I think other websites must just lift wholesale what the Guardian puts in its galleries. I found this on a Chinese website, but again at least they’ve kept people’s names on. Ultimately it doesn’t really affect me me with something like this – it’s just a matter of principle. But for people at the top of the photography game it is a real concern.
As US photographer Ed Kashi, who carries out risky documentary projects in places like Nigeria’s Niger Delta, writes about a picture he suspects has been lifted: “…if it was a pirated use, then it adds to the concerns about being able to produce this kind of work in the future if nobody wants to pay for the uses…”