What's really fucked up about this whole thing is that Lensman doesn't HAVE to do anything for APIC.
He isn't hosting, nor does he own the domain where the stolen images reside.
Lensman buys traffic from thousands of webmasters, he has no responsibility for what the webmasters he buys the traffic from do with their sites. Even if APIC sent him undisputable proof that the webmaster in question was stealing content, he has no obligation (legally) to terminate the webmasters account or withhold payment.
He was being a nice guy and was willing to help out until APIC got a real shitty attitude with him and made things personal.
AP supports 50% of copyright violators? Well DUH, AP probably has more active webmasters than any other affiliate program on the net, so that's just a by-product of the size and popularity of the program, its not like he says "Hey, if youre stealing images I'll pay you 6 cents a click"
I don't agree in any way, shape, or form with stealing someone's images. But I for one am glad that Lensman assumed his affiliate was innocent until proven guilty and asked for the specifics, and then was willing to give the webmaster an opportunity to produce a licensce before talking any action
Hey APIC, I don't know how much $$ you get paid for doing what you do, but if you have any left after this is over, there's this book called "How to win friends and influence people", I think you should put reading it on your "to do" list.