governmental organizations. The focus of “hard fraud” is often money laundering, sale of contraband, and distributing malware as part of the Crime as a Service trend.
Nevertheless, the FSDeveloper post provides a suggestive cluster of information. What other examples of “soft fraud” exist? What comes to mind are “dark patterns” which trick users into taking an ill considered action, telecom companies defining “unlimited” as “limited”, and companies operating eBay and Amazon type systems which create an ecosystem for the sale of knock off goods and stolen merchandise. I wonder if I should expand my comments about soft fraud in my upcoming lecture for a US government law enforcement training program?
Maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, July 4, 2022
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