Canpire, a Canadian company with the stated mission of “[utilizing] advanced technologies and investigative techniques to mitigate piracy loss resulting from the illegal distribution of digitized content,” was caught, um, illegally distributing digitized content.
On its website, the company used this image, clearly labeled “All Rights Reserved” from photographer Steve Houk, without obtaining his permission. Houk told Vice Canada he had “authorized or licensed this image to anyone in any way.” It’s only one of several images the company used without permission. Another, by photographer Sascha Pohflepp, was available for use with attribution to the photographer under a Creative Commons license. Canpire did not attribute the photographer.
Canpire’s slogan is the icing on the hypocritical cake: “They all know it’s wrong, and they’re still doing it.”
