• UPDATE March 31: HSBC have advised fotoLibra to change their bank account as the image has now been found on other websites. Getty Images have been in touch with PAN and are looking into the situation.
• Getty Images just sent PAN this after we contacted them explaining the situation; ‘Getty Images is committed to ensuring imagery made available for license legally and respectfully complies with our representation guidelines to which photographers are contractually obligated to adhere to. Whilst we regularly work with our community of over 200,000 contributors to review content, mistakes rarely, but sometimes do happen.’
As soon as we were made aware of the error, the image in question was immediately removed from the site, and all licensees are also being asked to remove the image immediately. We have issued a reminder communication to our contributor community of our guidelines and the importance of respecting data privacy and information security and have reached out to Gwyn Headley at FotoLibra directly.
• 30 March: This from fotoLibra agency owner Gwyn Headley: …
Hello Will
I hope you’re well. My rather sensational headline was designed to attract you to read my blog:The statement is not far from the truth, except that one might infer connivance which is almost certainly not the case.It’s carelessness, pure and simple, I’d suggest, but carelessness can cause as much damage as malice.I was unaware of this until James Cliffe, Head of Business Banking UK, HSBC Bank Plc, rang me personally on Friday morning to tell me about it.He has asked us to monitor our bank account for any unusual activity such as standing orders or direct debits. Nothing so far, but our eyes resemble those of eagles.We have complained to the BBC, and if you can give me the name of someone at Getty we will complain to them as well.ATBGwyn