Photobucket Demands $400 Ransom to Release Photos

[alpacaheat]

Are you asking a question?

Yes, that's the deal with PB now, going to subscriptions apparently.

[soberbyker]

did anyone else get a bunch of E-mails from "Photobucket" giving you a link to click on so that you can pay the $400 and get your pictures back !!!!

I posted the way around that a few posts ago, if you have stuff on PB that you need, and you can't download your albums, there's a way around the lock preventing album downloads that I have provided below.

As I've mentioned in this thread before I have a paid photobucket (PB) account, gives me extra space for something like $29 a year. I've had it for a while now. It's why my "3rd party links still work, at least until my current paid subscription expires at which point I too would have to pay the $500 for 3rd party links.

I literally have thousands of photo's loaded to PB, not just my own, which I should still have copies of on my hard drives, but also appropriate photo's I've used in threads here and elsewhere in cyberland.

I wish I was better organized with my own photo's but I am not and not knowing which I still have, I have been downloading all of my PB albums, one at a time, no other way to do it that I can find. It's long slow process and I'm not halfway down yet. Recently downloading the albums won't download at all, keep getting error messages. Internet speculation is that's by design too.

For anyone trying to get their albums from PB and having a hard time, if they're able to download at all, I found an extension for Google that gets around the error and downloads them with no problem, still one at a time, but now I'm able to finish getting my photos before PB shuts me all the way out. Sometimes it's pretty fast too.

It's not free, it costs $1.99, but it's worth it if you want to be rid of PB and get your stuff. (only works with photos, if you have videos on PB too they need to be manually downloaded, if possible)

The Google Play Store app is called:

Photobucket Album Downloader (Unlimit)

.

[Emptymag]

Yeah I get that.
But the reason for the thread was your photo's (some) were being held hostage because you didn't have them safely backed up elsewhere. If they're safe elsewhere the ransom is useless. We all know nothing is really free.

Actually, the reason for the thread was that they ARE holding the images for ransom. Not that I don't have access to them, because I do, but because no photos will display anywhere without paying the ransom.

The storage and backup are completely different issues.

[God's Country]

Actually, the reason for the thread was that they ARE holding the images for ransom. Not that I don't have access to them, because I do, but because no photos will display anywhere without paying the ransom.

The storage and backup are completely different issues.

Then I guess i don't understand.
You can or cannot download your uploaded pics for your own personal use? Meaning you can place them on any devise or site and view them as normal. If that's not the case (without paying) you have no access to them.

[normanvin]

Then I guess i don't understand.
You can or cannot download your uploaded pics for your own personal use? Meaning you can place them on any devise or site and view them as normal. If that's not the case (without paying) you have no access to them.

You can not share them to websites such as pafoa.

[JDA58]

You can not share them to websites such as pafoa.

and if you did.... like thousands of us did... you can no longer see them

[God's Country]

You can not share them to websites such as pafoa.

Then what's all the hubbub?
Big deal.

[mpan72]

Then what's all the hubbub?
Big deal.

I thought you could not even access your account unless you pay. If that is not the case it does not affect me much because I have never used the sharing feature. Can you still buy prints without a subscription?

[Emptymag]

Then what's all the hubbub?
Big deal.

Take a second to consider the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of "tutorial" posts on forums the world wide.
Instructions on how to fix a car, a washing machine, a gun - posts about any number of things that told a story, that helped to inspire, or share the progress of a recovering child, pet, or great grandmother - all reduced to nothing but text and no images - gone - rendered useless.

People spent untold numbers of hours telling stories and posting their experiences to help others who may be looking for a "how to" do something, and now Photobucket has shit on all of it.

The hubbub certainly varies per individual, but I can assure you that it's a big deal what they did to everyone - especially HOW they did it.

[mpan72]

Take a second to consider the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of "tutorial" posts on forums the world wide.
Instructions on how to fix a car, a washing machine, a gun - posts about any number of things that told a story, that helped to inspire, or share the progress of a recovering child, pet, or great grandmother - all reduced to nothing but text and no images - gone - rendered useless.

People spent untold numbers of hours telling stories and posting their experiences to help others who may be looking for a "how to" do something, and now Photobucket has shit on all of it.

The hubbub certainly varies per individual, but I can assure you that it's a big deal what they did to everyone - especially HOW they did it.

I am not familiar with how a site like that works. Does it cost them money to keep hosting the photographs that are already in threads? If it does I have mixed feelings on it. If it does not I stand by my earlier post about but stuff wished on them.