IS 404 Errors

Related to the fraud happenings last week at iStockphoto.com, reported in yesterday’s blog post, a lot of users are getting error pages when attempted to download a licensed image:

I just bought $350 worth of credit and nearly every photo I’ve included in my album that the client signed off on gets me a 404 error when attempting to order? (Of course no 404 error when taking my money) WTH?

A second user in that thread discovered the cause (or apparent cause) of the error:

It’s been a very frustrating 2 days for me. I finally figured out what the 404 error is for buying stock. They are allowing you to buy/download one photo every 5 minutes. I saved everything I needed to a lightbox and then sat at my computer for 3 hours to download the 40 pix I needed today. Download one, start timer, wait 5 minutes, download the next, start timer, wait 5 minutes. For 3 hours. If you try to download faster than one per 5 minutes, you get the 404 error.

As a contributor, I certainly don’t want buyers inconvenienced in this way.  However, I also don’t want thousands of images being downloaded under fraudulent accounts, ending up who knows where.  I totally expect this error to be from a temporary measure that will be removed as soon as possible, once the fraud is able to be isolated and contained with whatever security means are needed.  Of course, we contributors want buyers to be happy and to be able to finish their work in a timely manner.  We are seldom knowledgeable about what is going on behind the scenes in cases like this, and the best we can do is to support your efforts to get your job done.  Hopefully, you will understand our concerns about our work being downloaded to likely end up illegally on this torrent or that free site.

Here’s looking ahead to 2011!