How To Remove Private Pictures from Websites

We have handled many Takedowns where private and personal pictures were posted on a website without permission.

If this has happened to you we can help. DMCA.com has been very successful at getting this kind of infringement taken down from most of the popular adult websites on the internet.

If someone has gained access to your email, computer files, smartphone or camera and published pictures on the internet without your permission DMCA.com can get them removed.

What can you do when private pictures are posted on a website without your permission?

1. Don't Panic. Respond quickly. The faster the better. Be confident. Get help.
2. Contact the police - especially if:
1. You or the person in the picture or video were underage.
2. The perpetrator of this crime is known to you and you never gave permission for the pictures to be shared.
3. Note: Often the authorities can help with the perpetrators of the crime but are unable to act if the pictures/videos have been uploaded to servers located outside their legal jurisdiction. Be prepared to deal with getting your pictures/videos taken down as a separate issue.
3. Do not become a victim of extortion! Do not send money or a picture of your ID to hosting companies or website owners in order to get your content removed. This is a serious act of privacy violation and not required within any takedown process, anywhere. If you must pay to have your content taken offline it is extortion or a bribe under most laws. If you must pay or follow some other bizarre process to have your content taken offline do so with a lawyer, inform the police and where possible, have an internet specialist with you. Do not pay money to anyone - do not give in to blackmail. If you pay them once they will come back again and again.
4. Find as many copies and versions as you can. You are the best person to identify this content. Often it will be cropped or altered in some way so often you can identify it the quickest. Make a list. Like a weed if you can get at the source, you can stop it from spreading. Often only one website was the source of the uploaded picture or video. It is important to get it removed from there and move on to the other sites, if there are any.
1. It's wrong to assume that once your picture or video is off one website the issue is resolved. It could have been copied and uploaded somewhere else. The longer the content has been up the more likely it has spread to other networks and websites.
5. Begin Processing (DMCA) Takedowns immediately! The faster the better. Do it now! Staying on top of getting your content taken down means you can stop or slow the spread. You can conduct takedowns yourself (DMCA.com has a very inexpensive DIY Program), use a lawyer or use a service like DMCA.com Professional Takedown Service. Regardless of the method you use, the quicker the better. Processing takedown can also help any legal action you have started or will start later. If you choose to conduct the process yourself here are a few important tips:
1. Follow the (DMCA) Takedown process of website where you have found the pictures or video exactly. If the website has its own policy follow that.
2. Do not be emotional in your description or request for removal.
3. Do not tell a story or give background or incident details.
4. Clearly the state facts related to the picture or picture usage - it's your picture, or you are in it and you did not give permission to be used in this manner or you own the copyright.
5. Stop the source. Find out where the content came from and make sure no more theft of your pictures can occur. If the content is on your email, mobile, camera, laptop etc. make sure to remove access to the internet. If someone has gained access to your mobile or cell phone, email, computer files, GoPro, camera or iCloud storage and published your nude pictures on the internet without your permission change your passwords and remove the content.

Do you need help with these steps? Submit your takedown questions here: www.dmca.com/question. Be as detailed as possible. Include as many links as possible. Include complete details on content ownership and source.

How can a DMCA Takedown remove my stolen private pictures from a website?

Any owner of content has the right to process a takedown notice against a website owner and/or an Online Service Provider (e.g. ISP, hosting company etc.) if the content owner's property is found online without their permission. When content is removed from a website at the request of the owner of the content. The DMCA Takedown is a well accepted internet standard followed by website owners and internet service providers everywhere.

DMCA Fast Tip

If the content is yours, or if the subject in the content is you, this can be reason enough for the content to be taken down. A DMCA Takedown does not always require the content to be copyrighted in order to process a takedown notice.

How long does it take to complete the form to takedown my private pictures from a website?

The DMCA.com Takedown claim form takes about 3 minutes to fill out. We do the rest for you. Our goal at DMCA.com is to make the process as fast and easy as possible.

How long until my private pictures are taken off the website?

The length of time for the content to be taken down from a website can be hours or days. It depends on the site and conditions of the takedown notice.

One of the advantages of using a professional company like DMCA.com is experience and expertise in building and processing takedown notices.

1. Experience means - the team is familiar with the site where your content is located and will know what it takes to get the content removed quickly.
2. Expertise means - getting it right the first time. It is critical to get notice process right the first time to not waste time in the getting the content removed.

Ask your takedown professional to provide you an estimate of the time it will take to get your content down.

What do I need to provide to have my private pictures removed?

Three pieces of information will be needed to get started with takedown:

1. Stolen URLs (Infringing URLs)

Questions to answer when providing the stolen picture links:

1. Where on the internet is your stolen picture located?
2. Was it on a social media website?
3. What is the link that you want the picture removed from?

Be sure to provide the exact image link you want taken down.

An example link would look like: https://www.badguy_site.com/webpage/image_2

2. Original URLs (Source URLs)

Questions to answer when providing the original pictures:

1. Where was the picture located when it was stolen?
2. Was it on you social media profile like Instagram or Reddit?
3. Was it from your own website?

Be sure to provide the exact URL where it was stolen from, even if the picture has already been removed from it's original location. The original URL is still valuable to the notice. If it was not online you can reference cell phone, computer, or camera etc. If it was online such as a website or cloud storage provide the link to the exact page it was stolen from. You can upload the original content to a cloud storage service and provide that URL with an expalanation of where it was originally stolen from.

An example link would look like: https://share.icloud.com/pictures/my_original_content

3. Theft and Ownership Description (Description of Infringement)

Questions to answer when writing out the description:

1. Who is authorized to file the DMCA Takedown?
2. Who is claiming ownership of the picture?
3. What is the picture owner's name and how was the picture stolen?
4. How do you own the picture?
5. How is this picture yours?
6. Did you copyright ir, create it, buy it?
7. When did you create the picture and when was the picture stolen?

An example description would sound like: "My picture I took of myself on my camera was stolen from my Google Drive and was posted on this website without my knowledge and I would like it removed."

If you are unsure how to collect the information for these three categories the Professional Takedown Team at DMCA.com can help with the answers. Click here to ask us about your situation.

DMCA Takedown Testimonial

Diane, This is great news! My wife and are very pleased with this result. Your business services and swift action are of superhero status! This content is indeed removed and it literally brought a tear to my eye, in a good way. Thanks again! -Mark

What if my private pictures are on more than one website?

Most takedown notices contain several websites or platforms. Our takedown signup form has all the space you need to add as many links as you want.

Our team is familiar with the process of multiple website takedown notices. They will help guide you through what you need to do and know.

If there is one site in particular that is of the most concern for you make sure and highlight that when you sign up for your takedown. It will help the team prioritize the work they need to do for you case.

What if I don't have the original pictures that were stolen?

Our team is familiar with the process of missing source information for takedown notices. They will help guide you through what you need to do and fix.

Not having the original pictures can make the issue more complex, however it is a common problem.

Please clearly indicate why this information is not available to add to your takedown form.

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2. What is DMCA Protection
3. What is DMCA Takedowns
4. What is DMCA.com
5. What is DMCA Protected Certificate
6. What is DMCA Website Certificate
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